I'm having a strange issue with the FM radio in my 1992 245. I just bought the car three months ago, it's my first Volvo (freaking love it), and I've searched the archives here for radio issues. I'm seeing that radio interference is common, but this is weird...

First off, the radio worked perfectly for the first couple of months I owned the car. Then suddenly, a few weeks ago, it started acting up. It starts with a fairly quiet "tink-tink-tink" noise. With each "tink" the ST (stereo signal) indicator on the radio display flashes. Then the loud "WOMP! WOMP-WOMP!" noises come into the mix. It goes something like this...

"From National [tink-tink] Public Radio in Washington [WOMP], this is [WOMP] NPR [tink] News..."

- The noises don't happen on the AM band, or when playing a cassette tape.

- Most days, I can drive for ten minutes or so before the radio goes haywire.

- The radio continues to make these noises when the engine is not running.

- I located the antenna connector near the left taillights (where the antenna cable plugs into the wire which runs to front of car). It was corroded, so I cleaned it but that didn't help.

- While I had the antenna unhooked for cleaning, I turned the radio on. The reception seemed just as good with the antenna unplugged, but the noises were still happening.



Any ideas are greatly appreciated!