Fix your Hirschmann Auta 6000EL Power Antenna

Description
This version of Hirschmann's power antenna is found in most foreign autos including BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Audi and others that I've forgotten. Needless to say, it's a popular power antenna and is very reliable to boot! Most of the problems with this virtually indestructible motorized antenna are very simple to fix. It's one of the best made motorized antennas and it seems to last forever.

Mine is 13 years old and, up to last week, was going strong. Then the antenna mast broke b/c the nylon portion of the mast finally just broke off inside the motor unit. So I removed the power unit from the left rear fender wall, opened the case and simply removed the coiled portion of the mast. Looking around inside, everything looked fine, so I put it together with a touch of Mercedes sliding grease. Mounted back under the fender wall, fed in a new mast, and I was back enjoying my Becker radio.


Yesterday, the antenna wouldn't go up when I turned the radio on, so time to find out why. This is the 'second' most common failure in the unit, a broken gear-clutch. This note shows how I fixed the Auta 6000EL with a screw and some super glue. Replacement parts are available although they are hard to find.

Contact Walter Odemer at 818 846-2819 for replacement parts and masts. He also repairs them if you can't. His web page shows detailed part numbers for the 6000EL and 6000U.

The parts shown in the picture are the ones that most often 'break' or wear the most. With these you can fix 99% of the Hirschmann failures. The kit has the front and back gears plus the spring clutch and, finally, the belt + roller guide. If these were readily available, I would have purchased them since it's a good long term investment. Since I couldn't find them, I proceeded to fix it with what I had.


Failure
The picture shows how my Hirschmann failed. The small 'tab' on the Front wheel was sheared off from old age. The clutch is very stiff and exerts a lot of force on the molded plastic tabs. So after 13 years, it broke. About 5 years ago, my tech, Pat of Exclusive Motors, showed me a 'trick' to repair the unit. However, after all that time, the 'picture' was a bit fuzzy however, I remembered using a "screw".

After looking over the gears, the picture started to clear. As you can see, the gear 'tabs' are 'marked' with holes so that it's quite easy to repair a broken tab since you have a 'hole' to show where the tabs should be placed and, most importantly, serve as a place to use a 'screw' to repair the broken tab as good as new!


Repair
This picture shows the repaired gear with a screw. The screw head is ground and counter-sunk to ensure that the gears can rotate freely and not bind. The inset picture shows the tab on the back side held in place with super-glue. The screw provides the strength and you should not depend on 'super-glue' to hold the tab b/c it won't!





This exploded view shown here is great for assembling or disassembling the Auta 6000EL.