SYNC 3 swap, It's all in here

[TampaThom]

Which APIM did you install?

The add indicated it came from a vehicle with a 4.2" screen.

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[thecloneranger]

do you still sale the prewired harness?

 

[Jimmy]

Hey guys I did the swap last summer and it's been working great except for one problem: Whenever I reverse, the nav will get messed up and show me as several miles away from where I actually am. It will then stay messed up until I restart the car or reboot the system (by holding the power and skip-forward buttons for a few secs). As long as I don't reverse, it works perfectly. I searched this forum and saw this issue mentioned a few times, but without any solutions. Anybody got any ideas how to fix this?

 

[TampaThom]

Afternoon Stangers,

I decided to go all out and install the 8" screen on mine since I could not find a pinout diagram for the 54-pin connector for the other most unpopular mod with the 4" screen.

Everything seems to work perfectly after following that very detailed OP with one exception. I cannot get the backup camera to show on the screen. I double checked that the wht/grn is in slot 14 and the brn/vio is in slot 15 of the 54-pin connector. I have used every bit of my know-how programming the APIM, but the camera is still missing.

[forgot, my mustang is a 2016 Ecoboost, the donor APIM came from a 2019]

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[TampaThom]

Afternoon Stangers,

I decided to go all out and install the 8" screen on mine since I could not find a pinout diagram for the 54-pin connector for the other most unpopular mod with the 4" screen.

Everything seems to work perfectly after following that very detailed OP with one exception. I cannot get the backup camera to show on the screen. I double checked that the wht/grn is in slot 14 and the brn/vio is in slot 15 of the 54-pin connector. I have used every bit of my know-how programming the APIM, but the camera is still missing.

[forgot, my mustang is a 2016 Ecoboost, the donor APIM came from a 2019]

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

If anyone is searching for an answer to this question, STOP. I figured it out. The solution, in case anyone else runs into this same situation is:

As I was troubleshooting, I thought to run a separate pare of wires from the camera to the screen, to rule out faulty wiring. As I was pealing back the tape, I noticed this weird, bare ground (guessing) wire in the harness - what appeared to be shielding [like coax] - of the video+ and video-. It looked like some redneck engineering to me so I tried to follow it to the source and found it soldered to a black wire - maybe ground - and insulated with what appeared to be duct tape. [see photo]

I couldn't find any mention of it so I cut it and checked my camera again. No joy, so I finished running my dedicated wires from the camera to the screen and when I took the insulation off the camera wires far enough to tap in, I notice it too had that same weird configuration with a black wire tapped into the bare third wire in the harness, but in this case, the bare wire was broken and caused an open condition. I have never seen mention of this wire, so I thought it unimportant for camera operation, so I just kept it the way it was.

Again, no backup camera love. I decided to put everything back together and let Ford sort it out, but when I did, I made sure the shield wire and black wire were reconnected on both ends. For shiggles, I checked the camera again and ouila! My backup camera was working.

So what all that boils down to is that the, in my estimation, unimportant shield to ground (?) was not so unimportant after all. So, if you, like me, found this forum for the first time and have run into the same problem and no amount of FORScan reconfiguration or wire termination double and triple checking solves your problem, look for the shield to ground and make sure it is present on both ends of the harness.

You are welcome.

P.S. Without this thread, I might have never tried upgrading to the Sync 3 in my Mustang, so I would be remiss if I did not offer a huge THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to this theme, especially to @HextallS550 for his help and personal time on the phone when I was at wits end.

 

[Crew]

Just wanted to write a quick review here for @HextallS550 and his "install package" / virtual assistance with my programming for this swap.

Thomas was an outstanding help from start to finish, and especially patient while I needed to figure out computer issues on my end. We scheduled a time to work on remote programming together 3 separate times; the first two I had network or hardware issues, and each time he stuck it out and offered suggestions / ideas how to mitigate. Finally, we were able to connect on the last attempt, and got it done really quickly (even with a few hiccups).

I had already purchased a bezel, APIM, and ACM separately, and was able to purchase a plug-n-play harness with the associated hub / wiring separately for self-install. He was very responsive to messages, and shipped out right on time with good communication throughout.

The install was a breeze, came with linked PDF instructions, and he quickly responded to several texts that I had with questions / confirmations along the way. I am now fully-functional and enjoying the full-size display that blows the doors off the original 4" calculator.

Can't recommend Thomas / Hextall enough for this swap.

 

[HextallS550]

So what all that boils down to is that the, in my estimation, unimportant shield to ground (?) was not so unimportant after all.

Was the wire broken inside of the trunk to body harness? That’s a known issue with the earlier S550.
The bare wires are a drain wire that ensure proper shielding and resistance to noise injection. They are extremely important. That’s why my harness was engineered keeping them intact unlike the Chinese/Amazon stuff. Those wires ensure you aren’t receiving interference between the various modules.

 

[TampaThom]

Was the wire broken inside of the trunk to body harness? That’s a known issue with the earlier S550.

Nope. Just behind the APIM and I didn't notice it until I was troubleshooting the unavailable camera and only then because I was pealing back the insulation.

 

[HextallS550]

Was it actually broken or just wrapped around the two camera wires? It doesn’t connect to anything on the APIM/FCDIM side. It should be wrapped around the camera wires and covered with tape.

 

[TampaThom]

Was it actually broken or just wrapped around the two camera wires? It doesn’t connect to anything on the camera side. It should be wrapped around the camera wires and covered with tape.

Both ends were connected to a black 22 gauge wire. The one in the decklid is shown in the pic I posted. See the arrows. The shield cable is wrapped in electrical tape with duct tape at the black wire. When I took the duct tape off, the two were sodldered together.

 

[HextallS550]

I don’t have a pic of a disassembled factory harness or I’d post it. But irregardless as long as you aren’t getting inference or any noise injected it should be ok. If you run into issues like that you have my number.

 

[Kleiss1]

Without reading for days is there a fairly simple kit with everything to swap my base 2018gt from 4” to the 8” screen? I’m see pricing all over the place. Thanks for any help.

 

[5.0_SD]

@Kleiss1 see the post right before yours? That's who you need to talk to... @HextallS550 best kit, best service.

 

[Kleiss1]

His site is expired. About what does this swap cost?

 

[thecloneranger]

His site is expired. About what does this swap cost?

send him a pm ive been dealing with him about my sync 3 swap. hes very helpful and patient

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