So hey, the power antenna on my 90 4runner is making a horrible noise everytime it goes up. Everytime the radio comes on and the antenna goes up it makes a loud sort of grinding noise. It sounds like bad news for the motor on the little thing. Any idea what it could be? I replaced the antenna mast a while back because the plastic strip inside it had broken but everything has worked fine for months and then this just started up the other day.

 

I had the same embarrassing nasty noise after my second antennae went all to hell. After taking the fender off i found that the white line o' teeth had disconnected from the actual antennae and was just fighting itself in the motor...my motor is fine, it was just the stinking cheap antennae. I think im going with a fixed Firestik though.

 

My bet is the motor is fine and the problem is the plastic teeth.