Radio noise in 1999 ford E-350

[firefly1957]

Looking for some suggestions I have a motor home on a Ford E-350 chassis it has a gas 6.8 liter V-10 engine. My AM radio worked fine on way to New York 650 miles each way on the way back I have so much noise I can not get AM reception unless station is very strong FM seems fine. At first I though I had a bad ignition coil as the sound changes with engine speed but I ruled that out and discovered that the noise is there if the ignition is on but engine not running and is less but present if in accessory (key turned back towards driver) ?

Any help or guesses? engine has 42000 miles every thing looks good in the engine compartment.

[tomme boy]

Bad ground. Check for a ground from motor to body. If not, do one your self. Also battery to body.

[markinalpine]

My radio in my Ford F150 had it's ground connection work loose, causing a lot of noise. I was able to put a drop of thread lock on the little bolt, but made sure not to get any on the ring connector terminal on the ground wire. Also, check the antenna connector. They can get loose too.
Good Luck,
Mark [smilie=s:

[Ford SD]

The radio could have 2 or 3 grounds (in/under the dash)(wires that plug in to back of radio)
plus
antena plug (outside ground)
cab has ground to frame/moter/ battery etc

[koehn,jim]

Have the spark plug wires or plugs been replaced recently.

[Longwood]

My AM radio worked fine on way to New York 650 miles each way


I had noise caused by a plug that was bad inside one time.

WOW!
AM huh...
I have not heard a AM station in over 30 years.
My new truck is not even capable of tuning it in.
I-pod instead,,, No blabber mouth desk jokey's no *******e's with names that sound like "Brush", no commercials, no songs I dislike, no ball games.
All good... NO BAD!

[Ford SD]

Unless ford changed things from the Pick Up to the E Series van/frame
this motor has no wires

the Ford V10 has a coil over each piston V10 = 10 coils
If one of the coils start going bad you will get a missfiring cylinder
some times a small file 1/4x 1/16" and filing the contacts to get rid of the white residue will cure the missfire or stumble

I took my truck in to a repair shop with a stumble/miss fire
with the truck hooked up to a tester--> engine running, mechanic could not get a error code. But we could both hear and feel the miss fire every so often with the motor running at idle.

I have had to clean all of the coils to fix problem and also have had the adventures of fixing the one bad coil to go only 3-4 months later had it happen on another coil
so last time did a light clean on each coil plug in connector---> not fun but doing it your self is less $$ than getting a dealer to change a coil plus labour

the new cars/ trucks have so many grounds it is hard to pinpoint a problem

If the problem happens both when the truck is running and when the motor is off
it is not a coil

Ground
Heater fan
rad fan
bad alternator
fuel pump
bad added on part(electrial)
can also give a speed sensitive sound to the radio

[Lloyd Smale]

Like was said the first thing to try is new plugs and wires.

[Longwood]

Like was said the first thing to try is new plugs and wires.

My ex boss owned a shop for 40 odd years.
He never used Autolite of Champion plugs because of how much trouble he had had with those brands in the past.

I worked for him for about 12 years and saw one come-back because of Champion plugs that an old one-way geezer insisted on furnishing. The same geezer that marveled at Marvel's.:roll:

NGK or Bosch,,, nothing else.

[tomme boy]

This motor does not have plug wires.

[firefly1957]

I have pulled all ten wires to the coils with engine running no stopping of the noise also no check engine light? (I did two turned engine off then replaced them started engine repeated lack of engine light was probably because catalytic/O2 sensors were not warm enough to work yet) converter was not Radio grounds/antenna connection will be checked next. Thanks for the ideas usually I can find these things with a little investigation It is a real pain to get at things looks like it will take a miracle to get to plugs even with engine cover removed it is tight!

There seems to be no engine miss either.

[tomme boy]

Be very carefull. I have seen the plugs strip out in the head on these new Ford motors. The way these motors having the plugs like they are is a pain. You have to pull the head to fix it. So I would not bother with the plugs unless you have to.

[firefly1957]

Thanks I just pulled the wires that energize the coils I have heard/read/seen of the problems with the spark plugs in the aluminum heads of many engines.

[Lloyd Smale]

it cost my brother in law over 2k last time he changed plugs in a ford. He broke off two and they had to pull the head to fix it. He was so pissed he went and bought a new gmc. I dont know if the v10s have aluminum heads or not though. I dont beleive they are.

[uscra112]

In the early years of the Triton engine Ford for some reason used a VERY short-reach plug, which did tend to strip easily if overtorqued. In 2001 they switched to a normal reach plug, and the problem went away. Unfortunately for me, my E-150 conversion van is a 2000, and yes, the monkeys that did a plug change at about 175,000 miles damaged one. It blew right out, coil and all, while I was 450 miles from home. Amazing how well the engine ran with one plug gone. Noisy, though.

Yes, the heads on the V-8 and V-10 Tritons are aluminum. The two engines were made on the same line at Windsor, Ontario. (I worked for nearly two years installing process control equipment in the Windsor plant in the mid '90s.)

Plugs in aluminum heads should always be treated with anti-sieze. I restored old motorcycles for years, and I don't know how many I found that were so locked-in that removing them damaged the threads.

Grounds are always the first thing to check. Especially if the problem appeared suddenly.

A high-pitched whine in the radio can be a failing alternator diode, but the engine has to be running.

My van's AM reception has always stunk, and I know that running the ventilation (heater) fans adds a lot of static. A friend's (Triton engined) Explorer is the same way.

I still prefer Fords to anything Government Motors makes, and the Triton is a good engine. I knew a fleet operator who replaced his (Triton engined) cars at 300K miles on general principles, but never had an engine go.

[firefly1957]

Thanks for the tips:

Yes it has Aluminum heads and if I change the plugs I will use anti seize compound. Radio antenna and wires to it are good still looking but now that I think about it I had this trouble once before and it quit on its own?

[tomme boy]

The problem with anti seize is it will let the plug back out if not torqued to the right amount. One of the problems I seen with these heads was the plugs just did not strip out. They would twist off the the plug and leave the threaded portion in the head. So be very careful on this when you do it.

I was thinking, if this does this when the motor is not running, my bet is on the fuel pump. Can't remember if this one is in the tank or not. Check that out.

[44man]

I repaired TV and radio long ago. AM is a pain because it picks up EVERYTHING. There are so many signals all over the world today it should be dumped.
Understand how it works first. Even FM gives problems today, the spectrum is full. Frequencies are assigned so close they bleed into each other. Your alternator can ruin your radio signal. One spark plug or a bad wire is enough.
Yes a spark plug make will do it. I NEVER used Champions or Auto Lite in a Chevy but they worked in a Ford or Mopar.
Just why would anyone try to listen to AM anyway, it was never good? Amplitude can not be maintained over distance or around or through objects but a spike from a spark plug will be in your radio. AM will not bounce back from the clouds or atmosphere, it is lost. It is too much line of sight.

[Echo]

I'm betting on the antenna connection, either the antenna or the ground for it.

So there.

[firefly1957]

pulled radio all connections good no bad ground wires anywhere to be found overall the everything looks quite good.

[Lloyd Smale]

I had to chuckle. At work one day we had a company come in to test for insulator leakage on our transmition lines. they needed to send a lineman with them to show them all the lines and to let them in the substations. I figured theyd have so high tech equiptment. They had a unit that was a box with a large rod comming out of it. I ask them how it worked and the rep said it was nothing but an am radio with a large antenna. He said theyve still not came up with anything that picks up leakage any better. I chuckled and went back to my boss with the info and now the power company checks them on there own with a radio!! Works good for finding bad connections in customers homes too. I wonder if a small portable radio used like a stethescope walking around your truck would show you where the problem is comming from. I had a simular problem on my 2000 jeep. When i got it it had radio noise bad. It would go up and down with the rpm of the jeep. Its a 4cyl and was guttless but ive heard they all were and didnt pay attention to that. It ran as smooth as a sewing machine. Well i kind of ignored it. About 6months later I changed plug wires. THe noise went away and i had much more power. I was running on three cylinders but seat of the pants you couldnt feel that cylinder missfireing a bit.
I repaired TV and radio long ago. AM is a pain because it picks up EVERYTHING. There are so many signals all over the world today it should be dumped.
Understand how it works first. Even FM gives problems today, the spectrum is full. Frequencies are assigned so close they bleed into each other. Your alternator can ruin your radio signal. One spark plug or a bad wire is enough.
Yes a spark plug make will do it. I NEVER used Champions or Auto Lite in a Chevy but they worked in a Ford or Mopar.
Just why would anyone try to listen to AM anyway, it was never good? Amplitude can not be maintained over distance or around or through objects but a spike from a spark plug will be in your radio. AM will not bounce back from the clouds or atmosphere, it is lost. It is too much line of sight.

[GT27]

Get a $15.oo choke coil from radio shack or a car stereo place,run it inline on the power side,your noise will be a bad memory!

[firefly1957]

It is a new problem happened once before when I was in Florida in 2008 but only for a day?

Lloyd Smale I do understand the ability of am to pickup noise Some years ago for about 6 months I got a terrible digital static (sounded like phone modem) in a town I drove though on the way to work one morning a yard in the middle of area was full of law enforcement next day no noise? I have always wonder if it was bugs I heard there was never a thing in the paper about what the bust was either?