Sync Scheduled Maintenance ?

[Tacyon]

So yesterday I jumped in the Edge (2011 limited) and start up, and the center display doesn't come on as quickly as I'm used to. Then I see the SYNC logo and the scheduled maintenance message that appears when you've done a cold start of the system. (pulled "the" fuse) again .. no great shakes but curious none the less. Once its complete the first thing I noticed is the button in quadrant 1 that reads "Connect a Phone" was basically invisible. You could see it but it was "ghosted" like a "hidden computer icon". It would still go to the phone connections screen when pressed. It would automatically connect as soon as my BT went active on the phone. So .. two questions.

 

1) Is it suppose to be "ghosted" in appearance or as visible as the radio or climate buttons when they're powered down ?

 

2) Is there really an interval of operation where Sync says .. "ok, I've been up long enough, I'm going to self trigger a cold boot!" ?

 

Sync system has current software and other than the widely reported issues everyone has, its been fine.

 

I have not manually triggered my own cold boot to see if it comes back, as quite frankly, its not worth the crawling under my dash to pull "the" fuse as this point.

[akirby]

It will auto-reboot if it gets too hosed. As long as you can pair the phone and it reconnects I wouldn't worry about it - it should fix itself.

[Tacyon]

yea .. not too worried about it .. just one of those things were in the back of my mind .. I know its not correct. It'll bug me everytime I look at it ..

 

maybe next weekend I can try another cold boot of the system. I'll post the out come.

[FordIVTteam]

Were you driving when this happened, Tacyon? That can alter the appearance of some features since SYNC restricts them while driving. Other than that, yes, SYNC will occasionally reboot itself. If it continues to happen, let me know.

Rebecca

[Tacyon]

sry for delayed response. Work ... I tried unemployment once. The hours were great but the pay sucked !

 

It appeared when I started the vehicle in the morning to go to work. No other symptoms.

 

Then ... about a week or so later, it happen again .. and the button re-appeared.

 

And if its any help, I (my edge that is) also suffers from the "ambient light reset" which has be talked about often. I've also noticed when that happens, I get the voice help screens re-appearing each time I use voice. Both of which I can reset (my ambient light config & disable the voice help screen) until the next time it happens.

[Tacyon]

Wednesday morning, due to on coming traffic, was unable to avoid a nasty pot hole and put a nice loop in my 20" aluminum rim. Really surprised I didn't blow out the sidewall.

 

Just now, turned off the Edge to talk some people, started it backup, no center console. No reboot 30 seconds later. Pulled fuse 29 - no go. Pulled positive battery terminal - no go.

 

So I tell my self ... self ! everything works until it doesn't. At which point you can say, WHAT THE HECK, IT WAS JUST WORKING A MINUTE AGO ?? !!.

 

Not a good week for Tac.

[Tacyon]

update and my theory: Giving it a night to sleep on, the next morning when I started my Edge .. still no go. I sat in the garage pondering the logistics and cost of getting this fixed at whatever Ford dealership. Backed out of the garage and paused at the end of the driveway waiting for a car to pass and hoping to see the cold boot screen. Nothing. Drove to the end of my street and waited for another car and while I tried to come to grips with what had happened and started to head out of town. Then, about 4-5 minutes after I'd started my car .. and had been driving ... the cold boot screen appeared. Its back from the dead. How can this be ?? Electronics don't behave this way or shouldn't anyways. But this got me thinking .. how could this be and now I have more parts the mosaic that was forming.

 

1) I remote start my car 97-99% of the time. I just do. It gets its juices flowing before I ask it to work and I have remote start .. use it.

 

2) On the few occasions that the reboot has happened to me seemingly out of the blue (ford blue) it’s been when I've NOT auto started it !

 

How would or could this make a difference? What happens when you auto start that is so different from when you sit in the drivers seat and push the button?

 

When you remote start your Edge for those of you who don’t have remote start or haven’t noticed what’s happening in your car, very few things actually power up. The computer that controls the engine. The fuel pump, the starter for a few seconds (very high amp draw from this) and a few other minor systems. Its not until you sit in the seat, press the brake pedal and push the start button that the all remaining sensor packages, computer systems, lighting, etc. actually power up and come online.

 

When you “manually” start your Edge by sitting in the seat and pressing the button or turning the key, everything comes on nearly at once including that HIGH amp draw starter motor.

 

Then a comment that the guy made the last time I had my oil changed and one I hadn't expected him to say. "Sir .. did you know your battery is bad? There is only about 11vdc on it at rest meaning that there is a dead cell. would like it replaced?” I declined the repair knowing that I could replace it anytime between now and fall and that I’d want to shop and do it myself.

 

But, this is where I think it all ties together. On the few occasions where I've manually started by Edge with this marginal battery, at the point the starter kicks in, all the sensor packages, computers, center console electronics, etc are all wanting to power up as well. And the battery being “weak” to begin with I suspect that they've been freaking out due to the reduced available voltage and crashing/rebooting when this happens. Or in the case of the other night/morning .. simply wouldn’t come up at all.

 

When I've remote started ... the battery (and alternator) have had a few minutes (60-90 seconds average) to recover so that when I actually press the start button and the balance of the systems are asked to come online, there is enough "wattage in the cottage" to keep them happy.

 

I’m installing a 750CCA AGM yellow top today.

 

Oh and I also ordered the Redline Quick lift struts for the hood and I’m looking for aftermarket horns if anyone has recommendations. Mine sound SOOOooo anemic ! (hmm, related to the battery issue???)

 

another update to follow after a few weeks or so on the new battery.

Edited July 19, 2014 by Tacyon

[CinnamonEdge]

I know there were some issues with Ford Escape horns getting funky so that may be the horn going bad. I think the edge horn sound nice. I had a Ford Escape in the past and my battery was like yours ready to croak and my electronics would act all funky too. I bet you the MFT system voltage was so low that it reset. Just like when you loose your radio presets on a dead or almost dead battery. Maybe the autostarter was charging the system enough that when you got in your car the voltage was high when the MFT booted. Verses starting it in the car with low voltage from cold battery. Hope it's all resolved.

[ls973800]

Oh and I also ordered the Redline Quick lift struts for the hood and I’m looking for aftermarket horns if anyone has recommendations. Mine sound SOOOooo anemic ! (hmm, related to the battery issue???)

 

I installed the Redline struts over the winter and can give a few suggestions. First, make sure you have a heavy duty quality rivet gun to use. I had purchased what I thought would do the trick according to the directions with the struts. Ended up messing up one of the rivets, just didn't have enough power to work the stainless steel rivet properly.

 

I had to purchase a different rivet gun which was very heavy duty. It did the job, but even that one had a little bit of trouble.

 

When they tell you to put a piece of tape or something on the drill bit to judge the depth of the hole you drill on the bottom of the hood, DO IT! I thought I could control it, but ended up with two very small, hardy noticeable dimples on the top part of the hood. I know where they are even though I bet 90% of anyone looking wouldn't see them at first.

 

I love the struts and am glad I installed them. Take your time measuring where they go and you will have no problem. I went with the mid priced kit that had the black hardware.

[Tacyon]

LS973800, thanks for the heads up. that is the kind of feed back i was hoping this comment would elicit.

 

I think for what I've read and found .. the Hella dual tone dual horn kit will be my next purchase. 118db at ~7' when the relay is utilized.

[Tacyon]

Well .. remote started the Edge tonight and when I got in pressed the start button and started backing out of the garage .... as Sync was rebooting, again ! So now this has ruled out a bad battery, remote versus manual start. And I notice that when this happens the ambient lighting and the expanded help screens are reset again.

 

So now .. its either faulty design, failing unit(s) or normal (?) crash with reset. 56,000 miles. Think its still covered ?

[omar302]

The MFT 's APIM is covered for 5 years regardless of mileage. First, I would make sure your on the latest update, version 3.6.2, second, when was the last time you did a Master Reset?

[Tacyon]

It is and I have.

 

Since my last post, its happened a few more times and to quote a line from some movie (2001 ?) if we let it go 100% failure mode, it'll be easy to find the source.

 

A few things that I've noticed.

1) the airbag light comes on a day or two before its going to happen.

2) when the GPS goes off line it'll usually not work when you turn off the car and power it back up.

3) when its "out to lunch" the main screen is simply not powering up or being told to do so. When you first enter the car started or not and it detects the keys presents, normally the two smaller screens and the larger main screen will all power up blank white. When its borked, the two small screens are on, but no signs of life from the large main one.

4) cycling its power whether by fuse, one of the two grey plugs to the fuse panel or battery, does not force it to come back. However, when it feels like it, one of these will "trigger" it back to life. But ONLY when it wants to.

5) When it does come back, most if not all settings are still in place except the ambient lighting. That goes back to 100% on turquoise.

6) when its dead, I can make the radio come back for about 10-30 seconds by cycling its power via the methods in #4

7) when its dead, I can still make climate changes (THANK GAUD) via the steering wheel and small right hand screen. Radio however is totally MIA.

 

These last few times its gone dead .. its stayed dead for a day or two. Before it was always just a unscheduled "Scheduled Maintenance" reboot.

 

I think I'm going to call defeat and start looking for a quality dealership to fix this. 58,250k miles and I did get the FMT we're cover it extension letter from Ford .. so I guess I have that to look forward to. I just wish I had a flow chart of that system. My 74 Toyota Landcruiser with ~650,000 miles on it is as simple as it gets.

[omar302]

Taycon, you should your vehicle to a dealer when the screen is dead, try not to restart your vehicle so the screen remains off. The dealer should one of two ways to fix it, a complete reflash of the software, and if that fails, I think they should replace the APIM.

 

The latest 3.6.2 version of the software does cause, normally, cause black screens. Your car getting them means a defect either in the software (reflash) or hardware (replacement), both covered under the 5 year extended warranty of the APIM.

[Tacyon]

update: this last time the APIM went dead on me .. it lasted a week ! Ughh. So I took it by a dealer while it was dead and after explaining everything I've seen. All the tests I've done. Everything. The service writer sticks his USB reboot flash drive in and expected what .... idk. I had already told him that it was NOT being told to power up. Meaning its powered off. meaning that you're not going to get it to boot off your flash drive ... because ITS NOT POWERING ON !! Am I talking to myself here ???

 

Anyways .. Extended premium warranty means I get a rental (2015 Explorer Limited) and the APIM is covered by the extended Ford warranty. So when I bring it back in for the appointment.. wouldn't you know it, its working and has been since the night before. I called for a status update at the end of the first day and he says . "wouldn't you know it ... it won't fail every time we test it ...and there are no codes" to which I reply . So .. you're not going to "repair" the module... its a "replacement" so stop wasting time "testing" and looking for codes .. unplug, remove, replace, plugin, verify operation. Done. Uggh.

 

2nd item on my list was the stalling of the sun roof that we all know about. I was proudly told that "yes sir, we lubed the tracks and that is all better now". OMG, I certainly hope they just didn't lather up the rails with lube and call it a day. The issue is usually more than sticky rails. But .. I'm keeping up hope. If it is truly "fixed" I'll get the specifics from the mechanic who did the work and report back.

 

3rd item, airbag light comes on. #1 in post 13 above. I suspect (hope) that this will be resolved with the new APIM. They "had one in stock" that turned out to be the wrong one and they ended up ordering another one from the factory. Does any one know if this will assure my getting the more recent APIM revision. And is there such a thing .. version 123 was bad ... but revision 435 is totally redesigned and we've had zero failures ??? IDK.

[Tacyon]

Not to repeat post .. check out this linkage for the outcome.

 

tl:dr after several times while being worked on, they got it into "failed mode" where it failed 6 out of 10 tests and coughed up the failure code needed to get the newer, revised APIM module. 7 days later !