Due to a lost battle with a toll booth gate, the antenna base is broken on my wife's '06. Do I have to go through the headliner to access the base?

probably... though food for thought:



Internal antenna kit by Blaupunkt (Bosch)-- though gotta fill the hole left by the OE antenna

Here is a link on how to remove the antenna. It is about a quarter of the way down the thread. Installation is there too, I believe.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=64324

This thread covers an Xm installation but does show antenna stuff.

It will be pretty easy to replace the OEM antenna as long as there is no damage to the sheet metal at the top of the windshield. Just remove the antenna as described in my guide that kwk Mini posted a link to above. I believe that you will need to seperate the base of the antenna from the cover so that you can disconnect the wiring. The base is mounted with four pretty small torx screws, I can't remember the size. You shouldn't have any problem.

Good Luck,

Phil

Thanks, doesn't look too bad. What kind of nut is that holding the base on to the roof?
PS. While I'm at it I'll try to fit her XM antenna in there too!

I routed my Sirius antenna through the hole. It's a bit tricky but it worked. The nut came off pretty easy, but I cannot remember what type it is (other than magnetic because I dropped it inside - BAD IDEA, I'd advise not doing it).
Be careful while reassembling so you don't pinch the wires. If you remove the driver (or passenger) visor, you can pull the headliner (what little there is) down enough to get the wire routed over near the door and down the 'A' pillar.

It's just a standard large nut. The bolt that it screws on to has a notch for the wires to pass through. Just find the right size socket in your tool box.

I dropped it too when I tried to put it back on. I was able to fish it out with a piece of a wire coat hanger. For my second attempt, I taped it to the socket with a bit of electrical tape.
I still need to reshape the clips so that the light assembly stays in position. I really messed them up taking it down.

Not that it's a good thing, but it makes me feel better that I wasn't the only one to do this.

It's a 22mm socket for the nut holding the base to the roof.

A few other things: (from someone who also had to replace the base because of a security booth gate)

When you unbolt the base, you don't have to cut the wires to take the old base off - they both snap into connectors to the right of the opening. They are a little hard to reach but you can unplug them.

I bought a whole new base from an online part source (one of the sponsors here on NAM) and simply plugged in the new base and replaced the bolt. It's now good as new.

Oh - and you will need an extension on that 22mm socket to reach the nut.

Post if you encounter other questions and we can talk you through.

Mark S

Thanks. I got it done using a 7/8 socket and extension. My largest metric socket is only 20mm. At first I thought I was going to have to cut the wires, but then I removed the passenger sunvisor and was able to pull down the plastic cover an found the plugs. I needed three hands to disconnect one of them! The other was easy.