I recently purchased a 2004 Cooper. After a few days I noticed I had a lot of static in radio, since it was 4 years old I replaced the head thinking that it was bad, while I was at it I added the Ipod interface and installed new speakers, I have the controls in my steering wheel so I also bought and installed the part for it to function with the new head unit. I drove the car the next morning to work, radio worked, cd works, ipod interface works. The new speakers work great. On the way home I had static in the radio, the cd and ipod did not have static. This went on for several days until I realized that the only thing different in the morning was I had my headlights on.

So here is my problem
headlights ON ...................................radio, cd and ipod work great.
Headlights OFF..................................Radio Static, cd and Ipod works great.

Has anyone else had this problem and how did you solve it?

 

I have a 2003 MC - noticed almost the same thing about a year ago, except my problem is the rear defroster. When the rear defroster is on, the radio has a lot of static, and when it's off, there's no static. I haven't really tried to find a solution, mostly because I rarely listen to the radio - I'm always either listening to my Ipod or Sirius. I did always think it was a strange thing though... Good luck

 

Took my car in for service today, they were not able to find the casue of my problem, however I ask them about yours and it is a common problem with the antenna. You might want to tell them the next time you take it in for service. I take mine back next week for them to focus on the radio issue.