Radio Whine

[vickiparks61]

I’ve noticed a whine coming thru speakers whether radio, XM, CD or Bluetooth. It does not increase with RPM’s. It seems like it’s more prevalent on right side of car.

 

[yurieu]

Theres nothing you can do, I tryed THREE head units all came with humming noise.

 

[Mandrake]

Have you had your alternator replaced?

 

[jep604]

Sounds like it might be a speaker issue?

 

[vickiparks61]

Have you had your alternator replaced?

No

 

[mikec]

Is the noise present when the engine is OFF? Just put the car in ACC mode (push START without pressing the brake pedal). If the noise is present, it's not from the alternator or other engine related items such as the fuel pump. If noise is present then the audio system (which one do you have - base, Premium, or Tech - likely is generating the noise itself or there is "crosstalk" on wiring from other car systems into the audio system. Not much you can do about that without physically moving wiring around.

Next time you are in a parking lot away from home and other places you commonly park at, try the engine-OFF test again. If no noise this time then your car is picking up radio frequency signals from some nearby transmitter. Repeat the tests with cellphones, tablets, laptop PCs, etc. nowhere near the car to see if they might be the transmitter. Cell phones and other devices with 4G/5G "data plans" especially as their transmitters are more powerful than WiFi and other common digital communications schemes.

mike c.

 

[Mandrake]

Mike has some good advice there. Alternators generate AC current but cars use DC. The rectifier changes the AC current to DC. There is supposed to be a capacitor that filters out high frequency noise from the alternator in the current. If its missing or not working, then you can get AC hum or whine in the radio that matches the engine speed. The test he presented should test for that.