"Mike" <mike-r@earthlink.net> wrote:
> BTW, in regard to your other post, I was able to purchase the original
> antenna wrench from the dealer when I replaced the mast in our 92
> Accord.
> As for grease, mine had plenty of residual on the drive gears inside
> the
> antenna housing to self lube the new drive cable. Be sure to remove
> any
> broken cable inside the housing. After installation, torque antenna
> nut to
> 20lbs-in...HTH

Well, finally I managed to remove the antenna motor today and sure
enough, inside the round plastic strip guide I found the last 8" of the
strip. Once I managed to fold away that stiff trunk liner, removing the
motor was easier than I first thought because it was secured with one
screw only and even that had to be unscrewed only partially because of
the way the bracket was designed. That was the only good news though I
wish Honda would have thought of providing easier access to that motor.
After all that antenna strip seems to break fairly often and getting out
the broken piece requires removal of the motor assembly.

I had no success at all with inserting the new antenna's plastic strip
into the motor assembly even though I followed the Service Manual's
instructions: having the radio on and trying to push in the antenna with
the teeth facing backward so the wheel of the motor would catch it and
pull it in when turning the radio off. The problem was that the
farthest I could push that antenna strip in while the telescop was fully
extended was still leaving about an inch of the strip free between the
bottom of the antenna mast and the spacer over the hole. That would
have required another person at the radio while I hold the mast over the
hole, though I'm not sure that would still have pulled in the antenna
fully when the radio is turned on. It seems that I should have been
able to wiggle in that plastic strip farther down before turning off the
radio though I noticed that the strip on the replacement antenna is
about an inch longer than on the old one when I account for the broken
off piece. I'd like to hear from anyone who has done this successfully
in the past if there is some trick to do this that I am missing. For
one, I'm not even sure if the motor's catch wheel can be forced to turn
by manually pushing that strip down. I had the feeling that it was able
to only slightly wiggle that wheel with the plastic strip but not really
turn it. I'm pretty sure there is no other broken off piece left there
in the motor, because the piece I picket out of it had the kind of
finished end the new antenna's cord has.

Rudy