Expert: Rob Painter - 6/18/2010

Question
This question is about a 1992 Cadillac Fleetwood.  
I bought a new antenna from Cadillac to replace a fairly expensive auto parts model which lasted only 5 years.  It wouldn't shut off after retracting the mast, indicating a stripped gear or broken tape.
The original plug with three contact positions from the body harness to the antenna solenoid was cut off to adapt to the auto parts antenna, and has since been lost.  I put spade connectors on the wires to replace it, but can't seem to come up with the right wiring combination to make it work.  
The antenna will raise when the radio is turned on with the orange (power) on one outside pin and the black (ground) on the other.  Since the center wire looks to be a common or ground inside the lower cover (with the 3 spring contacts and round disk with the hole in it) I figured the orange must go on one side, the pink (trigger) on the other, and the black in the middle - no go, even if reversed. In fact the pink doesn't seem to add anything to the operation except to blow fuses or give strange feedback through the speaker system.
I have many years of working on cars and big trucks, but I had to walk away from this one after blowing all the fuses in my tool box.  I did run up the antenna and pull the wires so I can at least listen to the radio on my way to work.

Answer
Hello,

I am sorry you ran across this problem and obviously you were dealing with incompetence at the dealer.

The antenna motor assembly or the connectors did not have to be touched. Cadillac like all the other GM dealers sells a mast kit when the plastic tube-like tape breaks internally. Its been quite a while since I bought a mast kit, but the last price I remember was about $30 and took less than a minute to install.

Now you have wiring problems and I do not have any wiring diagrams for cars that old.

It probably would not be worth it just for the antenna wiring, but you might want to get a membership with http://www.alldata.com I think it is $25.00, but you get absolutely everything for wiring, diagnostics etc. I mean all the factory information in case you run across another problem as well.

I do not get anything for recommending the site. Its just I use it when I need information on a specific car--great for bypassing the factory anti-theft systems if one can read schematics. You can download the info for a year.

I wish you luck, because I know how frustrating it is not having the proper information in front of you.

Good luck!