Has anyone got any ideas as to why my AM radio reception might be so poor, butFM seems fine? My '04 has the tape cassette radio (with changer under passenger seat) in it. Compared to my other vehicles, it's really bad. I know AM is not the most static free band to start with, but somethings not right on this one. I have an appointment at the dealer next week, as I'm still in warranty. I'd sorta like to go in with some idea of what to expect from the dealer on the issue.

Mike, you have probably seen it all on this sort of thing. Were they just engineered poorly from thefactory, or is there likely aproblem?

Thanks!

 

I haven't come across this personaly, although I have heard of others with the same problem.
Part may be due to antenna location and if there is a signal amplifier on the antenna.

 

I too have this problem in my 03 D2. FM is perfectly fine but AM is trash even with a50k watt station here in town. When I had it in for service they popped the radio and unplugged/plugged all the connections in and it helped. I still get some static but overall the signal is much stronger. Their guess was corrosion on the antenna inputs was causing some problems. I didn't "pay" them to investigate further so they didn't. I have a friend with keys and I will be investigating further.

Let me know what you find out from your dealer. It may be a problem/wiring issue with the antenna -- Power amp -- Radio.

I'm waiting for it to warm up a bit here to tackle it.

 

Sure thing, Scanner. And also, thanks Mike for your reply. It's a couple of days until my appointment, but will let you know what they say.

 

On the D1's there are two arial amplifiers, one for each antenna on each rear window, I believe. Now, according to the DII Rave CD, there is one arealAntenna Amplifier for the 'Base line / Mid line' radio, and two amplifiers for the 'High Line' radio. The base line amplifier is tied into the Passenger fure box (P101), fuse 16 [15A].

The High Line Radio option amplifiers show to be tied directly back to the head unit (Red/blue wires). Check those wires at the radio connection.

On the Rave CD, the diagram starts on page 130 in the 'electrical' diagrams section.
I couldn't find the location of the amplifiers on the CD, but for the D1, they're in the back near the antenna's (according to the Rave CD). I know that in my area, when I had my antenna unhooked, I was able to pick up strong FM stations with just a little piece of antenna wire on the radio, but no AM stations. Once the antenna was fully hooked up, the AM worked like a champ. So, I'd look at those antenna amplifiers and see what you find. Hope this helps.

 

Well, took the DII into the dealer today. Advised them about my radio issue. They took it outside and counted the number of stations it picked up. Brought another DII beside it and did the same. Both had the same performance. They concluded nothing was wrong with it. If this is so, then the radio is just bad design. All my other vehicles had significantly better reception than the DII. I guess there's nothing elseI'll be able to get them to do about it. I may try removing the radio and checking the antenna/connections to see if that make a difference or not. If any of you other guys get anywhere with yours, please post.

 

I got my radio keys from my friend this weekend and hope to spend some time on this in the near future. I'll let you know what I find.

 

Please do, Scanner.

 

Whos to say the DII they tested it on didn't have the same problem? Did they have a 3rd DII to test it out on? It may be that it truely is a weakness, but vehicles often exhibit similar problems. Most dealersdo lousy troubleshooting but do a good job throwing parts at a problem. Some mechnics at dealers are very good troubleshooters, but they're in the minority. Back in college I used to buy/sell certain types of trucks. Eventually you'd see the exact same problem with all the vehicles of a certain age. Even today, if you go to auto auctions, you'll see dealers walk up to vehicles and they just know what the weaknesses are of a particular type/age of vehicle. The same pattern holds true for Discoverys as well (e.g. Three Amigos). I wonder if it isn't the same issue with the AM radio reception??