We have owned 3 cars: a’99 Chevy Malibu, a 2005 Malibu and now a 2011 Kia Soul. On all three cars as they aged the AM radio signal quality fades. I can hear plenty of engine noise generating static that interferes with reception.
Is this a quality issue with the radios in general or do the ground contacts in the engine and chassis need cleaning. Your
help appreciated.
Both.
AM radio static is typically caused by bad grounding, bad antenna connection, or bad noise suppression condenser on the alternator.
So many things cause AM noise. Have the ignition wires been changed. Are the spark plugs the proper type. Does the distributor have cracks. The best antennas are the telescoping whips. The shark fins have no sensitivity. Corrosion through out the car is a contributing factor. The radios AM section is usually the poorest for sensitivity although when Delco was Delco back in the eighties the factory radios were good. The radios themselves don't deteriorate as much as the antennas and the wire from the antenna to the radio. The newer shark fins have electronics in them that can also fail. I friend of mine has a 1972 Chevy AM radio in his 2008 SantaFe with an after market whip antenna and it sound pretty good. The stock radio produces nothing but silence and noise. You really need an good radio tech, an old timer to figure out what is wrong. Understand to a lot of stations are transmitting digital along with analog. They are characterized by a constant hiss in the back round. As a result the audio suffers. One thing I will say newer cars are not the RF noise generators they used to be. Coil packs don't generate interference like a distributor and solid so called racing wires. There were neighbor hood racers when I was young that knocked out the whole neighborhood when they started up their cars.
