Radio interference and bumpy idle problems...

[ford man]

I've been having a steadily worsening problem with radio interference. It intermittently cuts out at idle and gets worse driving. The further you push the gas pedal down the worse it gets. At half throttle its VERY distorted. At light throttle it's listenable. It used to go away after a while but now it's there all the time. It doesn't matter if it's on radio or CD. I also notice the idle seems a little bumpier then before maybe.

My thoughts are ignition related? It has brand new ignition wires... so maybe coil?? Is it the alternator or some kind of wiring problem? It's starting to drive me crazy... I really appreciate your help and suggestions!

BTW It's a '85 cfi. It's got a 3 year old Pioneer head unit with 4 new Pioneer speakers at the same time and new speaker wire. It had premium sound, but all that is gone now.

Thanks, I really appreciate your help and suggestions!

Isaiah

[t65neon5]

i really doubt it has anything to do with the radio/CD player,or the alternator...there should be a "noise supressor" somewhere in the wiring to the coil or distributor,id imagine it is toast,and needs replaced(looks a lot like a "condensor" from an old points style distributor)

[sly]

look for the "little can" with one wire coming out of it that should be near the coil. This is the capacitor that filters out the noise generated by the spark system. This is probably your issue. Replace that. They're typically about $5-10.

[gadget73]

Check your grounds. There is one from the battery to the engine, another from the engine to the body, and there may or may not be one from the battery to the body. Pull and clean each of those and see if anything changes. I've seen a lot of these cars without the condensor at all, and it never seemed to make any significant amount of difference.