My Mk3 ZS - Audio System

[Ubetcha]

So today I removed my parrot wiring harness and ran through the main iso connector for the car stereo. Basically there are two main spade connectors at either side and two rows of 11 connectors in between.

I'm hopeful that I've found an indication of the possible problem, I remember yesterday when on my parrot harness the end spade connectors (which was yellow) pushed back through and I had similiar problems with the stereo not powering on.

Ford's original loom has a red/brown coloured lead on the end spade connection which I presume is 12v live, whist the other end spade connectors is black which I presume is earth.

My Red/Brown lead has zero voltage both with ignition on or off. I need to double check all of this when I get back on to my computer but I'm hopeful this indicates a fuse or relay issue and nothing more?

Again looking back on yesterday's events, there is an additional live supply on my parrot wiring harness (protected with a clear plastic sheif) but this had ridden up and the connector was bare. Possibly it touched something it shouldn't of had and that could of caused this issue? I dunno I'm only guessing.

 

[Ubetcha]

OK, so I've been researching and looking for 'Ford Focus Mk3 24 pin Stereo connector' pin-outs / wiring diagrams and guess what.. I can't find any! Not that they don't exist, just i'm blind as a bat.. So I've knocked up my own version (see below)

Yes, it looks like my earlier hunch was correct, I'm not getting any voltage on spade #23 (Red / Brown) and hopefully that's the problem in its entirety, so just need to work out why there is no voltage getting there.

Any suggestions to my problem guys? Or any additions to my 24 pin stereo connector wiring diagram? Thanks as always in advance..

 

EDIT : Oh, I nearly forgot to mention, my reversing beeper is also not working, I guess that figures and the stereo isn't powered up. The one thing I can get the central display to do is to start initializing the USB (when inserted) but that's all the variance on the central screen at this point 

[Ubetcha]

OK, I've just came in for the day. I just swapped over the following fuses to insure it isn't one of these;

#85 Radio => #72 Steering Wheel control module,

#72 Steering Wheel control module => #67 Sync / Multi Functional Display,

#79 Audio Unit => #68 Didn't check but same size fuse,

#81 Radio Frequency Receiver => #73 Didn't check but same size fuse,

Still no life from the stereo, I'm all out of ideas now.  Suggestions please

[WES180]

I've just speed read through your posts so excuse me if I'm talking absolute rubbish, is your problem purely that you're not getting power to your head unit? 

I read on here the other day another guy with what i think is the same problem youre having, it turned out his car never did have a working ignition live only a permanent so his Ford stereo worked but aftermarket wouldn't. He simply ran a piggy back fuse tap and cable from an ignition live fuse slot up to the aftermarket stereo and problem solved.

Edit - it's just taken me ages to find this so hopefully it's right lol.

 

[JW1982]

The Focus MK3 radio does not have an ignition switched power supply. It only has a permanent power supply and the ignition status is communicated to the radio by CANbus communication.

[WES180]

I probably should have read your posts properly lol, you're not fitting an aftermarket headunit! Doh. 

Is there a built in fuse on the original headunit? Just wondering if you might have shorted something with the exposed wire you mentioned.

Another guy said his original headunit stopped working, he disconnected the car battery for 30mins, reconnected then it worked again. Suppose anything's worth a try if you're struggling.

[Ubetcha]

4 hours ago, WES180 said:

I've just speed read through your posts so excuse me if I'm talking absolute rubbish, is your problem purely that you're not getting power to your head unit? 

I read on here the other day another guy with what i think is the same problem youre having, it turned out his car never did have a working ignition live only a permanent so his Ford stereo worked but aftermarket wouldn't. He simply ran a piggy back fuse tap and cable from an ignition live fuse slot up to the aftermarket stereo and problem solved.

Edit - it's just taken me ages to find this so hopefully it's right lol.

 

I do appreciate your idea Wes, I was thinking about running a wire directly from the battery to test this idea, but I was really hoping not to have to do this as a permanent solution.

 

2 hours ago, JW1982 said:

The Focus MK3 radio does not have an ignition switched power supply. It only has a permanent power supply and the ignition status is communicated to the radio by CANbus communication.

I never knew that before, cheers Wilco, maybe my multi-meter was telling me lies! or maybe I just can't read it.. Surely not!! - Weird!

 

2 hours ago, WES180 said:

I probably should have read your posts properly lol, you're not fitting an aftermarket headunit! Doh. 

Is there a built in fuse on the original headunit? Just wondering if you might have shorted something with the exposed wire you mentioned.

Another guy said his original headunit stopped working, he disconnected the car battery for 30mins, reconnected then it worked again. Suppose anything's worth a try if you're struggling.

There could well be an inbuilt fuse within the original factory head unit, however the multi-meter is saying 0v instead of 11 point whatever volts, so even if the factory head unit does have a fuse hidden inside it somewhere isn't making any differences as the voltage isn't even getting to it..

I also read similar that a battery disconnect could solve my issue, that's kinda a last ditch attempt that one will be..

I'm beginning to think that I need to take out EVERY fuse, test and reinsert, just to be sure.. It's certainly a fecking pain!!!

 

[WES180]

I wonder if it's something to do with what JW is saying then about CANbus communication, is it possible the communication line has been interrupted? I would try disconnecting the battery today before endlessly searching through circuits and fuses again. Well worth a try just to rule it out.

[Ubetcha]

5 hours ago, WES180 said:

I wonder if it's something to do with what JW is saying then about CANbus communication, is it possible the communication line has been interrupted? I would try disconnecting the battery today before endlessly searching through circuits and fuses again. Well worth a try just to rule it out.

Thanks again Wes and all the others who've been helping me out, it really is appreciated as I'm pulling my hair out!! So close as well for everything to be working and finished, typical huh.

So this morning I went through the whole of the passenger foot-well fuse-box, swapping fuses like for like. I didn't have any new fuses but just made sure I swapped every fuse with a fuse rated the same from elsewhere on that fuse-box. I rechecked the stereo on every swap and guess what.. Nothing 😩

As a last ditch attempt I disconnected the battery for 45 minutes of so and guess what.. Nothing 😳

So for my final act of the day (I've got guests coming today so I need to be sociable) I took a few more photos and a quick video..

First up is another quick Video, this is (according to my pin out diagram pin #13) which I had 'assumed' was a switched live.

https://streamable.com/vqdr1

This is a close up picture of the switched live that I was plugged into.

Then here are the other photos, main live 0v:

Finally a quick preview of my quick release terminals on my amp / sub board:

 

Obviously, I STILL NEED HELP PLEASSSSEEEEE!!!!!

[Ubetcha]

Hmm this seems to be another talking to myself thread 😜

I'm guessing/hoping, if people are reading these posts then they just don't know of any answers or helpful suggestions. Maybe I'm just feeling lonely 😔 haha.

So today, I'm thinking about adding in a tiny loop of wire from ISO connection #13 (and hopefully NOT unlucky for me) to the main yellow spade on my parrot lead (basically bridging the ACC live into the permant live) to see if the stereo will switch on again or not.

If it does switch back on, then the problem can be described as 'Canbus not powering up stereo's 12v live' - not sure how to correctly fix that but I will probably just fuse tap and use an aftermarket switch to ensure no battery drain.

Wish me luck.. or just sit there stealthy reading this and say nothing 😘

[WES180]

Good luck!😉

[WES180]

Have you got a friend or family member with a mk3 so that you could try your headunit in their car to see if it's blown?

[Ubetcha]

9 hours ago, WES180 said:

Have you got a friend or family member with a mk3 so that you could try your headunit in their car to see if it's blown?

Unfortunately not, but I maybe able to ask a friendly local breaker if I could 'borrow' one for testing purposes..

And now.. for the results of today..

Using the same pin-outs as mentioned at the top of this page, everything else not mentioned is 0 volts.

#16 & #15 - IGN OFF -0.7v - IGN ON 3v

#13 & #12 - IGN OFF 0v - IGN ON 3v

#19 & #20- IGN OFF 0v - IGN ON 0.2v

#21 - IGN OFF 0v - IGN ON 11.61v (Brown wire with Red stripe)

The interesting thing here is that when I plugged in a wire from #21 into the main 12v live (#23) joining them and then tested the radio with my multimeter, it was only reading 3.5v - so again probably not enough to turn the radio on or not but I also read somewhere that the CANBus voltage is around 4v (I think, i can't remember exactly where I read that)

I guess now it's down to one of four further possibilities:

(i) A CAN Bus issue (which will hopefully show up when I use my friends SnapOn Verso)

(ii) The radio head unit itself is problematic (which if I manage to borrow a compatible radio should confirm this)

(iii) There could be a possibility that maybe a fuse in either the engine bay or in the boots fuse board is out (I will swap out all of these fuses tomorrow just to be sure)

(iv) There is something else I haven't thought of yet..

Hmmm 😩

 

 

 

 

[Ubetcha]

(iii) Done and dusted, fuses from the fuse-boards in the engine bay and in the boot have been swapped over.. No change.. 👿

Parrot harness completely removed, I want to glue gun a wobbly connection. The wobbly connection itself isn't the problem now, but could possibly become a problem in the future. Also it's all safe to remove, it's not as if I've a working stereo!! 😡

With the Parrot out I made a few last minute checks, metered the parrot to ensure everything is as should be (which it was) but I did notice a few minor flaws in my previous pin out diagram. I've attached a refreshed version.

[WES180]

You really need to get another headunit to try before you go insane lol.

Was everything working fine before you started tinkering?

When you are trying it back as just the standard set up have you got the aerial plugged in, just wondering if it requires it as an earth?

[Ubetcha]

Insanity.. close! Visited my SnapOn Verso friend tonight, a few fault codes later and he bridged the live but the radio powered on for him. So at least the head unit is fine. So my next mission is to find out where the ACM - Audio Control Module lives in the car and then get my hands on a new one and swap them over.

SnapOnVerso image attached..

EDIT : The date is wrong because of the recent battery disconnect, I'm not bothered about that one

[JW1982]

ACM (Audio Control Module) is the radio itself.

The MK3 audiosystem basically consists of the following parts:

*ACM (Audio Control module).
*FCDIM (Display).
*FCIM (Control panel).
*Bluetooth/Voicecontrol module or APIM (SYNC) module (if present).

These modules communicate by the CANbus system or LINbus network.

 

[Ubetcha]

6 hours ago, JW1982 said:

ACM (Audio Control Module) is the radio itself.

 

Hmm I was afraid that somebody would say that.. so although I should now be able to get everything working again, it's basically going to be a bodge job 😞 Hmmm, just my luck...

 

[Lenny]

5 hours ago, Ubetcha said:

Hmm I was afraid that somebody would say that.. so although I should now be able to get everything working again, it's basically going to be a bodge job 😞 Hmmm, just my luck...

 

 

11 hours ago, JW1982 said:

ACM (Audio Control Module) is the radio itself.

Reminds me of the movie "Smokey & The Bandit"

Having watched the movie you then realise...

Smokey is the Bandit 😀

Best to go full aftermarket now get a double din Pioneer headunit,

I used an old Nokia when my stock unit sold on eBay and I was saving for the Pioneer AVH8600BT 

[Ubetcha]

ROFL, that's brilliant Lenny 🤣 

Actually I was a little tired on my last message at silly o'clock, what I should of said was something like this:

I had presumed that the ACM was controlling the main 12v live spade connector before it got to the radio. I had hoped it was a little plug'n'prey box and easily swapped out.. obviously not.

So thinking about my issue, I'll need to trace where exactly that main 12v live comes from. I've got a wiring diagram but, to me, it's like the enigma machine. If anybody could read it for me and help me trace this wire backwards?

I'm going to attempt to get it all 'bodge' working and see if I can find some ear defenders for my *****!! (Female dog)

[Ubetcha]

OK guys, it's been 'bodged' to a high standard.. I've put an additional switch on the dash just to prevent battery leakage, so hopefully this will suffice (fingers crossed)

This amp / sub is much louder than I ever remember it, my cheapo dash cam cannot do it justice. The bass sounds awful on video but let me assure you it sounds the business. I've uploaded a quick 3 minute clip so you'll get the idea. You'll also get an indication of how bad our roads are around the town!

I have to stay, although it's far from perfect, I am really enjoying driving with music again! Thanks to everybody who's helped me out, your help has really been appreciated! 

https://streamable.com/v3csr

 

[Lenny]

2 hours ago, Ubetcha said:

This amp / sub is much louder than I ever remember it, 

☹What.....no Nathan Carter???

Try these 😂😐

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ubetcha]

OK, so I don't really want to just leave this as a bodged job.. I've started reading the wiring diagram that Preee posted up here

I've taken a few screen shots and hope to have you guys help me out tracing this blasted live wire.

According to this, I'm wondering if I can gain access / find these three items inside my car (highlighted in red) and check to see if they have live then that'll be a step in the right direction..

In car temperature sensor
Internal KV Antenna
Climate Control Module

My logic here is that if these have live then the wiring should be fine, up to the split for the radio?

[WES180]

Just sell the car!😉

[Ubetcha]

A few more pictures.. really I can't see how it's not a ***** fuse..