background static in radio when driving the fm stations have a little background static. i had the car to service where i bought it and they told me there really wasnt anything they found. they checked the radio,amp and antenna. Please note that this happens when driving and they tested it in the shop. They even made me listen to another journey on the lot and took it for a ride and it kind of sounded the same but where i bought the car the reception isnt so great. I called chrysler and complained about the vehicle. They told me i was entitled to take it to another dealer. This time i took it to a dealer thats closer to me. They looked it over and told me they were ordering me another radio. OK so that was installed and it really didnt make a difference. they also checked the antenna base and said it was fine. Is it possible that it can be a bad antenna wire or a loose ground? It happens on all the fm stations even local, and even when 5-10 minutes from the actual radio station location. It starts off like its ok but then it starts with the static and like crackling sound. Im really upset ive had 4 other dodges and never had a prob. i have the media center 830N. this problem occurs intermittent and i dont now what else to do! i was going to call chrysler again but i figured maybe you have an idea that they can look into maybe something else besides the radio, amp and antenna is causing this static.The sattelite is fine. i only have the car 2 months and this one we didnt lease and plan to keep it.

 

Maybe someone else can verify, but I think there is an antenna interconnect on some of the dodges and jeeps behind the glove box and some in the passenger kick panel. You might look and see if it is loose. It is usually wrapped in some foam tape. I am just not sure if the Journey has an interconnect.

 

I have the same problem on my Ram 1500 CC with 5.7 Hemi. My radio is the RES model. I am curious if the problem continues with the REN radio. AM and Satelite are fine on mine. I even plugged in a portable FM radio in the AUX jack and it picked up some static as well. Must be RMI/RFI emission from the engine compartment. Sounds perfect with the engine turned off. It is worst when driving at road speed. Next time you have them listen to it, turn down the base and turn up the treble. You can hear it better. It is so irritating, that I don't listen to FM. I was hoping someone has found the solution, but I have been unable to find one myself as well.

I took it to the dealer last Friday. They are looking into a solution. The technician definitely noticed the static and is talking to the rep about it. They said they would let me know by this Friday. I sure hope they find a solution.

 

Having a similar problem with my new 2010 Ram 1500. It's only on FM - AM and Satellite are fine. Driving me a little crazy - figured I'd check to see if anyone ever found a solution to this before I start down the same path with the dealer. Thanks!

 

Nope! No solution i gave up its like finding a needle in a hay stack i had the radio, amp, antenna and the 3 antenna wires replaced same S***! It really sucks they told me it sounds like interfence and it could be coming from anywhere an electronic part, wiring, whatever. Totally disappointed with this vehicle. Just took it on a trip to florida, rides beautiful but braking at a high speed the wheel vibrates, so now i have to call about that! Probably only keeping this car a couple of years and trading it in!
Let me know how you make out!!

Thanks,
Debbie

 

Is it only when the vehicle is running? If so, it should be fixable.....itll jst take a good tech a while to track it down.

 

It is only when the truck is running. The tech kept trying to fix the problem as if the static is coming in on the power line with no success. I believe this was the wrong path because the interference is coming from the engine compartment. I have a portable FM radio, like an IPOD, that will pick up the interference as well. Based on this, I assume the antenna is picking it up. My guess is that the electrical system is generating a frequency in the FM band range and the radio is picking it up. This is why the AM radio is perfect with no interference. It is fixable I am sure, but how to track the problem could be difficult. I stopped them from troubleshooting further when they were going to install a condenser in the ground from the radio. I asked them if the Dodge engineers approved this change and they said no.

 

I bounght a 2012 Journey on June 20. As soon as I drove it off the lot, I noticed a static in the am/fm radio. SAT, Ipod and CD work and sound great. Took it to the dealership and they replaced radio and said that antenna and everything is fine and they can't find anything wrong with the vehicle. At this point, I contacted Chrysler directly and was assigned a case manager. The case manager suggested that I listen to other vehicles on the dealers lot. So I did. The Journey that only has am/fm and NO SAT sounded perfect. The other Journeys that had the SAT feature sounded horrible. I explained this to my case manager at Chrysler and he said that the static is due to the humidity in my area (which is Northern BAltimore) He said that since the SAT and radio are on two different sound frequencys that the humidity is messing with the frequency for the am/fm. Meanwhile the SAT works great. I think that this is ridiculous. I guess I can only listen to the radio in the fall and winter when the humidity is down! Whatever. This is the first Dodge I ever bought and it has not been a pleasant experience.

 

I noticed the static on my FM radio the day I drove it off the lot. I had just traded in a 2000 Chrysler Neon, and the radio was always perfect and clear on that vehicle, so I expected a brand new car to be the same. Not! After 3 weeks of listening to this crackiling and static, I couldn't take it anymore, so brought it back to the dealer. They checked the wiring, the antena, antena base, etc. They then replaced the radio. It seemed to be a little better after that (but then, I'm not sure if it was that, or me knocking the antena by mistake while washing the car!). The intermittent static was still happening (only on FM), so I brought it in again. They said that they checked out a couple other Avengers and they had the same static. "....this is normal for this vehicle...".
NO, a crappy, staticy radio is not "normal" for a brand new car! I then called the owner, who had me bring the car to the service manager. He said he noticed it on some streets, but otherwise, couldn't see a problem.
He said he had a call into Engineering, and for me to get back to him when I go for my first oil change (as he hadn't heard anything when I called him a week after). So, that's it....that's how they have satisfied a customer who is most definitely not satisfied. Other than that.....the car is great!