FM Radio Hiss/Crackle ?

I installed a new Alpine Stereo Deck on the XJ and i am having a slight problem with my FM radio. The problem is, whatever station i am at it hisses and crackles badly and i know from other radios that those stations are strong and should be very clear.

At first i thought it was a bad antenna connection to the back of the deck, so i removed it and checked it. I additionally soldered the Radio Ground instead of using the Crimp connector i originally used.

Its interesting to note that the deck sounds wonderfully if i use a CD or my IPOD, its just the radio ?

What can this be, ideas ?

THanks,
Pete

Ignition noise. I had a similar problem in my 94. Replacing the coil (absolutely no indication of any ignition problems) solved it.

I had a similar ignition issue (loud whine in my ham radio when receiving) that appeared after a collision, and disappeared when I repaired the damage... check your frame grounds as well, especially your battery and alternator grounds. I'm pretty sure the fact that I retightened them during the repairs fixed my issue. You may also want to put a choke in the 12V feed to the radio, and/or capacitors bypassing it to ground.

I took apart all my grounds and cleaned them all and the problem still exists. I guess i will be purchasing a new Ignition coil soon to try.

Strangely the noise only occurs on the radio, once i switch to a CD or my Ipod the sound is pretty clear. Leads me to believe i need an antenna filter or something ?

Any Thoughts ?
Pete

check the antenna connection in the passenger side kick panel, could be loose and causing reception problems.

sweet i'm glad i am not the only one with this problem! mine his is in direct correlation with the engine RPMs... i might try a new coil and see if that helps. i also checked, cleaned and tightened all my grounds.

Coil, cap, rotor, spark plugs, spark plug wires can all cause reception issues with the radio.

My sons 93 XJ trail rig had same problem, a whine that got worse as RPM rose, except it did it any time the head unit was on, AM, FM, CD, Ipod, we fiddled around with wires, antenna, antenna filters, voltage traps, all the stuff suggested we tried for, almost 2 years and finally gave up. About 3 months ago the CD player died and he replaced it with the same exact unit, just unplugged the old one and plugged in the new one, well guess what, NO whine. Just for laughs we disconnected the traps, filters and other crap we instaled and guess what NO whine, for over 2 years he had a bad head unit.