Hi I have a 2011 Passat TDI with a RCD 510, Premium 8 radio. It worked beautifully until a month or so ago when it started a strange habit which is getting more frequent.
When I start the car in the morning, the AM stations are hardly audible (yes with the volume turned up), if I then switch to FM all the stations appear perfectly normal, I then switch back to AM and all the stations are sill very faint and distorted. Then sometime later, somewhere between 5 and 20 mins, there is a loud static crackling (particularly over bumps) emerging through the speakers for a few seconds and the AM stations spring to life and appear normal, for the rest of the trip. If I turn off the car and restart shortly after, the radio is completely normal, however if I leave the car for an hour or so, the same routine happens as I described.
I have remove the head from its location and pulled out the antenna connection out and in and felt along the antenna lead as far as I could but all appears normal ... and the static crackling continues.
Some one suggested it might be a loose or broken electrical connection on the unit itself, however I'm hesitant to try opening it up... I'm not that handy... yet.
Any ideas??? Is this a common problem?