I have a seventh generation Honda Civic EX (sedan). The radio gets only static - both AM & FM. The CD player works just fine.
p.s. It is an old car and don't want to spend any money on it so I am taking the opportunity to mess with it and fix stuff and learn things at the same time. Thus, even though I can go buy a new radio - I do not want to, I would rather buy a new car! I am curious to know what the problem is and how to troubleshoot it all the way through, thus this post!
- The antenna is an in-glass antenna in the upper half of the rear window. The lower half of the window has more traces but they are mainly for defrosting ice/snow. But I "think" they also act as part of the antenna - I am not sure about the details. There is a connector for the upper traces (antenna) and there is one connector on both the sides of the lower traces (defroster). So three connectors total.
- I checked the antenna continuity all the way from the antenna plug to the connector on the in-glass antenna on the rear window and it is fine. Also, there is no short between the antenna ground and hot (not sure if I am using the correct terminology but I am referring to the tip of the plug as hot and the outer shell as the ground).
- Once I plug in the antenna in the back of the radio and check the continuity on the rear window between hot (upper connector in the rear window) and ground (one of the side connectors on the rear window) then I get continuity! Is it supposed to be this way?
- I get static even when I disconnect the antenna from the radio. I would imagine that I would get at least some reception, even though noisy! Has the tuner gone bad? Can I get some troubleshooting tips?
- I get static even when I connect an FM transmitter in the cigarette lighter i.e. I have a very strong source of FM signals. Again, has the tuner gone bad?
- I checked the grounding on the radio and that too is fine.
p.s. It is an old car and don't want to spend any money on it so I am taking the opportunity to mess with it and fix stuff and learn things at the same time. Thus, even though I can go buy a new radio - I do not want to, I would rather buy a new car! I am curious to know what the problem is and how to troubleshoot it all the way through, thus this post!