Hi everyone. I am new to this group. Ever since I bought my 1997 ram 1500, my AM stations and some FM stations have not come in very good. (It came with a aftermarket stereo) When my key is in the accessory position, the stations come in loud and clear. Right when I start my truck, it instantly goes to static. I am not very good with electrical but any help would be appreciated.

 

Check car audio suppression by Crutchfield. (Google). It can be a bad ground, but bottom line the antenna is introducing noise to the head unit, it could be vibrations when the car is running, a loose connection etc, but go through that article though, it’s pretty thorough.

 

Could be a number of things, Ground loop isolator will get rid of unwanted noise if you are using an amp with it. It also could be RF noise that the radio can pick up either from the antenna or any of the power wires. Had issues with my power wagon that had copper ignition wires not suppression like most are today. Ran shielded power cable to the battery witch helped a lot. You might want to have a look at your wires for any issues. You can use a filter for the positive side of the power going into the stereo also. You will get noise on AM regardless of what use.