Broken Radio Antenna

My radio antenna on my '96 Geo Metro is broken. How do I replace it? Can I do it myself, or is it a job that should be done by a pro. One person told me that I would need to take part of the dash out to get to the wires. The antenna is one of the manual push in-pull out types next to the windshield. If that is the case, I know that I would not want to attempt it. But I am getting so tired of listening only to am, and I want to put in a new system, but it would be a waste of time and money with a broken antenna. Help!

Well, it being a metro, we have the "luxury" of not having to take the dash apart. Everything is accessible under it. Just depends on how long you can lie on your back to fish the cable out :iceslolan . Just take the 2 screws out of the plastic antenna holster, and pull the cable out. If I'm not mistaken, you don't have to remove the cable, just the antenna. The cable should plug into a new antenna from the junkyard. Not 100% sure on that one though.

The antenna was broken off of my '93 metro when I got it.

I could not find any metros in Wrecking Yards with the antenna intact!
I couldn't find a new one for sale anywhere....

So, in desperation, I got a piece of copper house GROUNDING wire (12 or 14 gauge?) and
made the substitute shown in the diagram below. The wire is about 2 ft 4 in long
(more or less). Again - no insulation on it.....

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/7401/geoantenna10vi.jpg

I pushed the bent part down into the hole where the old antenna had broken off.
The hole was about the diameter of the wire!

The curves in the bent part made the wire stay in the hole tightly and the 2 foot
section sticking out holds its shape quite well.

The damned thing works like a new antenna and I get all the FM and AM channels
as per normal.

For No Cost to me whatsoever! I can't beat that!

Took 2 minutes to do and has never moved after I stuck it in there!

AND - it looks just like a regular antenna!

If some asshole pulls it out or breaks it off, just stick another one in there!

DoctorBill

if you do have to pull the antenna and wire all the way out tape or tie a wire or string to end of old one, after you pull it out you can use the wire to pull the new one back in, saves fishing for it where its supposed to come out of the pillar post and back to radio

Antenna Is a special order at Auto zone. Takes about a week to come in costs around $20. It's easier if you unsnap the window trim on the drivers side of the winshield. Then you can see right into the channel for the antenna wire. Two screws on the antenna mount and fish around the back of the radio to inplug the wire. You might want to push the drivers seat all the way back to lay down and hunt around under the dash. They sometimes do some creative cable placement and wireties. It's easy just be patient.