HOW TO: Add MyFord Touch/Sync 3 to base model S550

[HextallS550]

The idea that you have to purchase the programming is one propagated by OEMRadio, who was selling programming. In reality you can do the programming yourself for free.

I think people owe [MENTION=25607]Spart[/MENTION] a lot of thanks for posting what I wanted to post after I spoke with someone at Clarion. OEM Jesse is a fucking con-artist.

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[Spart]

I think people owe [MENTION=25607]Spart[/MENTION] a lot of thanks for posting what I wanted to post after I spoke with someone at Clarion. OEM Jesse is a fucking con-artist.

I don't know about con-artist. Some people don't have the skill or inclination to DIY. That's fine, you want to pay somebody to work on your car, that's your call.

I was more upset that I tried to give the guy my money for several months straight before he rage-quit with a giant Facebook manifesto about how he hates people trying to give him business, never to be heard from again.

:shrug:

Making money off of knowledge you've built is fine. Just hope you don't get mad when others figure that same info out and give it away for free. I have a different outlook on things I guess, when I've figured out as-built mods my first impulse is to share them, not profit from them.

Not only that, but I knowing what I know now, if you have a swap setup by Jesse, your mode switch is useless and your hazzard toggle doesn't work correctly. Jesse couldn't fix those with his business model, because he wouldn't tell you how to DIY, and it's not like you would send him your BCM, ABS and IPC for reprogramming.

But for those who care to spend a bit of time learning how to modify as-built, the info is out there now. The software stuff is really easy compared to the actual physical work you have to do in a swap!

 

[HextallS550]

I don't know about con-artist. Some people don't have the skill or inclination to DIY. That's fine, you want to pay somebody to work on your car, that's your call.

I was more upset that I tried to give the guy my money for several months straight before he rage-quit with a giant Facebook manifesto about how he hates people trying to give him business, never to be heard from again.

Was this in the Mustang group you told me about? I joined but never saw anything. I'd love to read the rage post though

Making money off of knowledge you've built is fine. Just hope you don't get mad when others figure that same info out and give it away for free. I have a different outlook on things I guess, when I've figured out as-built mods my first impulse is to share them, not profit from them.

You and I see eye to eye. I'm am the same way. That's why I took so much time to dig through the connector issue. It's also why I made 3 APIM connectors before realizing how easy it is to swap pins. I'll still do ACM connectors all day but I'm not making any profit after you consider the costs.
Now I realize there ARE some things that people will pay for; plug n' play, ease of use, maybe the learning curve is huge or the right equipment is too expensive (such as Engine calibration) and then I have no issue with people building a business around their knowledge.

Not only that, but I knowing what I know now, if you have a swap setup by Jesse, your mode switch is useless and your hazzard toggle doesn't work correctly. Jesse couldn't fix those with his business model, because he wouldn't tell you how to DIY!

Jesse, doesn't know a lot about some of the stuff he did lol. What tipped me off was when a member on DIYMA who has an Escape posted the frequency response of his ACM which supposedly had the line level out, EQ off settings changed. When he asked Jesse why it wasn't flat and still exhibited roll off at higher volume settings (which I now know why Ford did) Jesse got mad and told him that he didn't have equipment to check stuff like that
SO in my opinion people who paid him over paid and didn't really get what they were told they were getting. That's why I used the term above.

 

[Spart]

Was this in the Mustang group you told me about? I joined but never saw anything. I'd love to read the rage post though

As far as I can work out, this is the last thing he ever posted publicly online: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=411316902541149&id=304277299911777

I think it's edited maybe, I remember it being a lot more hostile.

 

[Spart]

What year car?
You have to program details such as your VIN and the options you're using (SAT for example). You can do all the programming yourself with FORSCan.

I can't say 100% for sure that you don't have to program your VIN somehow, but as I mentioned before I didn't and my swap is working okay. Granted, I'm not using Sirius.

Anyway, I checked in both the general settings of Sync 3 as well as the Sync 3 diagnostics menu you can get into by holding down Next Track + Eject, and both screens show my car's actual VIN, not the VIN from whatever car my Sync 3 APIM came from.

It must be pulling that information from another module. I'm not going to activate Sirius, but if I had to guess I'd need to go through the steps that others have done to call them and let them know that my VIN is capable of Sirius hookup now (since it wouldn't be in their database.)

I guess this is another area where OEMRadio stretched the truth?

 

[HextallS550]

My concern is updating to Sync 2.2 easily over WiFi as well as using Sirius. Hell Sirius is half the reason I'm doing this. The other is a guy at work that asked me why I had an 80's Porsche cell phone in a Mustang lol

 

[stang1971]

ok since you 2 seems to know wtf you are doing.... i have a base 17 wanting to add either MFT or Sync 3... i can get a complete MFT system for under 500 and i too want sat. The cost of the MFT justifies knowing that sync 3 is way better. What do i need to do this swap? The guy selling has everything but a plug n play cable he says is needed if i dont wanna switch pins... fell free to pm me details....THANK YOU!!

 

[HextallS550]

ok since you 2 seems to know wtf you are doing.... i have a base 17 wanting to add either MFT or Sync 3... i can get a complete MFT system for under 500 and i too want sat. The cost of the MFT justifies knowing that sync 3 is way better. What do i need to do this swap? The guy selling has everything but a plug n play cable he says is needed if i dont wanna switch pins... fell free to pm me details....THANK YOU!!

As a comparison Sync 3 cost me
$299 for the non-NAV APIM/Touchscreen
$150 for a SAT/HD ACM
$54 for the media hub (because I want CarPlay)
$300 for the Premium Recaro seat bezel.
If you don't care which bezel you have I've seen them for $75. It really depends on what you want. Switching pins is so easy I'm not going to waste time with harnesses. The amount of time it takes to carefully solder onto the female APIM connector is just not worth it and you end upo with a much cleaner install. The ACM is a different story, it's easy to build and I can customize them to each situation. Your car is a 17, it may have the pins in the right place the way mine did. I just need to add the two MS CAN pins from the GPSM module and the back up camera pins from the 4.2 display.

 

[Spart]

Hell Sirius is half the reason I'm doing this. The other is a guy at work that asked me why I had an 80's Porsche cell phone in a Mustang lol

LOL.

The base Ford radio bezels truly are terrible. I have no idea why they feel the need to include a damn dial pad (other than to take up space.)

 

[thet33]

I appreciate the work everyone is doing but just wanted to throw in my 2 cents since I've seen it mentioned a few times but always refrained from commenting.
I have interacted with Jesse twice. The first time I was having an issue with an aftermarket unit I purchased and installed, small issues, but enough to annoy me and keep the installation from being completely done. I reached out to him on a Saturday and he made time to pause his family time and meet up with me to help me with my install. Didn't charge me a dime (I offered) and wouldn't even take a six pack from me for his time. Keep in mind this wasn't a unit I even purchased from him.
I understand if some think his price is high but he was doing this before anyone else so you have to take into account his own time and research and also supply and demand. This isn't something essential to our car running that he's price gouging. We choose to upgrade this and as with most mods, there's a profit to be made. Hell American Muscle overcharges for simple pieces of plastic.
Also I recently decided to go the Sync 3 route and Jesse did program my drive modes and hazards work fine. I also just did the update to 2.2 the other day with no issue.
I still think it's great for more people in the community to learn and share, not knocking anyone at all. Keep up the great work guys!

 

[HextallS550]

[MENTION=19869]thet33[/MENTION] I get what you're saying, really I do. He did you a solid.
But what we're finding is that Jesse didn't just overcharge people he lied about what he was doing, deliberately taking advantage of his customers lack of knowledge. Overcharging is one thing, lying is COMPLETELY different.

 

[thet33]

[MENTION=19869]thet33[/MENTION] I get what you're saying, really I do. He did you a solid.
But what we're finding is that Jesse didn't just overcharge people he lied about what he was doing, deliberately taking advantage of his customers lack of knowledge. Overcharging is one thing, lying is COMPLETELY different.

Understood. I was unaware of the other circumstances. I've always had positive experiences so I can only speak to that.
But don't let me get this further off topic. Congrats on the progress you (and others) have made. :cheers:

 

[Spart]

ok since you 2 seems to know wtf you are doing.... i have a base 17 wanting to add either MFT or Sync 3... i can get a complete MFT system for under 500 and i too want sat. The cost of the MFT justifies knowing that sync 3 is way better. What do i need to do this swap? The guy selling has everything but a plug n play cable he says is needed if i dont wanna switch pins... fell free to pm me details....THANK YOU!!

When does your door sticker say your car was built?

Without a harness, there's a lot more involved in doing a MFT swap. Depending on your build date, like Hextall said you might only have to swap a few wires to do Sync 3.

[MENTION=28081]HextallS550[/MENTION] we really need to nail down when Ford made that wiring change. I guess we know my 06/16 build had the old wiring. We know some 12/16 builds had new wiring. Aren't the base 4.3" APIMs necessarily different because of the wiring as well? Is that something we could use to pin down a date range? [MENTION=6944]zackmd1[/MENTION] where did you get the pinouts in the first post of this thread, does that source show the different wiring for later 17 builds? Does it confirm when exactly the switch was made?

 

[X0AYHAM0X]

I appreciate the work everyone is doing but just wanted to throw in my 2 cents since I've seen it mentioned a few times but always refrained from commenting.
I have interacted with Jesse twice. The first time I was having an issue with an aftermarket unit I purchased and installed, small issues, but enough to annoy me and keep the installation from being completely done. I reached out to him on a Saturday and he made time to pause his family time and meet up with me to help me with my install. Didn't charge me a dime (I offered) and wouldn't even take a six pack from me for his time. Keep in mind this wasn't a unit I even purchased from him.
I understand if some think his price is high but he was doing this before anyone else so you have to take into account his own time and research and also supply and demand. This isn't something essential to our car running that he's price gouging. We choose to upgrade this and as with most mods, there's a profit to be made. Hell American Muscle overcharges for simple pieces of plastic.
Also I recently decided to go the Sync 3 route and Jesse did program my drive modes and hazards work fine. I also just did the update to 2.2 the other day with no issue.
I still think it's great for more people in the community to learn and share, not knocking anyone at all. Keep up the great work guys!

I've bought stuff from Jesse many times (I do installs for local people in UAE) and I can say he's a great guy if he's in the mood haha but yet expensive.

P.S. I was the first to get the hazard toggle to work like premium and I told Jesse how to do it.

 

[Spart]

I've bought stuff from Jesse many times (I do installs for local people in UAE) and I can say he's a great guy if he's in the mood haha but yet expensive.

Counterpoint: I tried to give my money to Jesse for months. He stopped responding to my emails. He hasn't even visited this board since February. There are plenty of posts on his social media asking where he went.

:shrug:

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