In the end, it turns out my mast had a kink in it. No amount of lubricating helped the problem.
I went to two dealerships to get a quote on how much they would charge for the replacement including labor. The two quotes I received were $150 and $180. Which I thought was totally absurd. One dealership wanted to charge me $90 dollars for the mast! He claimed that my car was special and therefore did not qualify for the $70 mast. I guess dealers in the Bay Area just try to gouge you every which way they can.
So I went to A&H Motor and bought an antenna mast and antenna mast nut tool ($50.25 and $15.50 respectively). Including shipping, the damage was $74.25.
Replacing the antenna mast was pretty simple. Loosen the bolt and remove the bolt, spacer, and washer. Turn on the radio. Yank the old antenna mast out. Orient the nylon cord of the antenna mast towards the outer corner of your left tail light lens, turn off the radio, feed the cable through, put the washer, spacer, and bolt back on, and voila! You're done.
It's a 15 minute job. The NSX service manual has pretty good pictures on how to get it done if you need a second reference. If you're going to replace your antenna mast, I think its worth considering a DIY approach. It could save you some money!
[This message has been edited by hyuan (edited 23 February 2002).]
