Telematics module and fordpass

[Ecosport2019]

So a couple of months ago i had the tcu replaced by ford under an after market warranty due to the bluetooth not connecting to our mobile phones.

Anyway at the weekend i decided to go through all the settings in sync 3 whilst waiting for the mrs to leave the house as usual!!

When i went into settings, then fordpass connect, if i select vehicle hotspot it says " the vehicle hotspot feature is not enabled on this vehicle" and if i select connectivity settings it says "the connectivity settings menu cannot be displayed at the moment".

Now i know everyone is just going to say take it back to ford, but... this is an extremely painful experience. Also my warranty has now run out and you can guarantee they will try and charge me £100 for an update.

Interestingly there is alot on this on American vehicles with various software issues, apparently going back to ford to have to tcm updated or returned to factory state. People also noted that when using sync 3 menu and going into information where it say software info etc, next to modem serial number its blank, i checked mine and bingo mines also blank.

I checked for a further sync 3 update last night which there was, downloaded to my usb stick hoping this would cure it but no joy!

I know have a modem serial number but thats all ive gained. 

So tonight i plan to disconnect the tcm for half hour just to see if it springs into life 

If this fails im considering downloading the as built data from motorcraft, what i dont know is will this as built data just be what it was from new or will it also contain any updates ford have applied to it? Otherwise im going to be stuck with an outdated tcu 

Any ideas or if anyone has experienced this before will be helpful. 

 

 

[unofix]

Hello James,

Lets deal with 'Hotspot' issue first. This has nothing to do with any of the Ford Pass functionality or over the air software updates.

Using your vehicle as a WiFi Hotspot requires a contract for which you have to pay a monthly subscription, about £4.99 when I last checked. It is a little used function these days as most people have mobile phone contracts with a data package. Buying the contract (from Vodafone) to enable the Hotspot function just so you can then turn off the direct connection on you mobile phone and then connect by WiFi to the car, offers no benifit for most people.

Now you can turn on Wifi and also automatic updates in Sync settings, which allows your vehicle to connect to your home Wifi when you are parked up and of course in range of your home router. This allows the vehicle (even when switched off) to use your home wifi connection to check and download any updates, for example new maps.

The vehicles own telematics unit is automatic and does not require any paid contract, it also does not require the use of WiFi of any kind. One of it's key functions is to automatically contact emergency services in the event of an accident and provide a GPS location.

[RL123]

I read on one forum that the ‘hot spot’ was subject of a dispute with Vodafone and not present in 2022 builds. I don’t know if this correct but our 2022 Puma does not have it.

[unofix]

10 hours ago, RL123 said:

I read on one forum that the ‘hot spot’ was subject of a dispute with Vodafone and not present in 2022 builds. I don’t know if this correct but our 2022 Puma does not have it.

Your not missing much 👍

When I first got my 2019 Focus it came with 18 months free use of the Vodafone Hotspot Wifi. To be honest, whilst it worked I just couldn't find any real use for it. There seemed little point in turning off the data connection on my mobile just so that it would then use the cars Wifi. In the area I live O2 provides probably the best coverage and unfortunately Vodafone is one of the poorest. So again it was not sensible to use a system that provided a poorer connection than using my O2 mobile directly.

[Ecosport2019]

Thanks for your responses.

Any idea on the as built data? does it include updates? Never used it before so would be interested to know just for the future, also if there are any other module updates available in the future it will save going to ford or paying the etis fee.

[Tizer]

It might be worth phoning the Ford Pass helpline. With your VIN No they can check certain things from their end and confirm that the car is the problem, which it probably is in your case. When I had a similar problem they spent a lot of time checking things from their end.

Doing a Master Reset of the Sync unit is worth trying as well, not just a Soft Reset.

When my car developed a similar problem my Connectivity settings were greyed out, no message on mine to say not available. The dealer tried various things unsuccessfully to fix it and eventually when they put it back to Factory Settings everything worked ok and is still working.

Certainly with my model the updates to the TCU come through automatically OTA without you knowing anything about it, not through Wi-Fi but Connectivity Settings would need to be enabled for that to happen. 

I don't know the answer to your last question but if you do go down the route of reloading the As Built data and enable Connectivity then I'm sure any updates will happen OTA.

[Ecosport2019]

Thanks for this, i did call fordpass as you suggested, the lady took my vin number and said the modem hasnt transmitted any data since they installed it. Said i need to go to ford for a factory reset.

I appreciate i may never use it, but its more point i have a component that doesnt work, i struggle with stuff like that and cant just let it be🤯🤣

[Tizer]

1 hour ago, Ecosport2019 said:

Thanks for this, i did call fordpass as you suggested, the lady took my vin number and said the modem hasnt transmitted any data since they installed it. Said i need to go to ford for a factory reset.

I appreciate i may never use it, but its more point i have a component that doesnt work, i struggle with stuff like that and cant just let it be🤯🤣

Yes the Fordpass helpline are very good, I wish there was the same thing for car related problems instead of paying £100 for a Dealer to tell you something before they even start fixing it.

From what you have been told my guess is that either the Dealer did not enable something that they should have or the new TCU is faulty. If it is faulty then I'm sure all new parts should have a one year warranty, although they may be able to wiggle out of that.

You might not intend using Fordpass although it does have some useful features that may come in handy one day like locating your car if you park in a strange town, checking slow punctures before you leave the house etc.

As I said before you will not get the OTA TCU updates without Connectivity as far as I know. My car has received about 4 of them since new.

Incidentally I made a mistake in my last post. I checked my Screenshots and I did get the same message as you as well as Connectivity being greyed out, plus I had a Fault Code in my TCU - B156D -TCU Customer Connectivity Settings With HMI - Additional Fault Symptom - Data Transfer Failure.

I don't know what HMI is.

[unofix]

2 hours ago, Tizer said:

I don't know what HMI is.

On equipment in industry it would stand for 'Human Machine Interface' or to put in sensible terms something like a touch screen.

I've no idea if Ford mean the same thing with their use of HMI

[Tizer]

2 minutes ago, unofix said:

On equipment in industry it would stand for 'Human Machine Interface' or to put in sensible terms something like a touch screen.

I've no idea if Ford mean the same thing with their use of HMI

Thanks for that, although I'm still confused, and so was the experienced Master Tech who took two goes before he fixed the problem.

The symptoms in my case were that the car was not communicating with Ford's whatever and the little arrows at the top of the Sync Screen were not showing, which is how I first knew there was a problem. 

Everything else worked ok except for Live Traffic not showing if there was congestion.

[Ecosport2019]

Thanks , i have the exact same code.

[Ecosport2019]

The only thing i havent done is check fuses, but i would have thought i would have more symtoms and codes

[Tizer]

There is only one Fuse for the TCU on my car and if it was blown then lots of other related things would not work as well as fault codes.

[PaterAnt]

On 11/24/2022 at 12:28 PM, unofix said:

Now you can turn on Wifi and also automatic updates in Sync settings, which allows your vehicle to connect to your home Wifi when you are parked up and of course in range of your home router. This allows the vehicle (even when switched off) to use your home wifi connection to check and download any updates, for example new maps.

Hi unofix. The https://www.ford.co.uk/support/vehicle-dashboard?vin= site is telling me that I have a maps update and to download files to a usb to update maps. Are you saying that, as my car is connected to my home wifi that I probably don't need to do that?

[unofix]

9 minutes ago, PaterAnt said:

Are you saying that, as my car is connected to my home wifi that I probably don't need to do that?

Given the unreliability of OTA updates I'd probably get the F11 map update and put it on the USB. It's nearly 23GB and a slow painful download on the best of days.

[Ecosport2019]

Car booked into ford on the 10th dec, just incase someone reads this in 9 years time lol, like to keep it updated. Nothing worse than trolling through 9 pages of a fault with no answer 

[Tizer]

Just to confuse things even more, I have just remembered a bit more about when I had a similar problem.

Although I had a similar Connectivity problem and with the same fault code and no arrows at the top of the Sync Screen, my Ford Pass App was working correctly. 

I know that because I could refresh the map in the App from my house to see when the car moved into the workshop and when it moved out to a different parking space, supposedly fixed although it wasn't.

No wonder the Master Tech and Workshop Manager were confused, I had to show them that my App was actually working although Connectivity was not and the Fault Code would not clear. It was after that that they decided to put the car back to Factory Settings, which fixed it.

 

[Ecosport2019]

Thanks for the extra info

[Ecosport2019]

Thought i would keep this updated so if someone has the same issue in 15 years time there is an answer in my case.

So the painful experience as i thought with the ford dealer continued as expected. Being an independent technician myself just makes me even more furious with the incompetence!

So they knew they had replaced the TCU unit under warranty as the bluetooth didnt work. This fixed my bluetooth issue. 

None of my ford pass menu's or the in car wifi worked, but.. i have no idea if this worked before the TCU replacement as i had only just purchased the car. They tried a TCM update but this made no difference.

I did my own research and phoned the ford pass helpline and they agrred with my research that the TCM needed a factory reset.

Anyway after various phone calls to the ford dealer they agreed to look at a factory reset, so they booked the car in on a saturday to get this done.

2 weeks later i take my car in, whilst i waited for an hour after the car had been driven into the workshop someone came out and asked what the issue was 🤯😕.

It got worse... after explaining my issue that they already fully knew about he explained that they don't have any diagnostic staff on a Saturday...what the hell🤣🥴🤯...

That trip was a complete waste of my time! I rebooked for a weekday ( LoL ) mid january.

Anyway today i decided to try it myself, i was abit apprehensive as i had read that after 2018 ford had written something in the TCM module that if altered it gets locked.

I loaded the AS BUILT data on forscan and it was completely different in every box to what was currently installed, which made me even more worried about doing it.

I saved my current data and went for it, cycled ignition, no difference!!!! I then thought I would do a master reset 1 last time on the sync 3, bingo everything came to life🥳.

Now when i first purchased the car there was a code in the TCM for customer connectivity setting with HMI. 

This now clears, so i dont know whether there was already corrupt data that just got coppied to the new TCM by ford or whether there was  a programming ussue that ford did. Either way its fixed now and hopefully I will never have to experience a dealer again🤞

[unofix]

3 minutes ago, Ecosport2019 said:

I loaded the AS BUILT data on forscan and it was completely different in every box to what was currently installed, which made me even more worried about doing it.

I saved my current data and went for it, cycled ignition, no difference!!!! I then thought I would do a master reset 1 last time on the sync 3, bingo everything came to life🥳.

Well done and congratulations 🎉

It's nice to have a happy end. Perhaps you can train your local Ford dealership on how to repair Ford's 🤣

[Tizer]

1 hour ago, Ecosport2019 said:

It got worse... after explaining my issue that they already fully knew about he explained that they don't have any diagnostic staff on a Saturday...what the hell🤣🥴🤯.

I can believe that. When I had a very similar issue the Master Tech told me that only Master Techs of a certain grade were allowed to do Factory Resets. 

I don't know if that was true or not or only for Warranty work or just something that the dealership did.

[TomsFocus]

I snuck into a VW main dealer on a Saturday a few years ago. Had some PD injectors stuck in a cylinder head and couldn't find an indy garage with a small slide hammer!  Took the chance of driving straight round the back, bypassing reception, and there was literally one tech in the workshop.  Asked him if everyone else was on tea break and he laughed, said he was the only one there at the weekend!   Good result though, he popped the injectors out in seconds!