I have a 1986 Camry. To make a very looooong story short, the alternator and fusible link were replaced at the same time, about a year ago. I also had a new distributor cap and wires installed.

At the time of the repair, the standard 30-amp fuse that was installed in place of the fusible link kept blowing out. The mechanics couldn't figure out why this was happening. After a few days of them standing around with their thumbs up their ass, the problem just stopped. The fuse has not blown out since, and the car drives reliably.

Ever since this repair was made, the radio (every radio, I've tried about 5 different radios) gets a lot of interference on FM. It sounds fine on AM and CD. This interference only happens when the engine is running. Shut the engine off, the interference stops. It's not horrible, but it's annoying sometimes, especially with softer songs or talk radio (Howard Stern).

Directly or indirectly, the interference has something to do with the speed of the engine. The clicking interference I hear from the radio increases in speed at higher engine RPMs.

One guy at the autopart store said the distributor wires are bad, but I checked them and they're insulated and look good. Another guy says there's a short somewhere in the car's wire harness and finding it will be a huge pain in the ass.

Finally, one last bit of information. Near the end of last summer, a few months after the fusible link had been replaced, I looked at the fuse itself. It wasn't blown out, but the plastic coating was kind of deformed from melting. I put in a new 30-amp fuse at that time. I just checked it today, and it's perfect - not blown out, no melting, nothing. I don't know if the melting of the first fuse was caused by heat in the fuse itself or from heat under the hood. The fuse is right off the battery, not too far from the engine fans, so using the air conditioner a lot last summer could be what melted the fuse. Every diagnostic test run by the mechanics says everything is working properly. The bottom line is that the only symptom showing up from this problem right now is the interference on the radio.

Sorry this post is so long. Does anybody know what could be going on here? Is there any type of repair place I can take it to that specializes in this kind of stuff? I heard a radio ad for Sears doing a check of the electrical system for cheap, but I don't know if they'd be able to find anything.

 

Check out this page: Crutchfield Advisor: Noise Suppression Guide

This sounds like it pertains to your problem:

 

Thanks, I have printed out the entire webpage from Crutchfield you linked and I will show my mechanic. It's hard to think it's not related to the battery/alternator/spark plugs in some way, because this problem began at the time I had all that work done under the hood. Also, I'm not using an amp or anything - just an ordinary factory AM/FM radio. The part about the "ticking noise that varies in speed as you accelerate" is a dead giveaway as far as I'm concerned. It could be a grounding problem or something else, but I'm hoping they can find the problem. At this point, it's pretty much beyond me.