I have read many, many threads about swapping to an antenna whip and replacing masts, etc but could not find a solution to my problem. My 2001 4runner had a replacement motor that was working and after an oil change at the stealership I tried to turn the radio on and the antenna motor was fried, melted and I am lucky it did not start on fire it was so melted and hot when I pulled it. I got pissed at the dealership at first but how do you prove somethign like that.

I bought the Toyota replacement motor and mast for over $200, re-routed the antenna cord back to the stock radio and the installation went perfect but it did not work. I can directly hook up power to one pin of the motor and ground to the other to put it up, then reverse to put it down. The 2 wires that go to the mast in the truck send 12V on one when the radio is turned on and the other one is always ground. To me it would seem the relay is fried (which is another couple hundred bucks from the stealership).

Has anyoen seen this problem and do you agree? I do not get the relay click noise from the relay that many otehrs mention when the radio is turned on. Also, does anyone know where the relay is on the 2001 with the 6 cd changer?

Thanks,
Cory
2001 4runner ltd 4wd with TRD supercharger

 

Looking at my wiring diagram it looks to be behind the centre trim, under the radio. Mounted vertically slightly on the driver side. This is the part number that's listed, 90980–10799.

 

$200 for a relay??

whenever I go to a junkyard, I pull relays out of cars for use on future projects, it is not hard to wire a relay, in fact its very easy. you can bypass the stock relay. If the motor got that hot, then there must have been some serious resistance on the wiring, it probably got hot enough to cause a break somewhere in the wiring. Why a fuse did not blow (or maybe one did finally) is beyond my understanding. That is the whole point of a fuse, to be the weakest link of the circuit, to protect against a fire.

if you do wire in your own relay, be sure to include a fuse! they sell an inline fuse holder at walmart for like $2. Pretty handy. I have also just used spade connectors in the past that will attach to the fuse.

I hope you get it worked out! My 4runner came with the auto antenna, but it wasn't working so I disabled it.