Daily issues with External Audio/CarPlay

[semperfimarine2]

For the past few months, my Sync3 and USB drive have been driving me absolutely nuts. It was an occasional thing that I just chalked up to it being technology, but it's gotten to the point where it happens DAILY! Once that started happening, there's no more ignoring it.

Whenever I plug in my iPhone through USB, audio and CarPlay come through and work perfectly...for a few minutes. Then any and all external audio just cuts out. CarPlay still shows up on the screen, and even shows music playing through, but I just get silence. I can switch to the radio and get AM/FM fine, and even switch to the CD player which works, but any Bluetooth/USB audio is cut out. Phone calls don't have any audio as well.

It's also not JUST CarPlay, Bluetooth audio will even fail without being plugged in.

Unplugging/plugging back in does nothing, as well as hitting the Radio power button. The only solution, which even then doesn't always work, is turning the car off and letting it sit for ~5 minutes or so, if I'm lucky. Even then, doing that once doesn't always fix it, so I have to do it again. Which is just causing so much unnecessary waiting time.

I took it to Ford once, for my A/C going out, and mentioned it in passing, but of course it works perfectly fine for them. But it's gotten to the point, where I'm going crazy everyday only being able to listen to the radio and/or the 1 CD i have in the car on my way to and from work.

I was able to capture my issue one day on my phone last week. Here it is broken down in 3 videos. Also, check the time of the first video, and the ending time of the 3rd.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3


Does anyone else suffer from this issue, or know of a fix? I know I'm going to have to take it into Ford one day, but am trying to avoid being without my car for so long. Which is a 2017 GTPPP with only 21,xxx miles on it.

Sorry for the long read, but I just needed to vent and give out as much info. Any and all help is much appreciated!

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[fordxgt]

Which version of iOS and Sync are you on?

 

[semperfimarine2]

Which version of iOS and Sync are you on?

iPhone XS Max on iOS 12
Sync...I'm not sure, I'd have to check after work.

 

[fordxgt]

iPhone XS Max on iOS 12
Sync...I'm not sure, I'd have to check after work.

I experienced similar problems until I updated to the latest Sync and iOS 12 (not sure which software was causing the problem). If you are already on iOS 12 and still experiencing problems, it may be a Sync thing. You can see if a Sync update is available at https://owner.ford.com/tools/account/how-tos/keep-your-sync-up-to-date.html

 

[ODucksFan]

I've had that issue a few times. I leave my iPod plugged in on the USB port next to the start engine button and use the USB port in the glove box for CarPlay. Occasionally audio would cut out and the fix was unplugging iPod and plugging it back in. This hasn't happened in a while though. I updated to the most recent Sync version about a month ago. I have the same phone as you and I'm on iOS 12. As for phone calls with low volume, you need to turn up the volume from the knob in the car. Sync works weird that way where turning up volume on iPhone does nothing. I had that same issue until I turned up car volume and ever since, all calls I'm able to hear.

 

[Alberto]

I had a weird issue last night where I started the car, plugged in my iPhone and CarPlay came up. Then this happened after music started playing:
1) None of the touch screen controls worked, it seemed hung, but the music was still working fine. None of the music controls worked
2) I tried to exit CarPlay by pressing the equalizer/audio physical button and that didn't work
3) I unplugged my iPhone and the screen when black- but it was still slightly lit up showing it had power but it was more or less, black
4) When I shifted, my backup camera started to come on intermittently in 1st/2nd gear lol

I turned the car off briefly and restarted and the problem was still there- could be capacitors in the power supply were still holding power the unit.
After I let the car sit for a while and reopened the door, I could see the mustang horse on the screen so it looked like it was reset.
I have worked in tech and SW for 37years. So, I'm sure there are some bugs in the system.
I'm not sure how to update the firmware as someone mentioned above- I'll have to look into that. My guess is they fixed some of these issues
My car is 2019, I think its the sync3 system- not sure what OS I have on my iPhone, but I did just get an update a couple of nights ago

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