Poor Radio Signal Reception
 

I have a 2000 Honda Accord EX Coupe which I got it recently. I just realised that the stock radio has a very poor reception in it. My CD player plays great and has no issues. I receive one or 2 FM stations and that too with manual tuning and gets noisy at various situations. It cannot catch good signals with the auto scan/tune options. There are plenty of good stations in my city and I have seen people tune into them quite easily with hardly any noise in there. Mine sounds like a radio in 1930's.

Does that imply that I have a bad antenna? Could anyone help me or give me a good/orderly way to approach and debug this issue?
Has anyone faced this issue before.

hmmm. maybe a bad antenna connection. remove the radio and inspect the antenna connection there.

screw behind the clock/hazard (you can pull the clock/hazard off and disconnect harnesses)
two screws on bottom of radio trim
trim pulls off, then disconnect harnesses for A/C
four 10mm bolts holding radio in.

the Accord uses an antenna built onto the rear glass. maybe that trace is damaged. if so, a standard rear window defrost repair kit should also work for the antenna.

Thanks Keep hopes alive. I missed your reply. I will do it tomorrow and let you know..
In the mean time, I saw that my radio does pick up some FM signals when my car is stationary. Looks like it is an antenna issue.

Strange is that my radio does not pick up any AM signals at all..

My friend was suggesting that it might need a recalibration!!
Is there such a thing for radio? I am guessing he said it in the context of those knobs?

there is no recalibration possible for the OEM headunit -without paying enough to just replace the thing.

buying a new radio is a decent idea - even an entry level Kenwood KDC-X494 would be affordable and flexible, and if you buy it from Crutchfield you get the wiring harness and mounting kit for free.

Thanks keep hope alive. I think even I am now oriented towards looking for a better player than the stock! duh!

Also noticed your signature I just realised that we have a same generation Accord. Will you be able to help me on the CEL thread please..

https://www.hondaaccordforum.com/for...ad.php?t=33764

My aim there is to bench test the EGR valve. Can you provide any guidance?

So glad I found this. Did you end up with a solution for your radio?
I just bought a new Accord Coupe LX-S on 7/5/2010 and I have horrible reception issues. I listen to static all the time, and lose stations completely on occasion.

I have taken my car to 2 different dealerships nothing short of 7 times to try and get the issue resolved. One refused that they even heard static. After spinning my wheels at the second, the manager got involved and finally heard the issue. We then took out several other 2010 coupes and they all had the same issue. We even drove ones that hadn't been tinted yet, still the same problem.

Today we bought a powered external antenna to try, and they say it still has the same issue. I have been told that Honda has been notified and is "working on it." I'm suppose to go pick up my car yet again, and live with it until I hear from them about any fix that Honda might have issued.

So frustrated... I will be calling Honda tomorrow to discuss this. I see a lot of people are having the same issue. I am looking for any solutions and/or people who are having the same issue so we can get Honda to do something about it!

there isn't much Honda can do about millions of OEM head units with crappy tuners... short of design and build a better unit and replace them... which is unlikely.

But isn't it strange that the same issues still exist when using a top of the line powered external antenna?

Any suggestions for how I can fix this issue?

Tint
 

i know if you have the wrong tint on your rear windshield it will interfere with your antenna since its on the rear windshield.. some tints have metallic film in it and some don't.. i learn my lesson long ago by going cheap and purchasing the wrong tint ..currently on my new accord lx-p i got the carbon tint which has no metal in it.

Thanks for the response, but when I was trying to investigate this issue further we had troubleshot that probability. First of all, this particular dealership actually uses a very top of the line carbon tint. I can't remember the name now, but I had called several tinting shops and it was one of the most expensive and recommended tints they used. At the dealership, we took out another tinted LX which had worse reception than mine. Then we took out an un-tinted LX which was about as bad as mine. We even took an EX with the upgraded radio system and it was actually the worst of all the cars we tried. I think its just a really terrible OEM and Honda could care less.