Hello Everyone,
Time to play america's favorite game, no phone a friend and no 50/50.
Today's Question is:
While joe was taking off his passenger side panel on his 88 T/A 305 TBI to put the new chip in, he noticed an unpluged wire.

Ok, really though, when I took off the passenger side panel, the little upper panel came off too, the one that says Performance Suspension, its long and thin. I noticed there were wires under it and plugged in, while one socket had the lower section filled and the upper one empty. (Jeez, i wish i had a digital camera) Anyway, the i noticed the upper section un-occupied, and looked around and found a plug with 3 wires coming out of the end. The colors are GREEN, GRAY and WHITE. Being curious i plugged it in, and briefly connect my battery back up. The plug seems to make a sound like that of a Power Side View Mirror makes, but the mirrors werent moving. Sounds like something was moving!

I'm just very curious to what this plug does and why it isnt plugged in.

Sorry for making it so long
Joe

 

Let me guess, your Power Antenna doesn't work, does it? Those wires go from the power antenna relay to the antenna motor.

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"I used to have a handle on life, but then I used it as a plunger and broke it" -The Wave

ASE Master Tech + L1
Savannah, GA
'87 Trans Am-K&N,Cold air induction, SSM SFC, Boxed LCAs, 8mm Accel wires, Flowmaster, 16" GTA rims.
'97 Bonneville SSE

If you live in Southeastern US, check us out!
South East Thirdgen

 

Green grey & white would be the power antenna plug.

GM power antennas have a little clutch with a switch in series with the motor, such that whenever that torque output of the motor exceeds a certain value, the switch breaks the motor circuit. Power is continuously applied to this. So, when you turn the radio on, the motor pushes the little plastic cord (looks like weed-eater line) out, which pushes the top antenna section up, which catches the other sections in turn as it goes up. When it reaches the top it stops; the motor continues to try to turn and push on it; the clutch slips, the switch opens, and breaks the motor's supply circuit. It does the same thing going back down.

These virtually always fail by the gears stripping on the plastic wheel that rolls up the weed-eater cord. When that happens, the antenna may or may not move; but since the motor depends on that torque to shut off, it runs non-stop.

So, what has happened, is that your friend has a power antenna (maybe he didn't even know that?), it broke a long time ago, and the previous owner just unplugged it to keep from running his battery down.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."

[This message has been edited by RB83L69 (edited September 20, 2000).]

 

THE MAN has spoken, so I'll just supplement. Does this look like it matches your wires/connectors?




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Later,
Vader
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"Make Me Bad"
Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0

 

If so, you may want to look into one of these:




------------------
Later,
Vader
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"Make Me Bad"
Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0

 

Wow, thats freaking amazing.. I was trying to think what didn't work in my car when trying to figure out what the plug does. Hehe, thats it.. how hard is it to replace one of these things?? Would have to buy motorized antenna, anything else?

Thanks guys.. way to solve a mystery? heh

Joe

 

These guys are freakin' amazing aren't they?

 

Easy fix, remove your plastic fenderwell covers and its right there. Last time I bought one was about 3 years ago through GM. I think it was around 100.00. While you are at the dealer, you may want to buy some new plastic fasteners that hold the cover in place.

 

Havent tried it yet (no, mine dont work either) but take a look at this:
http://www.li.net/~rsalerno/antenna.htm

BTW, mine broke the weed-eater cord, not the gear.

 

Mine also snapped that nylon cord, and then I snapped the antenna on a low tree branch.. I replaced it with a boring 'ol black whip. Lets see a tree branch hurt THAT!

-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards