Ford mondeo 2012 TDCi Bluetooth issue

[Floz88]

Hi all

Getting super frustrated about the bluetooth module. It’s a 2012 titanium x sport so has the Sony unit. 

Everything works apart from the bluetooth module. It won’t let me connect my phone to it. You can see the option in the menu but you can’t actually pick anything. It just loads and then says error after a wait. 

I have tried pulling the fuse, disconnecting the battery. Pressing on/off for 10 seconds. Also tried loading the audio software via usb but it wouldn’t recognise the file. Tried with two different file formats in case it was that but it won’t work. 

Bought an elmconfig adapter but didn’t realise I couldn’t get the software to load it. 

Any idea how to go about fixing it? I’ve read plenty of threads but can’t find anything that fits my issue. Only one I’ve yet to try is reflashing the bluetooth module but not sure how to go about it.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[FatHead1979]

10 hours ago, Floz88 said:

Hi all

Getting super frustrated about the Bluetooth module. It’s a 2012 titanium x sport so has the Sony unit. 

Everything works apart from the Bluetooth module. It won’t let me connect my phone to it. You can see the option in the menu but you can’t actually pick anything. It just loads and then says error after a wait. 

I have tried pulling the fuse, disconnecting the battery. Pressing on/off for 10 seconds. Also tried loading the audio software via usb but it wouldn’t recognise the file. Tried with two different file formats in case it was that but it won’t work. 

Bought an elmconfig adapter but didn’t realise I couldn’t get the software to load it. 

Any idea how to go about fixing it? I’ve read plenty of threads but can’t find anything that fits my issue. Only one I’ve yet to try is reflashing the Bluetooth module but not sure how to go about it.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Has it ever worked since you've owned the car?  I ask because the bluetooth functionality is typically provided by a bluetooth module that's separate from the head unit itself so it could be faulty or might even have been removed/not plugged in by a previous owner.

[Floz88]

On 9/26/2019 at 9:53 AM, 1979Damian said:

Has it ever worked since you've owned the car?  I ask because the bluetooth functionality is typically provided by a bluetooth module that's separate from the head unit itself so it could be faulty or might even have been removed/not plugged in by a previous owner.

Hi

We’ve had it since new. It’s only ever been paired to one phone up until about 3 months ago when the issue started happening. Brother tried to pair the phone to it and now I can’t get mine back on. So it may be that the pairing part hadn’t been working. Could just be coincidence. 
 

Bit weird how the usb won’t pick up the update file too. I‘be tried ntfs and fat32 file systems. Otherwise I’d give running the update a go. 

[Frembrit]

Not familiar with the sony unit as I have the Sat Nav unit, can you see how many pairings it thinks it has? can you delete all of them and try again?

On the Mondeo the bluetooth unit is above the glove box and the easiest way to get to it is to remove the glove box (screws on the front, two 10mm bolts from inside the roof of the box, disconnect light plug, air bag switch plug and USB/aux if it's in the glove box)

When you tried the update did you put it in the root of the usb stick? (so not in a folder)

[Floz88]

3 hours ago, Frembrit said:

Not familiar with the sony unit as I have the Sat Nav unit, can you see how many pairings it thinks it has? can you delete all of them and try again?

On the Mondeo the Bluetooth unit is above the glove box and the easiest way to get to it is to remove the glove box (screws on the front, two 10mm bolts from inside the roof of the box, disconnect light plug, air bag switch plug and USB/aux if it's in the glove box)

When you tried the update did you put it in the root of the usb stick? (so not in a folder)

I may be getting mixed up. I’ve got sat nav and it runs convers+ might be the Speakers that are Sony. 
 

ive got the rear seat entertainment so I struggled removing the glovebox as the dvd unit is in there. 
 

is there any risk disconnecting the air bag switch? 
 

yeah the files were in the root as it was a freshly formatted usb. 

[Frembrit]

ok, then you should be able to see somewhere in the bluetooth screen how many pairings there are, and from there you can delete them and set up a new pairing. ( though I suspect your brother already did this)

It's just a plug for the passenger air bag deactivation switch, which isn't connected to anything...unless you have the switch fitted of course.

[Floz88]

9 hours ago, Frembrit said:

ok, then you should be able to see somewhere in the bluetooth screen how many pairings there are, and from there you can delete them and set up a new pairing. ( though I suspect your brother already did this)

It's just a plug for the passenger air bag deactivation switch, which isn't connected to anything...unless you have the switch fitted of course.

Sorry forgot to answer that part. When you go on the bluetooth menu any option you click it just tries loading then gives an error message. So you can’t see any pairings. 

[Frembrit]

I think it would be worth gettting the glove box out and disconnecting the module, reconnect and test again. 

[Floz88]

9 hours ago, Frembrit said:

I think it would be worth gettting the glove box out and disconnecting the module, reconnect and test again. 

I’ll give it a go at the weekend. Can you plug it into elmconfig and reflash the module?

what would you recommend if the above doesn’t work?

[Frembrit]

I've not used elmconfig in a while so I can't really comment, although there might be a setting to check that bluetooth is enabled at least.

If that doesn't work then it may be time to get another module, though from my understanding you need to make sure you get the right one, for example, you don't want to get one from and early Mondeo that didn't have support for USB. So get a unit with the same part numbers on it or newer (for the car). 

I'm suprised you didn't get a response on the Talkford forum...have a look on there for the threads where people have upgraded their early bluetooth modules so that they can have USB support, should give you an idea of part numbers.

[Floz88]

23 hours ago, Frembrit said:

I've not used elmconfig in a while so I can't really comment, although there might be a setting to check that bluetooth is enabled at least.

If that doesn't work then it may be time to get another module, though from my understanding you need to make sure you get the right one, for example, you don't want to get one from and early Mondeo that didn't have support for USB. So get a unit with the same part numbers on it or newer (for the car). 

I'm suprised you didn't get a response on the Talkford forum...have a look on there for the threads where people have upgraded their early Bluetooth modules so that they can have USB support, should give you an idea of part numbers.

Thanks for all the advice. Hopefully I can get it working. 
 

yeah I was surprised no one came back. I’ve seen lots of various problems with bluetooth on there but nothing that matches up to what I’ve had. I’ll let you know how I get on at the weekend. 
 

There isn’t any risk of airbags going off if I disconnect the airbag switch is there?

[Frembrit]

If you do have the switch fitted to turn off the passenger airbag (you would have asked for this to be fitted as it's not standard) then you should see it mounted somewhere and it's operated by the key, then I would suggest disconnecting the battery for 15 mins before unplugging it.

Switch would look like this https://www.ford.co.uk/owner/resources-and-support/how-to-videos/technology-features/deactivate-front-passenger-airbag

[Floz88]

On 10/2/2019 at 8:27 AM, Frembrit said:

If you do have the switch fitted to turn off the passenger airbag (you would have asked for this to be fitted as it's not standard) then you should see it mounted somewhere and it's operated by the key, then I would suggest disconnecting the battery for 15 mins before unplugging it.

Switch would look like this https://www.ford.co.uk/owner/resources-and-support/how-to-videos/technology-features/deactivate-front-passenger-airbag

Ah it won’t have been fitted then. 
 

any decent guides for removing the glovebox? I couldn’t find one that included the DVD player as part of it. 

[Frembrit]

Sorry, been away in Wales for the WRC. How did you get on?

[Floz88]

On 10/7/2019 at 8:46 AM, Frembrit said:

Sorry, been away in Wales for the WRC. How did you get on?

Didn’t manage to get to it as felt I’d be forcing out the DVD player and didn’t want to break it. Need to find a diagram showing how it’s connected. Really tricky to get a tool in the gap to where I think the screws may be. 

[Floz88]

So slight update. Took it to Ford who said it needs a new bluetooth module. Want just shy of £500 to fix it. Which is way too much for me. 

It could be that the unit is bust but is it possible that I could take it out and reflash the firmware using elmconfig? Or is that wishful thinking?

if anyone has some pictures on how to take it out when there is a DVD player in the glovebox that would be ideal. 
 

[FatHead1979]

On 10/22/2019 at 7:48 PM, Floz88 said:

So slight update. Took it to Ford who said it needs a new Bluetooth module. Want just shy of £500 to fix it. Which is way too much for me. 

It could be that the unit is bust but is it possible that I could take it out and reflash the firmware using elmconfig? Or is that wishful thinking?

if anyone has some pictures on how to take it out when there is a DVD player in the glovebox that would be ideal. 
 

On the older Ford units, the head unit is physically separate from the head unit so it's easily replaced.  If this is the case you should be able to remove it to see what part number it has and then look on places like eBay and ukpartsgateway for a decent used part, as long as you get a compatible part number it should be plug and play.