1 hour ago, tef89 said:

I think the TSR uses a combination of the camera and GPS (someone correct me if I'm wrong lol). 

Yes, that's correct. When I do have the complete wobbler, my camera still picks up what signs are visible (I've posted in another thread a shot of one in my village which is in a hedge, and it's not the only one round here!)

What fascinates/baffles me is the different way the system behaves depending on what route I take. As I've said, the area where I have the big issue is Wensleydale, but NEVER when going north, only heading home southward. If you look on a map, I have 2 potential routes back from our caravan park which is just north of Hawes. In both cases, A684 from Hawes to Leyburn, then:

a) A6108 via Masham and Ripon to join A1M near Boroughbridge. Occasionally see the Ghostbusters symbol but everything keeps working normally, so never been a problem.

b) Continue on A684 from Leyburn to Bedale and join A1M there. Sometimes we have done the journey with no problem at all, sometimes with the Ghostbusters symbol but no other issues and sometimes (about 1 journey in 3) it loses the plot completely as I have mentioned in other posts. If this happens it has ALWAYS started in exactly the same place, the new roundabout where the Bedale by-pass leaves the A684.

Very weird stuff. I had even  wondered if it was anything to do with the number of military installations round there, e.g. Catterick Garrison, RAF Leeming and Topcliffe, but we drove past Fylingdales the other week with no issues, so probably not! There is a lot of military flying in the area, including the USAF 48th Fighter Wing which come up from Lakenheath for a spot of low level practice. I remember the stories my Dad used to tell me about "friendly fire" from US planes during WW2, so have an irrational fear of an F15  getting missile lock!.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know it makes you paranoid thinking of external reasons why the issue might be happening.  I'm afraid it's probably the more obvious one... Ford lol. 

I've now managed to confirm there's definitely a Bluetooth issue that's developed (worked fine for the first month and a half since I biught it). 

Got the Mrs to check on a journey this morning and it's constantly dropping the connection to the phone. 

Sigh.... Yet more tech that doesn't quite work properly. 

I'm now thinking about how much of a bath I'll take if I sell this in the New Year. (half joking). 

Just an update:

Had the car booked in this morning with the dealer that sold me the Ford Direct car (rather than the more local one I had used a few weeks back).

They hooked it up and a few minutes later came back and showed me the ford system showing a future APIM update to 'tackle' the GPS issue scheduled for Q1 2019.

After some discussion with the dealer they agreed a goodwill gesture I was happy with, for the inconvenience of being without a Sat-Nav for that length of time.

We also agreed that if the update doesn't correct the problem we'd look at further solutions.

I'm very happy with that result and really happy with how the dealer handled it.

May be some progress at last - fingers crossed. I'll be booking mine in for a 12 month check/whatever in Feb so hopefully this may be available by then. Did your dealer indicate what  the "update"  invoved btw? Is it a software update or a replacement of the apim module?

40 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

May be some progress at last - fingers crossed. I'll be booking mine in for a 12 month check/whatever in Feb so hopefully this may be available by then. Did your dealer indicate what  the "update"  invoved btw? Is it a software update or a replacement of the apim module?

Yeah, hopefully some progress.

It didn't have any further detail that I saw so it could be just a software update.  It would make sense as an APIM reset / engine restart brings the GPS magically back into life.

Having thought about this, it has to be more than entirely a software problem, otherwise it would affect all the cars with that software onboard.

A possible theory is that not all APIMs and GPS receivers are created equal, meaning that some cars drop satellites more easily than others. The software in the SYNC system then spots it no longer has the required amount of satellites needed to maintain a totally accurate location fix - this is where the software problem may come into effect in as much as how it then deals with that situation.

If your phone loses a bunch of satellites whilst using GPS it simply seeks and re-aquires them, adjusting the accuracy dynamically.  The Ford system may not be doing that, or at least not reporting to the SYNC system that it is - hence the GPS failure stays and it stops reporting an accurate fix - once it's failed it never changes, until a reset / restart.

I guess this could then be overcome with a change in how the software copes with a reduction of satellite fixes, or then consequently re-aquires them.

That would be one guess at why not all SYNC 3 cars are affected (or it may just be jibberjabber lol).

55 minutes ago, tef89 said:

 

That would be one guess at why not all SYNC 3 cars are affected (or it may just be jibberjabber lol).

Well, it sounds as least as good as anything Ford seem to have come up with yet!😀

But yes, that does seem to be the nub of the problem as I see it, once you get the Ghostbusters signal it never goes off, whereas your phone will just keep trying until it picks up a signal again. Similarly if the radio loses DAB signal and momentarily switches to FM, it switches back as soon as it picks up DAB again.

On 12/21/2018 at 3:43 PM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Well, it sounds as least as good as anything Ford seem to have come up with yet!😀

But yes, that does seem to be the nub of the problem as I see it, once you get the Ghostbusters signal it never goes off, whereas your phone will just keep trying until it picks up a signal again. Similarly if the radio loses DAB signal and momentarily switches to FM, it switches back as soon as it picks up DAB again.

I think I've found the problem, it's using GLONASS, Russia's alternative to GPS 😁

 

... https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/glonass-gps-alternative-never-knew-existed/

 

 

 

I guess they couldn't fit GLONASS into a Ghostbusters sign easily so they just thought they'd call it GPS instead lol

13 minutes ago, tef89 said:

I think I've found the problem, it's using GLONASS, Russia's alternative to GPS 😁

 

... https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/glonass-gps-alternative-never-knew-existed/

 

 

Might be worth replacing that image. You just posted your cars exact location within a few meters for anyone on the internet to see.  

30 minutes ago, jbell said:

Might be worth replacing that image. You just posted your cars exact location within a few meters for anyone on the internet to see.  

Cheers, but it was taken last month just round the corner from the dealers before I went in, so nothing that could cause an issue, but I appreciate the heads up 😎

I've obliqued it now just for the avoidance of doubt / confusion. 

7 hours ago, tef89 said:

I think I've found the problem, it's using GLONASS, Russia's alternative to GPS 😁

 

... https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/glonass-gps-alternative-never-knew-existed/

 

 

 

That would make sense if "all" cars were affected by the issue but it seems it is only certain cars that are.

Yeah, it was more just a light-hearted reference to the Fiesta not using actual GPS more than a real theory 😉 🙂

Although running with it a bit, and going back to the 'not all GPS (or in this case GLONASS) receivers are created equal' idea, it could be a combination of some units being more susceptible than others to the already 'weaker' signal.

In reality GLONASS seems to be a very common choice for vehicle Sat-Nav systems now anyway, so it really was just poking fun at Ford a little.

12 hours ago, jbell said:

Might be worth replacing that image. You just posted your cars exact location within a few meters for anyone on the internet to see.  

Based on experience so far it was probably showing a location 50 miles from where the car actually was!😁

But seriously, yes, you do need to be careful when posting images - surprising now many folks don't blank their number plates for instance.

Hope you all had a good Xmas!

 

 

3 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Based on experience so far it was probably showing a location 50 miles from where the car actually was!😁

But seriously, yes, you do need to be careful when posting images - surprising now many folks don't blank their number plates for instance.

Hope you all had a good Xmas!

 

😄 😄 

Good advice too, I realised after JB mentioned it that some people may have thought it was my home location so I disrupted the image 😎

Just looking at that picture, I think I remember it was a fairly bright day, clear view of the sky and I'd just restarted the car (wanted a before and after picture for the dealer).  It managed to fix 9x satellites in that location.

I've just checked with my phone in the living room about 3 foot from the window, it's cloudy and although in a totally different area I admit, it picked up 18x using a combination of GLONAS and GPS.  How much are these things new again ? lol

I might just buy another S7 and superglue it to the windscreen 🤣

Hope you had a good Christmas too m8.

On 12/26/2018 at 10:17 PM, tef89 said:

I think I've found the problem, it's using GLONASS, Russia's alternative to GPS 😁

 

 

 

Was looking through diagnostics just out of interest and can't seem to find this particular screen - how do you get to it? Assumed it would be under the APIM diagnostics menu but not there on mine, which is build 17626 btw.

On 12/28/2018 at 11:10 AM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Was looking through diagnostics just out of interest and can't seem to find this particular screen - how do you get to it? Assumed it would be under the APIM diagnostics menu but not there on mine, which is build 17626 btw.

Mine is build 18025. Software Version 3.0.

I can't remember exactly where it was as I don't have the menus enabled anymore but I think it's possibly something counter-intuitive where you wouldn't expect it to be.

Or it might be equally obvious like Location Diagnostics ... sorry it was a while since I did the screen grabs.

1 hour ago, tef89 said:

I think it's possibly something counter-intuitive where you wouldn't expect it to be.

I should have known!😀

I'll probably find it under the wiper settings or somewhere, then! 

 

I'm considering updating the Sync system and maps manually to the latest from Ford's website... Rather aptly it has an image of the nav screen with the GPS failure icon 😁

If only lol... 

Well updated maps to F8 successfully ... We'll see if the above graphic is correct 🤣

23 hours ago, tef89 said:

Well updated maps to F8 successfully ... We'll see if the above graphic is correct 🤣

Yeah, that would be a no.

Until faulty modules are rolled out and replaced, the SatNav units will not function correctly.

As of beginning of January, Ford have no plans to call ours into the dealership to change anything, that is how much of a rush they are in......

We are in no rush either. 😁

39 minutes ago, Mavroz said:

Until faulty modules are rolled out and replaced, the SatNav units will not function correctly.

As of beginning of January, Ford have no plans to call ours into the dealership to change anything, that is how much of a rush they are in......

We are in no rush either. 😁

Well it could be software or hardware related (or a combination of both) in all fairness, we just don't know.  Never had a realistic expectation of the update fixing the problem,  I just thought it was ironic they used the image they did on the update page lol. At least now I know the sat-nav that doesn't work is now not working with the latest maps available 😎

 

Well Q1 has another 2 months so I'm sure they're working on it 🙄🤣 .

Pretty sure I put in a post that Ford had told us they were releasing an new APIM (I think they said) module that will cure the loss of signal on the problematic Sat Nav units.

They have no plans at this time to recall ours to fit a new unit, well not until late after quarter three of this year. (Why, I do not know other than they know we have been and are being compensated for it.) They are starting to roll these modules out from the end of quarter one 2019, to which cars they didn't say.

So yes, I am pretty certain that the issue is hardware related in all fairness and has nothing to do with the software at this time.

Time will tell how, as and when they roll out the fix.

23 minutes ago, Mavroz said:

Pretty sure I put in a post that Ford had told us they were releasing an new APIM (I think they said) module that will cure the loss of signal on the problematic Sat Nav units.

They have no plans at this time to recall ours to fit a new unit, well not until late after quarter three of this year. (Why, I do not know other than they know we have been and are being compensated for it.) They are starting to roll these modules out from the end of quarter one 2019, to which cars they didn't say.

So yes, I am pretty certain that the issue is hardware related in all fairness and has nothing to do with the software at this time.

Time will tell how, as and when they roll out the fix.

Ahh K.  I had mssed the inforamtion on it definitely being an issue specific to the APIM unit.  I had read something somewhere (I can't remember where so it could have been one of your posts) that they suspected it was related to the APIM and that it would lead to more functions of the hardware failing over time.

Going by what I saw on the dealer's service system the GPS failure was due to have a service action Q1 of this year as I mentioned, whether that materialises is yet to be seen, but we've been compensated so it's a bonus if it arrives and fixes the problems 🤩