bobiroc

This has been happening ever since I got my HHR really but thought nothing of it and just assumed it was interference or something but lately it has been bugging me. Every once in a while when I start my car my radio will have static on every radio station. I do not live very far from the radio stations and the funny thing is sometimes I can shut my car off and remove the key and then restart it and the radio is fine and the car never moved. I explained this to dealer once or twice but like usual it never happens then and they dismissed it as signal interference. I am just wondering anyone else has experienced this or has any insight on what it could be or what I could do to troubleshoot the problem further.

Hey if I need a new radio maybe I can convince them to put the head unit in with the USB port. Hmmm.

MasseyMan

I don't have a solution but this happened to me for the first time last Thursday. It worked fine during the morning commute, but then on the drive home, static on all stations. I powered the radio off and then back on. This did not resolve the issue. I ended up pulling off the road into a parking lot, turning off the ignition, and then opening the door so the radio would turn off. Upon restart the problem was gone.

BTW - I just saw another post and they said it happened in cold weather. Thursday it was 16 F on the way to work and about 14 F on the way home. We may be onto something.

Mine is an 08 with 42k miles.

bobiroc

Well I guess I am not the only one having that problem. It seems you have to kill the car for it to go away and it seems random. Like I mentioned the post above when it does happen sometimes I can get it to go away by just doing what you did. Turn car off, kill radio by opening door and then restarting car. It is very weird.

ChevyMgr

Am? Fm? Xm?

bobiroc

FM, I do not really listen to AM but I will be sure to check that next time it happens and I let my XM expire as I do not want it. My daily trips are generally short and if I do go on a long trip I just connect my iPod.

MasseyMan

I've only had it happen once and it was on FM. I do not have a subscription to XM.

HeatherP

I was having radio issues in my car also. Static through the speakers when the radio wasn't even on, a loud POP out of the speakers when the car was turned on, garbled sound out of the speakers.......I took the car in for a performance issue (which was covered within 200 miles of a warranty I didn't even know I had!), and mentioned the radio problems. I was told that there was a TSB that requires the radio to be reprogrammed which apparently solves the problem. Since my issue happened intermittently, I don't know if it's actually been taken care of or not, but time will tell. They listed the bulletin number as #06044007C, but when I googled it, nothing came up. I think there are supposed to be dashes in there, but I'm not sure where exactly.

Hope that helps!!!

HeatherP

I just read this in another thread:

The radio "pop" problem is addressed in TSB #06-08-44-007C, Radio distortion and Pop Noise

The audio quality/poor reception on FM band is addressed in TSB #06-08-44-016 or TSB#06-08-44-016B (updated)

ChevyMgr

I thought about that bulletin but its for AM only. So it could be the antenna, the cable or the radio.

Comfortably Numb

Based on what has been said about the problem I would say it is either the antenna or more likely the cable from the antenna. It really sounds as if the cable has a break in it and sometimes makes a connection sometimes doesn't. FM will work without an antenna if the signal is strong enough, it may be that you are at the edge of where it will work that way.