Root16

I did a little research on these forums and it seems that I should first check that the ground is good on my car to see if that is the problem why my radio reception is so bad.

More details:
When I turn my lights on or plug in my iPhone to charge, the radio reception gets worse.

I replaced the stock head unit with a decent $100 head unit, but the radio reception remained crappy.
The part of the car that you select where the heat blows (feet, face, defrost etc) and the fresh air/recycle air buttons --that whole part of the car (not sure what it's called) doesn't illuminate 100% all the time anymore (sometimes it only half-illuminates). I alternate between fresh air and recycle air a lot, and whenever I press one of those buttons it often illuminates fully.

My car is old and rusty and old. It may have as many as 270,000 miles on it, but I'm not sure because the odometer only works about 40% of the time. The odometer reads 218,000+. A friend replaced the cluster but it did not fix that problem (I'm not even sure he really replaced it, he was Russian and English was not his native language and I have a feeling there might have been a miscommunication--but maybe it was replaced properly with a good part).

The car is bone stock except for some HID lights I had installed recently that had no effect on the radio's reception.

stowne78

Bad grounding is always the first thing to check. Since its a problem that im assuming gradually came on, and the fact that its an old car, you would need2 check all connections (+ & -) they will start to work loose over time. Over time the copper degrades, which means a rewire on some things may be a good idea.