Help me to escape this stupidity loop - SYNC 2 Nav problem

Hey all.

Im reaching the point of (relative) despair with the Nav in my car.

Its a March '16 build GT with SYNC2 and Nav.

It worked fine for about a year and then started playing up about 9m ago.

Problem: Nav screen/map stays black/blank. Still have the menu button in top right corner, but the screen itself is blank and you dont get the legal warning popup and 'bong' through the speakers. You can program a route and it WILL navigate for you with the voice prompts etc, albeit with no visual help.

So the nav calculation part is working OK, its just not presenting the info to the screen.

This happens around 7/10 times I start the car.

*Sometimes* you can trick the the system in to working by starting the audio system, and then going back in to Nav. This doesn't always work.

Also, about once per week ill get a separate message that the Nav card is invalid and to insert a new one. Removing/reinserting card makes no difference, usually fixes itself after a few power cycles.

I have now been to the dealer 6! times with this problem. They acknowledge 100% that there is a problem, but they are struggling to help me because despite the fault being active and 'on screen', it isnt producing any DTC error codes that can be read by the code machine.

The car is still in manufacturer warranty, but because there are no fault codes, Ford will NOT action any kind of replacement components.

The car has had new software/firmware loaded in 4 times (latest loaded this week), none of which have made any difference.

I have tried 3x different SD cards (F4/F5/F6), all OEM original bought from the dealer..... none of which have made any difference.

Im stuck in a loop and all the dealer wants to do is load 'new software' and send me away. Im now on my 3rd dealer with the problem after the previous one refused to help me further (no DTCs = no warranty payment from Ford for man hours).

Its incredible!

My gut feeling is that I have a faulty SD card reader, but in any-case some physical component needs to be replaced. Sync computer, or SD reader or..... something!

Anyone had this problem? Anyone heard of this problem? I cant believe Ford honestly look me in the eye, accept there a clear and serious problem, but then refuse to help me.

Latest software on the car is:



and this is what the screen looks like when its playing up:

I'd try a different dealer, because it's likely not Ford denying anything. It sounds like this dealer is just riding it out until your warranty expires. A faulty SD Card reader, or fault components in the head unit likely wouldn't throw a code at all. Many issues on cars won't throw a code and would still need to be replaced.

JeffreyDJ said:

I'd try a different dealer, because it's likely not Ford denying anything. It sounds like this dealer is just riding it out until your warranty expires. A faulty SD Card reader, or fault components in the head unit likely wouldn't throw a code at all. Many issues on cars won't throw a code and would still need to be replaced.

Click to expand...

I'm on my 3rd dealer with this problem already.

kapiteinlangzaam said:

I'm on my 3rd dealer with this problem already.

Click to expand...

Yikes. Is there anyway to contact Ford directly? I know in the US we have "customer care lines" to try and get help if a dealer visit isn't cutting it (or for whatever other question you may have).

The customer lines are also clueless.

My car is one of approx 10 official GTs in the whole country. There are only about 200 S550s in total.

Nobody knows what they are doing. It's driving me mad.

I've had 6 appointments and 3 different dealers just for this issue. I'm hoping someone out there in internet land has had the same issue and can point me in the right direction.

I had something like this happen to me last year. This is what I did:

1) Pop the sd card out of the sd slot
2) Turn the car on in accessory mode. Let MFT load and press navigation on the screen and let it load, or try to load. You may get an error message.
3) Turn off the car and wait 10 seconds
4) put the SD card back in and start the car or put in accessory mode.
see if the problem persists.

It looks like this is *hopefully* finally solved.

About 3 weeks ago I chanced upon the fact that when nothing was plugged in to the accessory USB socket in the arm rest, the nav seemed to be much happier with itself.

Up until that point, I always had something plugged in to the USB, either charging a device or playing music etc.

So after nearly 3 weeks of no USB device, it only 'failed' on me once.... I booked it back in to the dealer and they agreed to change the media hub, which is apparently the complete SD card reader and USB port etc found in the arm rest.

This seems to have fixed it. I can now use the USB port and still have a working map interface.

So in the end this took 7 separate dealer appointments, much arguing, nearly a year without properly working nav, and in the end the fix was exactly what I told them it would be on my first visit (i.e. the SD card reader).

I suppose it comes down to a complete lack of willingness to investigate or think outside the box.

Ford should be ashamed of themselves. But at least it seems to be sorted.

Just a sign that the Techs today many times need a computer to tell them what is wrong or they are lost. Most of us are already aware as this has been the case for many years.

Another sign that it pays to read these forums. Many here and on other forums have more knowledge that the dealer.

Recently on our newly purchased used 2015 GT we found a very intermittent condition where one bar on the passenger tail light would not light bright for brake or signal. Dealer saw it was not working but began to work once they got it in a service bay. They did not have a clue. This week I read on this forum about someone with the same condition which has been linked to low battery. Problem solved.

You really have to cross your fingers when you go to a dealer these days.

thats a sign of bad APIM, upgrade to sync3 its much better

HizliBullet said:

thats a sign of bad APIM, upgrade to sync3 its much better

Click to expand...

I was going to say that as well. I had a similar issue when I had a 2013 Explorer. Ton of issues and my dealership replaced the APIM and everything was fine after that.

Is the APIM the computer that drives the Sync system?

I ask because my nav shit itself yesterday again :(