Bending antenna on wagon

[robert.st-louis]

The radio antenna on the top rear of my 240 wagon keeps hitting the
door and roof pipes in the parking garage at work. Annoying and I'm
concerned it could lead to problems with it. I assume I can bend it
backwards so it doesn't bang everytime? Any tricks to doing this
without breaking the whip? Thanks.

 

[User]

The radio antenna on the top rear of my 240 wagon keeps hitting the
door and roof pipes in the parking garage at work. Annoying and I'm
concerned it could lead to problems with it. I assume I can bend it
backwards so it doesn't bang everytime? Any tricks to doing this
without breaking the whip? Thanks.

There should be a switch with what looks like a chicken foot on it
(universal electrical symbol for antenna) somewhere to the left of the
steering column. Rock it the opposite way and the antenna should retract
so that it doesn't hit in low clearance areas. If it's the non-power
whip antenna, no worries it's meant to flex.

Bob

 

[Mike F]

There should be a switch with what looks like a chicken foot on it
(universal electrical symbol for antenna) somewhere to the left of the
steering column. Rock it the opposite way and the antenna should retract
so that it doesn't hit in low clearance areas. If it's the non-power
whip antenna, no worries it's meant to flex.

Bob

Never was a power antenna in a 240, you're thinking of the one in a 740
wagon. There's not really a good solution for the 240, when the cars
were new, they came with a little wrench that you could put on your
keychain and remove the mast.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

[robert.st-louis]

You're right Mike, it's a manual one.
WHen I got the wagon a month ago, and the antenna mast was bashing
against the garage door at work, I took a wrench, disconnected the
mast, then gently bent it back so that it would be pointed backwards,
hopefully missing the door. Problem was that I didn't mark the rear of
the mast, so that when I tightened it, it was pointing sideways.
Mistakenly, I tried to tighten it an extra 1/4 turn to point it back,
and then (you guessed it), the thing snapped off. Had to go to Volvo
and buy a new kit, because the connector at the vehicle body had
snapped off in the mast. Now I have a new mast, and will probably try
to bend again, but this time I'll mark the back part so when I
(gently!) torque it down with the little wrench, the mast will be bent
toward the back. I was just concerned about possibly snapping the mast
in two if I bend too vigorously, so will go gently... (don't want to
have to buy another antenna kit!). ANyway, lessons learned...