Radio horrible reception

[NelsonC]

Hi everyone,

I am a new user here "Great site", I recently bought a Alero 2000 GL
so far pretty happy with it "was a good price" the only problem I have is my radio is really weak at picking up stations.. can someone recommend something? it does not pickup any AM only FM and very weak.. how can i fix this issue? an antenna booster? or any tweaks??

Thank you all for your help and I hope I can help someone in return.

[NelsonC]

Hey Everyone,

Does no one have any radio problems? oh having the car only one week.. the engine light turned on.. "I am worried now"

any ideas.. I am a cautious driver ... a to b .. never speed..
this is not a good start..

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by NelsonC

Hey Everyone,

Does no one have any radio problems? oh having the car only one week.. the engine light turned on.. "I am worried now"

any ideas.. I am a cautious driver ... a to b .. never speed..
this is not a good start..

On the SES light, get it scanned at Autozone or Advanced for DTC error codes. It is probably unrelated to your radio problem.

Welcome to the forum.

[nqc2k]

I've only had an aftermarket radio in my car as I bought it used with the new radio already installed. So i cannot comment on a stock radio...but i would make sure the antenna is still plugged into your radio. Remove the radio and look at the back, youl'll see where the antenna is (or should be plugged in). If its plugged in, maybe unplug it and plug it back in.

[ftb]

I had this problem with my 2000 Alero and fixed it this way. No guarantee of course that this is your problem, but I had the same symptoms.

The problem had to do with the fact that the Alero uses the rear window defogger wires (which are embedded in the rear window) as the antenna for the radio as well. It is necessary to split the radio signal off those wires to route them to the radio. (there is also 12 volts on the defogger wires to make them work, and the radio will not like that at all). So, there is a small metal box in the right rear roof post which takes the wire from the defogger and splits it, with one set of leads going to the defogger control and the other being a length of coax that goes to the radio. My splitter had an open circuit and no antenna signal was getting to the radio. My local garage told me this is a common problem with this model.

Probably the easiest way to test this is to remove the coax from the box (it's an easily-removed connector), clip a length of wire to the center of the coax and see if you get a decent signal on your radio. If so, then your problem is likely in that area. You can get at the box easily by removing the plastic liner inside the car that covers the right rear roof post. If your defogger works, then you know that there is a good connection from the antenna to the splitter box.

Hope this helps.

[sailinstud420]

So does that splitter box need to be replaced? What commonly fails in the box?

[jratism]

It happen to me with my 2002 Alero...the Antenna for the radio may have been unplugged. It is on the passenger side under the dash. I did'nt do it a mechanic plugged it back in for me. Good Luck.

[sailinstud420]

I found a connection on the passenger side floor/rocker molding. Is there another one under the dash? What about that splitter in the back? Does that commonly need replacement?