2013 Ford Explorer with Sync2. It works, kind of, it’s pretty slow, GPS lists the street you are on correctly when in the little quadrant Home Screen, but completely freaks out when you try to go to full screen and won’t stay on full screen GPS, the backup camera works when it wants.

Looking to swap out the screen, APIM, and USB hub all plug and play using new Ford parts.
This will add CarPlay and a better screen, it should remedy my GPS issue as the GPS antenna plugs into the APIM so I presume it controls it. I am not sure if it will help my camera issue or not.
When the camera works it’s clear, has the lines, and works as it should.
Sometime when I shift in reverse it just gives me a black screen, with a note to visit the dealer for the backup camera. All the parking sensors still function properly.
So the vehicle knows it is in reverse and there is no delay in switching the screen the camera view just does not always come up.

Unfortunately Ford thought it was a great idea to embed the HVAC and seat heater controls into this system
So going aftermarket is just as expensive (if not more).

Using all Ford parts it’s $800. The Chinese knockoff system that is identical to the Ford stuff is $450 on Amazon or at least they claim to be in the specs.
Install is simple so Half tempted to order the Amazon system install it and see if my issues are fixed and return it.
I just don’t think the Chinese knockoff off will last.

I can’t help you with the potential upgrade to Sync 3 as IMHO the Ford products are behind the 8 ball.

But for a lot less coin have you considered upgrading to the latest gps version for Ford?

https://www.amazon.com/A15-Nav...mFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

I did this on our last trip to Alaska and found it pretty good and easy to install.

^^^^^^^^^^^
I have that.
It knows where I am if you are on the Home Screen with the 4 quadrants. It’s always accurate.
When I press the GPS quadrant to go to fullscreen it loses its mind does a bunch of weird stuff on the screen and kicks me back to the 4 quadrant screen.


I have hard reset the thing multiple times, updated everything and still have the same issues.

It will also reset itself on occasion saying Ford is optimizing the Sync options.

One time it went to a screen that looked just like a Windows 95 loading screen.

I did it in 2020 to my 2013 F-150, bought the hardware package pre-programmed from a Ford tech on f150forum.com and it went in without a hitch. Still works great today and the CarPlay/Android Auto is a fantastic feature.

quote:

Originally posted by guido_sst:
I did it in 2020 to my 2013 F-150, bought the hardware package pre-programmed from a Ford tech on f150forum.com and it went in without a hitch. Still works great today and the CarPlay/Android Auto is a fantastic feature.

Yep, tons of guides & DIY advise on the 2 to 3 conversion on there.
Our Flex was Sync2 and it was ok. My F150, Expedition, Explorer & Fiesta were all Sync3

SimplyMichigan on eBay has Synch 2-3 upgrades! Great person to do business with!

^^^^^^^^^
Thanks for that they look to have solid prices and use the US APIMs and not the Chinese knockoffs

I did this about 3-4 years ago on my 15 F150. I remember seeing Simply Michigan but looking back on my eBay purchases I apparently went with the cheaper China knockoff. I will say they gave me excellent support when I needed it during the install. One issue I had and still do which I never got around to addressing was my GPS. When I’m using iPhone maps my location sometimes jumps around drastically. I blame myself for not contacting them and now I’ve lost their contact info.

It may also have been responsible for another issue. I lost my heated seats and I learned they were tied to this module. $1,500 + later a shop had them working. I considered a DIY on doing that but had read about some programming being required so I let the pros do it.

Of course looking back I now know I should have and would have spent the extra $300.

^^^^^^^^
Is your issue only when using AppleMaps? Does it give you issues when using other Apps like Waze or Google Maps?
My buddy has a 2018 Expedition and it does wonky stuff with Waze. Tried my phone in his vehicle and it does the same thing and I have never had that issue in other vehicles and his phone works with no issues in my vehicle.
Read a few other folks have the same issue with Waze in Fords of that year (I’d say it’s a Ford issue)


I am half tempted to skip the $150 upcharge for Navigation since Sync3 adds Apple CarPlay and has plenty of mapping options. Also has Android Auto which I have never used but do have an Android tablet that has true offline GPS capabilities. This vehicle is just an extra vehicle and I won’t ever be venturing anywhere in it that does not have cell service.

The $150 can be used elsewhere. I was going to go with the upgraded Sync4 HD screen but will likely skip that too as it’s about $150 more as well.
Money can be well spent elsewhere.
It’s a 2013 with 114k miles that is in great shape. These Explorers with the N/A 3.5s are rock solid. The one inherent issue is the water pump and being an internal pump when it goes its way beyond the amount of work I want to undertake myself and at least $1500 for a shop to do since so much of the motor has to come apart.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Black92LX,

I haven’t tried Waze or Google Maps but I might take Mrs. BRL to McDonald’s for some French fries for Mother’s Day today so if I do I’ll report back.

Looking forward to that Water Pump. Guessing it’s the same on my F150. My 3.5 has developed the gratuitous Ford plastic valve cover leak now. Other than that I love that engine.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Pretty sure the RWD based 3.5s utilize and external water pump and is a fairly easy swap.

The FWD biased vehicles utilize the timing chain drive water pump.
So you pretty much have to tear down the top half of the motor to get to it.

Fortunately they seem to be pretty robust with proper coolant change intervals.
Most seem to fail a bit after 110k miles. Seen many go over 150k.

Just sucks when it goes as it cost so much to replace.

quote:

Originally posted by BRL:

It may also have been responsible for another issue. I lost my heated seats and I learned they were tied to this module. $1,500 + later a shop had them working. I considered a DIY on doing that but had read about some programming being required so I let the pros do it.

Of course looking back I now know I should have and would have spent the extra $300.

I am not familiar with the F150 center stack layout. In the Explorer there are climate control buttons and knobs but all the displays are on the screen.
Also the only way to turn on the heated seats is by the touch screen.
I am presuming all that will carry over to Sync3 but I have not seen any screen shots showing the HVAC displayed on Sync3.

Well, I got the camera working all the time.
I turned off the enhanced parking notifications which fills the parking lines with green, yellow, then red blocks as you get closer to an object as you back up.
For some reason when that is turned off the camera works without a hitch.
The parking sensors still beep so I am fine. It having the blocks but the camera working.

The system still crashes/resets fairly often which is a bit of a pain as from shut down to working again is about 5 minutes.
So if I need to go in reverse when it is down I just use my mirrors.

Will certainly upgrade this at some point.

Simply Michigan has a website and is cheaper than their eBay store
So I’ll order from them directly.