Noise caused by grounding, skip, or what?

Ok i have a General Lee in my Volvo. The meter used to always set around 1 or less with normal noise. The last couple of weeks it has been around 4 or so.By the time I squelch out the noise I can't even talk a half mile it seems. I cannot figure out what would be causing this problem. I wasn't sure if skip could cause this I know it's been heavy lately but didn't thiunk it would cause this issue but i don't know. I also thought it may be a grounding issue. Please Help I know somebody has experienced this before.

I forgot to mention I have checked my swr's and they have not changed still at 1.3 across the board. Cchecked coax and no problems there either.

 

I should have been more clear. The noise is on my reception only. I get great reports on my outgoing signal. I just can't hear anybody unless they are within a half mile to mile of me because i have to squelch out all the noise on my receive. It does not matter if the truck is running or not and it is not always constant it comes and goes although it rarely goes away. This is one reason i was thinking maybe i have developed a ground issue or something.

 

Thanks SBS I'll give it a try and see what happens.

 

Well I have never had this problem till recently on my General Lee. It just started one day for whatever reason.

 

5 months old