Hi,

Just bought myself a 2013 Ford Focus Titanium but I'm having some problems with the audio which I was hoping for some help with seeing as Coronavirus means I can't take it anywhere to get looked at. 

Firstly, everything is fine with radio/DAB/CD Player and all speakers are working fine. But when I connect with my phone via bluetooth I have no audio output from my phone. Now I know its connecting okay because it says it's connected and shows me phone battery level and reception on the SYNC screen. And when i hit play/pause using the buttons on the dash, it responds on my phone but there's no sound and the same thing happens with calls - the phone responds to any buttons i press on the dash but there's no sound. I have the same problems when I connect via aux and by connecting a device using the USB port. It's all a bit strange.

I've disconnected and reconnected a fuse under the front passenger side responsible for bluetooth and also one in the boot which is responsible for audio stuff and nothing has changed. I think the fuses themselvves must be fine otherwise I'd have more widespread problems. I've also done a master reset but nothing changed.

Does anyone have any suggestions? The next thing I can think of is to disconnect and reconnect the battery, but I'm not sure I want to do that in case I cause any other problems.. thanks in advance

Have you tried connecting another phone?

Yeah I've used another phone too, had the same problem

Based on the symptoms I suspect the APIM (SYNC) module to be defective. The Bluetooth, USB and AUX functions are all controlled by the APIM module and communicated to the ACM (Audio Control Module).

That sounds like it isn't going to be a cheap fix...

On 4/28/2020 at 1:08 PM, khizerj said:

That sounds like it isn't going to be a cheap fix...

Should be under £40 on ebay.

You're best searching for "AM5T module" (AM5T is the first few letters of the part number, the characters after are irrelevant). However E1BT and D1BT are also plug and play (and are a slight upgrade).

The module is located behind the radio itself on the mk3 focus.

You don't mention in your original post but I assume you have tried turning up the volume when Bluetooth is on.

I know the volume of Bluetooth/aux is different from the radio volume for when you take calls in car. If this was turned down to minimum then you would experience these symptoms.

7 minutes ago, ColW said:

You don't mention in your original post but I assume you have tried turning up the volume when Bluetooth is on.

I know the volume of Bluetooth/aux is different from the radio volume for when you take calls in car. If this was turned down to minimum then you would experience these symptoms.

I had the same thought hopefully it's true. 

Sorry everyone, just reviving this. So I took the car into Ford to avoid messing something up with a DIY attempt, who then promptly quoted me £700+. So after a bit of Youtubing I managed to open up the trim and I took a picture of the part number for the SYNC module behind the dash because it seems to be a plug-and-play type fix? Please correct me if I'm wrong before I ruin something...!

The part number is BM5T-18C815-XK but when I search online to buy it, it seems to be around £80. But others with slightly differing part numbers are about £40.

Do I need to buy the exact replacement and simply plug it in? Or can I use any of the alternate part numbers? Will I need to do any coding/programming? One seller on eBay tells me he doesn't have 'the code' for it... not sure which code he means or if that is significant or not?

Thanks in advance (once again!)

If you read my reply above, it contains the answers to pretty much everything you just asked...

That part number you listed is for the radio itself and not the sync module.

There's nothing to code in, should be plug and play.

22 minutes ago, khizerj said:

Sorry to be a pain mate. Just wanted to check - in your reply you said that the part number is for the radio and not the sync module itself.

So do I have to replace whole radio or do you think I should just replace the sync module?

If the rest of the radio works then just the sync module.

Thanks much appreciated. I’ll have a tinker tomorrow and see if I can pick out the sync module specifically... will it be inside the silver box?

I can't remember exactly how to get to it as it's been a some time since I replaced the module in my car but it's behind the heater controls, below the radio.

 

In Lukes thread in the link below, the module can be seen in the first photo where the heater controls have been removed. It's the black box behind the wires.

 

 

https://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/101067-mk3-prefacelift-sync-2-8-touchscreen-upgrade-how-to-guide-with-pics/

Have you tried disconnecting the battery and resetting the radio/sync back to factory settings and starting again?