I just got a used truck that has an avic-d3 in it. every thing seems to work so far except am/fm radio reception.

it will only pick up the very strongest stations, the ones I don't listen to. Is this a common problem with this unit?

maybe an antennae problem?

i have a d3 in my 07 nitro & have had problems mainly with am reception. im currently receiving almost no am at all, but in the best of times i would get a very high pitched squeal whenever i went under an overpass or on cloudier days. this deck sucks ass & my installer told me today it is actually 1 of pioneers worst decks. since i paid close to $1600 at the time, im sure you can understand how happy i am with it.

other problems from the git go...

-illumination has never worked,

-speed sensor has never worked,

-gps never gives me locations anywhere near my current location.

1 year later i bit the bullet & bought a garmin & just added the lifetime updates. much more reliable & easier to use. leave the d3 for the ipod & dvds, works fine with those

It could very well be an antenna problem. If it was already installed, it is possible that the antenna is not securely fastened in the rear of the unit...or the factory antenna is not working.

Can you manually tune in to the stations you desire? Also, check the "local" FM sensitivity settings to make sure it's not bypassing all of the other stations when not manually tuning in to stations.

Lastly, is your truck tinted? Certain tint is metallic and negatively affects the vehicles radio reception.

Regarding squig's comment above, I agree that this unit is not one of Pioneer's best, but it's far from the worst. I self-installed the unit and enjoy crystal clear reception of both AM & FM stations in my '06 Impala SS. Also, regarding the fact that he has illumination & speed sensor issues, and faulty GPS tracking, he either got a sh***y install job, or a bum unit (or both). The illumination issue is generally related to the OE compatibility & wiring harness, and the speed sensor is rarely a plug-n-play -type connection. You need to dig into the OE wiring to connect to it. That speed sensor wire also affects the GPS tracking/positioning for the unit...however, the unit self-adjusts to make sure you're always driving on roads.

Thanks for your info buffalo. I have aftermarket tint in my truck, but I'm not sure if that could be my problem since the factory deck had clear reception, & I went in on saturday & had them exchange the antenna adapter to see if that was the problem. It wasn't. I actually think my install is the problem. When I bought the deck they admitted they hadn't installed one in a nitro before since it was the first year of the vehicle & the install took several hours & a few trips back to the shop before they claimed the problems were with the deck itself & since i bought the deck from another store It was too much hassle to bother, figured they would end up blaming each other... lesson learned on my part, never buy a unit from one place & have another install it.

Yeah, the Nitro is/was relatively new and there aren't too many out there for these guys to practice on. If you care, post a thread looking for the VSS wire for your car. There's a couple guys here that have access to that kind of stuff. They were able to find my VSS wire, and since then the GPS has been much more accurate.

The illumination is much of the same. It most likely needs to be tapped in to the illumination wire @ your headlight switch...not always the easiest task on the newer cars.

thanks for the help buffalo