Sync will not stay connected to bluetooth

[91Eunos]

My truck has been randomly disconnecting from my phone while on a call or streaming music a lot recently...been happening off and on for a little over a week now and seems to be getting worse by the day. Did the complete reboot, and master reset for bluetooth...no luck. It will reconnect (or at least try to) several times, and even stay connected for short periods of time on some occasions, but invariably just disconnects and switches over to the radio.

Have also been getting a lot of random nav issues and the screen takes a really long time to switch between modes...nav to media or radio, phone, etc.

In addition, last week the screen went blank, and I couldn’t get it display until I stopped and restarted the truck. Today I had to do the ‘center+fwd button‘ hold for 10 seconds to hard-reboot the MFD.

This is getting tiresome.

Downloading the latest version of Synch tonight and will upload it via USB mañana ... suspect yet another visit to the service department in my near future though.

Anyone else experience this? I suspect the bluetooth antenna is loose, but not sure how to check that.

 

[91Eunos]

So, went from version 2.3 (from original load at the factory in 2017!) to 3.0... Seems to have fixed the disconnecting issue. Hooray!

It did blank out my Nav screen until I did another master reset...all seems to be working now, but I’m still getting intermittent excessive lag time when swapping between modes on the display; I’ll push a ‘button’ on the display and it’ll take anywhere from a short pause (but longer than usual) up to 10-15 seconds to switch to that particular app...usually switches over just as I get frustrated and hit the button a second time, which of course selects something else entirely since the screen changed.

Still believe there’s something amiss with the hardware, but at least it’s useable right now.

 

[smurfslayer]

wait... you were still on sync 2.3? in 2021?

Ho.
Lee.
Cr@p!

I ditched 2.2 as soon as I knew there was an upgrade and how to do it. then 3.0. Like you, I found bluetooth a bit touchy prior to 3.0.

It still sounds like you have some hardware issues though. Not sure a dealer service department will do anything with it but you should raise the concern.

 

[91Eunos]

Yeah, everything worked great with no issues as long as I’ve owned the truck, so I never had a reason to check the version, let alone update the software.

It started going wonky a week or so ago...progressively getting worse until it finally got to the point that the display unit was having a constant back-and-forth ‘connected’ and ‘trying to reconnect’ dialogue, that eventually resulted in it kicking the phone off and defaulting to the radio.

Will give it a week, but if the display interface is still lagging by Thursday will drop the truck at the dealership while we’re in Lubbock for our son’s college graduation...and then on to DFW to get him moved into an apartment as he begins his adventures in adulting!

LOL

 

[smurfslayer]

Well good luck with that.

I did the bootleg 3.4 update last year(?) and really like the auto-DST feature, but I will say that things move a little slower than 3.0 did / mine’s a 2017 as well. I like the look, newer than I had maps and all but I think anything “bigger” and it’s going to get annoyingly slower.

if you’re that slow a 3.0, I agree, probably h/w.

 

[GerryV]

Same issues here..... been fighting w/ the dealer.... sounds like it's the APIM module

sync3 APIM module failure or something else? - Ford F150 Forum - Community of Ford Truck Fans

2015 - 2020 Ford F150 - sync3 APIM module failure or something else? - phone wont pair with sync3 anymore, voice commands are for all intents and purposes unuseable, nav map freezes on a location. steering wheel volume controls are also extremely slow bordering on unuseable at times. ford...

www.f150forum.com

 

[91Eunos]

Truck’s back from the dealer … new API replaced under warranty, but I did have to pay a deductable.

Works great now.

 

[WTX]

APIM for sure. I just replaced mine on my f250. Simple swap took 30 mins. Google infotainment out of Florida.

 

[DS550]

I have been battling the issue...unfortunately, I am out of warranty. Ford wanted $1,500 to replace the radio module. looks like a straight forward swap. Does the system require any special re-programming from the dealer. they gave me part # JS7T14G371KED

 

[smurfslayer]

Ouch! Maybe @FordTechOne could suggest some guidance.