Focus mk3 Park Assist - visual not updating, no sound!

[geraintthomas]

Hi there,

Just recently purchased a Focus Mk3 Titanium with reverse sensors. When engaging reverse gear, the screen changes to the Park Assist screen and shows the 'radar' visual, but the visual doesn't work when reversing, and I hear no tone coming from the sensors. It's as if the sensors aren't picking up anything.

There is a leak in the boot by the parking aid module, but there's no signs of water damage inside the module itself. The circuitry looks as clean as a whistle.

Tomorrow I'll be disconnecting the sensors and cleaning the connectors, but it's strange... the car isn't throwing any fault codes or errors. It thinks the sensors are working fine, but there's no information coming from them. There's also no codes on scanning the parking aid module with a more advanced diagnostic tool.

Any ideas? It's the only issue on this car!

[TheYellingDingo]

Hey! I'm new to these forums and this is actually my first post, but I have been doing some semi-relevant work on my Mk3 focus and figured I could help.

I'd suggest that you remove the instrument panel cluster from your dash and check the manufacturing date sticker on the back. For the pre-facelift Mk3 Focuses, people had a lot of complaints about the lack of info screens and features on the cluster display and it's actually a pretty common upgrade for people to simply swap their original cluster for one from the Mk3.5 version. 

These swaps are pretty plug and play and the modules are visually idential, but there are some minor firmware compatability issues that lead to things like the rear parking aid not beeping, automatic dimming not working, and the built-in compass not working properly. If your IPC date is later than your model year, that may be the issue.

[geraintthomas]

7 hours ago, TheYellingDingo said:

Hey! I'm new to these forums and this is actually my first post, but I have been doing some semi-relevant work on my Mk3 focus and figured I could help.

I'd suggest that you remove the instrument panel cluster from your dash and check the manufacturing date sticker on the back. For the pre-facelift Mk3 Focuses, people had a lot of complaints about the lack of info screens and features on the cluster display and it's actually a pretty common upgrade for people to simply swap their original cluster for one from the Mk3.5 version. 

These swaps are pretty plug and play and the modules are visually idential, but there are some minor firmware compatability issues that lead to things like the rear parking aid not beeping, automatic dimming not working, and the built-in compass not working properly. If your IPC date is later than your model year, that may be the issue.

Very interesting, didn't know that was a thing. The compass and auto dimming features work fine - everything does - it's only the parking sensors that have no visual change when I get closer to anything and have no beep.

I'll dig deeper today.