Hi everybody I am new to this forum and would like some tech help.

This car came with sync 3 which has become unusable , phone disconnects / reconnects frequently , sat nav unusable , radio needs cd inserting to restart.

I have retrofitted a sync 2 version that has given functionality to the phone and radio and the only thing that does not work is the sat nav due to the aerial aerial connections not being connected in the 54 pin socket.

Does anybody know which pins are used.

Yuor help would be greatly appreciated.

Just to confirm you have gone from Sync 3 to Sync 2?

Sync 3 uses a Fakra GPS connector on the unit 

Sync 2 uses a external GPS module it’s and would not be fitted to a Sync 3 system.

 

 

Yes I know that I just need to know which pins are used for the gps feed.

SYNC 2 uses the GPSM module for GPS reception. The GPSM module is also used for Emergency Assistance. Vehicles without Emergency Assistance do generally not have a GPSM module.

SYNC 2 vehicles have a different type of GPSM module than SYNC 1/SYNC 1.1 and SYNC 3 vehicles. You need the correct type of GPSM module otherwise GPS reception of SYNC 2 will not work correctly or may even not work at all.


The GPSM module communicates to SYNC 2 over the MS (Mid Speed) CANbus network. The pinout op the APIM is as follows:

Pin 16 = MS CAN +
Pin 17 = MS CAN -

Since it is a CANbus network you can connect to the network at any location that the network is present. After being connected there must be continuity between Pin 16 of the APIM and Pin 2 of the GPSM module and between Pin 17 of the APIM and Pin 3 of the GPSM module.


If everything is connected properly and there is no GPS reception or it takes a long time to get a GPS fix the GPSM module needs to be replaced for a different (SYNC 2 compatible) version.

9 hours ago, Smoley said:

Yes I know that I just need to know which pins are used for the gps feed.

Here is a pin out diagram but as @JW1982 has said it might not be plain sailing

Thankyou for that info I have connected a gpsm module to pins 16 and 17 but as you rightly say I still have no gps signal , just as a bit of background when I originally fitted the sync 2 module the map on screen showed Scotland (for over a week) .after connecting to pins 16/17 no map is shown .

Any chance you know which type of gps module I require.

Thankyou.

Does the car have a GPSM module at all? If not you need to check whether the wiring for the GPSM is present. If the wiring is present you can install the GPSM module.

The GPSM need to be from a SYNC 2 vehicle. 

 

Hi thanks for the reply , the car had sync 3 with sync 3 ford gps aerial and after trying an aftermarket gps aerial still had very intermittant sat coverage ,thought I could make the sync2 apim work with mods using connections to a reverse camera loom pins 16/17 but no luck , if I can find a sync 2 aerial I will give that a go (I do not know what they look like) .

I might have to look at a replacement sync 3 apim .

Many aftermarket GPS antennas will not work correctly with SYNC 3. Very few (usually the more expensive ones) work correctly.


To be honest downgrading from SYNC 3 to SYNC 2 is like going a huge step back in time.

The Sync 2 hardware is identical to the My Ford Touch system that was introduced in 2010 and taken into production for the 2011 model year in the USA. The moment SYNC 2 was introduced in Europe it was already outdated. The support for SYNC 2 has been discontinued many Years ago so no recent software and map updates are available.

Compared to SYNC 3 the SYNC 2 system is slow, unresponsive and lacks modern functionality.

Ok understand what you are saying , but having a first generation sync 3 unit that did nothing it was supposed to do and was very slow , eratic and unresponsive , I now have in this sync 2 unit a system that just works as soon as the car starts ( apart from satnav ) and was just hoping.

27 minutes ago, Smoley said:

Ok understand what you are saying , but having a first generation sync 3 unit that did nothing it was supposed to do and was very slow , eratic and unresponsive , I now have in this sync 2 unit a system that just works as soon as the car starts ( apart from satnav ) and was just hoping.

Out of interest did you try to update to the Sync 3 software and maps before changing to Sync 2 as this can cause the above issues with Sync 3?
 

I have also seen once issues like this with a Sync 3 APIM but it was down to a failing eMMC  chip 

With regards to generations of Sync 3 it’s only the MY19 onwards APIMs which can be different (but not impossible to fit) the core system remained the same just different update revisions to the software but there are some revisions to APIMs 

if you do decide to go back to Sync 3 and get a new unit make sure it’s a Nav variant as unlike sync 2 you cannot add Nav to a non nav sync 3

 

No I have  not tried to update the sync 3 on the vehicle , it was my brothers car and was left to me from his estate , ever since I got the car it had these problems but they seemed to get worse over time .

Jim3797 Hi just hoping you can tell me wether all sync3 apim are compatible with all sync3 screens , thanks.

1 hour ago, Smoley said:

Jim3797 Hi just hoping you can tell me wether all sync3 apim are compatible with all sync3 screens , thanks.

Yes all Sync 3 APIMs are compatible with the screen as they all use the same screen technology but later Sync 3 APIMs are sometimes configured for the slightly smaller Screens however I would recommend the replacement is from another mondeo (from MY16-MY18) just for easy installation and configuration