ARegularJoe
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #1
My Lariat was one of unlucky victims of the XM/Nav delete and I have been working to restore that capability with the help of the many fine folks herein who have been willing to share their experience and knowledge. In my situation I needed to purchase a new right side antenna to gain the satellite pickup. Of course this meant removing the original antenna and that’s when I discovered that Ford‘s implementation of these antennas on at least my truck is abhorrent. You may have this same issue as well!
Though the truck is but 15 or so months post build, this is what greeted me when I popped off the original right side antenna.
Now rather than hold everyone in suspense, I also checked the left side antenna. It exhibited the same damage from what I can only attribute to the lack of no-ox grease to protect from galvanic action. I’ve had to order a replacement for that one as I seriously doubt Ford will give a rip about something they can‘t see.
I tried to clean these up however in both cases, the metalicized pads were ‘lifted’ from the antenna base by the corrosion and literally fell off when they were disturbed. After scraping away all the corrosion, it’s easy to see the antenna steel bases were literally etched by the corrosion and as such, pretty much ruined.
i offer the following as a comparison between new and used….
When installing my new right side antenna and after cleaning up the left side antenna ( pending its replacement ) I’ve liberally coated the pads with no-ox grease however I am really desirous of the correct way to prevent this accelerated corrosion problem. It seems really wrong to me that Ford didn’t apply some sort of coating or select components that would eliminate this problem which is one that has been known for hundreds of years when combining dissimilar metals together but alas….
it should be noted that I was able to clean up the painted surfaces on the roof of the truck though it took a lot of fingernail scraping to do so. I dared not use anything harsher for fear of lifting pint that may now be compromised on the aluminum skin.
i encourage this community to discuss this so that those with educated suggestions can help the rest of us to maintain our gear in good working order. I cant imagine the damage had this gone on for several years.
Though the truck is but 15 or so months post build, this is what greeted me when I popped off the original right side antenna.
Now rather than hold everyone in suspense, I also checked the left side antenna. It exhibited the same damage from what I can only attribute to the lack of no-ox grease to protect from galvanic action. I’ve had to order a replacement for that one as I seriously doubt Ford will give a rip about something they can‘t see.
I tried to clean these up however in both cases, the metalicized pads were ‘lifted’ from the antenna base by the corrosion and literally fell off when they were disturbed. After scraping away all the corrosion, it’s easy to see the antenna steel bases were literally etched by the corrosion and as such, pretty much ruined.
i offer the following as a comparison between new and used….
When installing my new right side antenna and after cleaning up the left side antenna ( pending its replacement ) I’ve liberally coated the pads with no-ox grease however I am really desirous of the correct way to prevent this accelerated corrosion problem. It seems really wrong to me that Ford didn’t apply some sort of coating or select components that would eliminate this problem which is one that has been known for hundreds of years when combining dissimilar metals together but alas….
it should be noted that I was able to clean up the painted surfaces on the roof of the truck though it took a lot of fingernail scraping to do so. I dared not use anything harsher for fear of lifting pint that may now be compromised on the aluminum skin.
i encourage this community to discuss this so that those with educated suggestions can help the rest of us to maintain our gear in good working order. I cant imagine the damage had this gone on for several years.
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