Hi all.

Like many others, I'm having trouble with my ACM.

I've got a 2013 Focus Titanium (Estate TDCI Econetic), with a Sony head unit.

A month or so ago, I had the snap crackle and pop, and the radio locked up. The clock button still worked, and occasionally the reversing sensor worked, but no radio. 

It jumped back into life a while after, but has now gone back to its old ways. It's so bad I've had to pop the fascia and pull one of the multi plugs from the back. If it only made noises when it was turned on, that's one thing, but when it starts screaming when I'm driving with no way of turning it off, that's another.

The model number is BM5T-18C815-XM.

I believe that the -XM means its a DAB model.

Would a non-exact match still work *enough*? e.g. I've found a cheap  F15T-18C815-HH unit, from a 2012 Focus Titanium with Sony head unit. I'm willing to lose the DAB Radio, but if the whole thing is 100% incompatible or needs reflashing, that's a no-go for me.

If it's enough to listen to ebooks via a usb stick, or music/calls/satnav via BT on my phone, that's good enough for me.

What's the opinion round here of off-brand android head units from Ali express? I've got my eye on one for £120, which is less than a 2nd hand, 10 years old ACM with a matching part number for my current unit, which is likely to break in exactly the same way 6 months after I buy it.

I've seen UK based suppliers with branded double din units for a reasonable price, but when you add the fascia, and the wiring conversion kit, and the steering wheel control kit, and the speaker wiring kit, and the antenna adapter kit and the reversing sensor kit, a £180 radio has ballooned into a £600 extravaganza. I don't have £600 to spend on a car radio for a 10 year old car, which is why I'm looking at alternatives!

Alternatively, does anyone actually know what the problem is with the ACM? If it's a failed component, I can probably replace it myself, but I don't have the test equipment any more to diagnose it myself. I'm going to open up the ACM and unplug the CD player (others have had limited success doing this).

Thanks for any advice.

Pete.

 

 

No, you need to replace with the same spec so:

BM5T-18C815-XM

you can fit XN, XP etc etc, but the rest must be the same or it will not be compatible 

2 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

No, you need to replace with the same spec so:

BM5T-18C815-XM

you can fit XN, XP etc etc, but the rest must be the same or it will not be compatible 

That's brilliant, thanks for the help.

Pete

On 5/3/2023 at 7:59 AM, DaveT70 said:

No, you need to replace with the same spec so:

BM5T-18C815-XM

you can fit XN, XP etc etc, but the rest must be the same or it will not be compatible 

Hi.

Hoping you can help a little bit more.

I found an inexpensive BM5T-18C815-XJ on ebay and bought it, but it doesn't seem to work.

Annoyingly, I was so focussed on the model number on the side that I didn't see that there were a different number of connectors on the rear. Rookie mistake and that one's on me.

The XM has a large connector and a small connector, and the XJ only has a large connector.

The ACM "works" in that I've got radio (all bands), reversing sensors, all of the buttons work etc, but the USB audio doesn't work. It registers on the head-unit, and "plays", but no sound comes out of the speakers. I didn't have my phone on me to see if the phone audio/Bluetooth music worked.

Does anyone have any idea what the small connector is used for? Is that were the audio comes from for the USB (and possibly bluetooth).

Ta.

Pete.

3 minutes ago, CaptainPGums said:

I found an inexpensive BM5T-18C815-XJ on ebay and bought it, but it doesn't seem to work.

I'm not quite sure why you thought it would work ?

As Dave explained the last two letters have to be "XM" or letters higher like XN, XP, XQ, XR, XS ........

On 5/3/2023 at 7:59 AM, DaveT70 said:

you need to replace with the same spec so:

BM5T-18C815-XM

you can fit XN, XP etc etc, but the rest must be the same or it will not be compatible 

The units are only forwards compatible, not backwards compatible. There are so many versions of connectors on these units it's very difficult to guess at what they are being used for.

On 5/10/2023 at 1:50 PM, unofix said:

Help

Does the sony unit have 2 connectors.

My sony in a mk3 focus stopped working.

The cd player has a cd in it and I couldn't turn it off until I unplugged the radio.

The hazard light button works and that's it. Central locking and all other buttons stopped working.

When I removed the unit there are was 1 big black plug and 2 rf plugs.

On the unit there is 2 slots for big black plugs I can only find one is there supposed to be two? And one has slipped down somewhere 

Or is it just broken. Do you think I need to replace the front bit with all the buttons and the radio

The screen is displaying o.k 

 

Thanks for any advice 🙏 ☺️