My radio has a lot of static on all radio stations. Anything to check for this? 2003 Dakota

 

Oh, I forgot to mention it is an OEM radio/CD player. Thanks.

 

get a bigger antenna. lol. pull the radio and check to see if the antenna connection is still secure and tight.

 

If it just started all of a sudden there are things to check for. I am assuming the static is present only when the engine is running. Take the radio out of the dash but leave it connected, unplug only the antenna and see if the noise goes away. If it does then you know the noise is coming in through the antenna cable. First make sure the radio has a good solid ground connection. You can get an antenna noise filter at a car audio shop and see if that stops the noise. Check the underside of the fender to be sure there is clean metal for the ground of the antenna base where it contacts the fenderwell. You can also skin back a little of the insulation on the antenna cable and ground the coaxial shield to see if that helps. You can try re-routing the antenna cable away from any wire harnesses, electrical components, etc to see if the noise goes away. If the noise is still present with the antenna unplugged and the radio is in the dash and then when you move it out of the dash and the noise goes away, there is radiated noise in the dash somewhere being picked up by the radio. That kind of noise is really hard to eliminate. It sounds stupid but if you have radiated noise you might try wrapping the radio with aluminum foil and see if it blocks the noise. These types of noise are not very common nowadays with better construction of radios and electrical components used in cars, but I guess it's still possible.

If you have the noise with the engine not running, it could still be a radiated noise, but more likely you have a bad tuner or other internal problem in the radio. You could take it to a good car audio shop and have it bench-tested to find out if that's what's wrong. They could repair it, and probably diagnose the noise problem for you but noise diagnosis can get expensive. If you have a bad radio it might be better just to replace it with an aftermarket unit.

 

Thanks for all your help and suggestions. I'll see what happens.