Powerline distortion on Car AM radio reception

I just bought a Dodge Caravan with a Pioneer DEH-P2000 radio/CD player. When
listening to AM radio and driving near HV powerlines, the received signal is
significantly distorted. The sound "warbles", and is very unpleasant, and
sometimes hard to understand voices. It happens a lot driving around town.

I've never experienced this before with other cars or radios. Can anyone suggest
anything I can do to solve the problem, other than the obvious "replace it"?

 

Hello Bob:

You can't have your cake and eat it too...

Get this replaced while you still have your warranty in effect.

Warm regards,

Pete

 

Unfortunately, I bought it used, and the warrantee is long gone, I'm sure.

 

I guess it's time to figure out how to get access to the radio. Anyone dealt
with this on an old (94) Caravan or one of the related vans?

 

All Chrysleer radios are easy to get out. After you gently pry off
the bezel, there are two screws in the front, with hex heads, One on
the right side and one the bottom left.

Take them out and the radio pulls out, but one wire or another will
keep it from coming out very far.

My '95 Chrysler LeBaron came with some wierdo cheap-looking after
market radio but I had the radio from the '88 I scrapped and it
doesn't react any worse to power lines than any radio I have had.
Every car I or my friend has had stops receiption on AM, when going by
either of two radio transmitters in the area, but only for a few
seconds. Other than that, I guess I don't spend much time near high
tension lines. I know I went under them twice on Sunday and didn't
hear a thing in my car radio. But it was probalby on FM.

If you install a Chrysler radio, you have to plug in the antenna, the
grey connector, the black connector, and don't forget the ground
strap, braided metal in the 4 Chryslers I've dealt with. Without that
reception can be terrible. A friend had a car with terrible sound,
and it took me a while to notice that the ground strap was totally
missing. I replaced it with a heavy wire.

Did the wire have to be heavy?? The ground strap was very very heavy,
a centimeter wide and 2 or 3 millimeters thick. Why was that?
Doesn't it carry only a teeny bit of current at the most?

I think there's a separate ground wire in one of the multi-wire
connectors, but even if it is the entire ground, why does it have to
be so heavy?