How to regain steering wheel controls after nav upgrade?

[Jon04CTSV]

Hi guys,

 

I know this question has been asked a million times but I've gone through the whole 24 pages on this forum and no one's ever come up with an answer. A few guys have said they won't say it in public... No idea why.

 

My car is a '08 Explorer, but same nav unit and same problem as the Edge.

 

Have a '08 with Sync. Added the '08 nav with Sync (Unit actually came from an Edge). Everything works. Nav, Sync, etc etc. The 'voice' and 'phone' button on my steering wheels did not. So I can no longer use my voice control. I changed the switches on my steering wheel, still no dice. I've been using this for about 6 months now. Found some direction on rewiring the mic and switch to the nav unit instead of the Sync module. Pulled everything apart today but could not find the right pins or figure out how to access the wires from the connector.

 

Here's where it gets weird... So I plug everything back in, start the car... My nav system says Installing English from Disc or something like that... Weird, never seen that before. It powers up and voice button on the steering wheel works. I can make calls, control my audio... SWEET! But I go through the nav screen and many things don't work. It's connected with my phone, but it doesn't see my phone on the screen. I cannot place calls using the screen (but can with voice). I can play songs off my USB, but the nav screen does not show the name of the song. Weird as hell.

 

I turn everything off, disconnect the Sync connectors in the center console and plug them back in, turn it back on, and everything's back to normal. Everything works again except for the steering wheel controls.

 

Can ANYONE please shed some light on this???

[L1TECH]

Hi guys,

 

I know this question has been asked a million times but I've gone through the whole 24 pages on this forum and no one's ever come up with an answer. A few guys have said they won't say it in public... No idea why.

 

My car is a '08 Explorer, but same nav unit and same problem as the Edge.

 

Have a '08 with Sync. Added the '08 nav with Sync (Unit actually came from an Edge). Everything works. Nav, Sync, etc etc. The 'voice' and 'phone' button on my steering wheels did not. So I can no longer use my voice control. I changed the switches on my steering wheel, still no dice. I've been using this for about 6 months now. Found some direction on rewiring the mic and switch to the nav unit instead of the Sync module. Pulled everything apart today but could not find the right pins or figure out how to access the wires from the connector.

 

Here's where it gets weird... So I plug everything back in, start the car... My nav system says Installing English from Disc or something like that... Weird, never seen that before. It powers up and voice button on the steering wheel works. I can make calls, control my audio... SWEET! But I go through the nav screen and many things don't work. It's connected with my phone, but it doesn't see my phone on the screen. I cannot place calls using the screen (but can with voice). I can play songs off my USB, but the nav screen does not show the name of the song. Weird as hell.

 

I turn everything off, disconnect the Sync connectors in the center console and plug them back in, turn it back on, and everything's back to normal. Everything works again except for the steering wheel controls.

 

Can ANYONE please shed some light on this???

 

 

Ford had alot of issues early on with SYNC and NAV together and I think in the early part of 2008 you could only get SYNC OR NAV but not both in the Explorer, that's the way it was on my Sport Trac which is essentially a Explorer. Eventually they did get it all figured out adn it was an option for late 2008 vehicles...I think. Now here is where it may get tricky. In order for one of these units to properly work in another vehicle that it was also designed to go in it has to be reconfigured with an IDS, Ford's scan tool, for the appropriate vehicle. I have done this on other Ford products so I know 100% that it will work. You will have to find an independant repair facility with an IDS and someone there that really knows how to use it because I don't think a dealership will do this. There are people on Ebay that do this also. The major issue though is that your vehicle had to be able to be optioned with SYNC and NAV together.

[fathead]

I would love to find the answer to this as well. I replaced my 6 disk with a Navigation system from a 2009 F350 and have been able to get everything to work with the exception of the steering wheel controls. There has to be a way to integrate them back into the system.

[L1TECH]

I would love to find the answer to this as well. I replaced my 6 disk with a Navigation system from a 2009 F350 and have been able to get everything to work with the exception of the steering wheel controls. There has to be a way to integrate them back into the system.

 

 

The unit MUST be reconfigured with the factory scan tool...there is no other way.

[Jon04CTSV]

The unit MUST be reconfigured with the factory scan tool...there is no other way.

 

Is that the only thing that needs to be done?

[Tanjima]

The first person is on the right track, mic cct goes through ACM instead of SYNC and you need to swap the strg wheel switch that he has done.

I have done this a few times and it works just fine - full SYNC function.

No scan tool config is needed since system self configs at power up.

Suggest you keep trying and you may get it, unfortunately I cannot tell you anything further since it not a Ford Engineering/Service approved modification.

[L1TECH]

Unless Ford made a huge change when they went to the hard drive based system it does not "self configure". I have had customers with this very issue and it was all solved by simply inputting the correct info via scan tool.

 

 

[Tanjima]

Unless Ford made a huge change when they went to the hard drive based system it does not "self configure". I have had customers with this very issue and it was all solved by simply inputting the correct info via scan tool.

 

I would agree with that if you have a unconfigured NAV/ACM, but the poster says he has a NAV/ACM out of a unit which had SYNC. There are other factors as well eg PAM mute over CAN bus if you have PAM feature.

If the unit is previously configured the by doing the wiring changes and using the correct str wheel switch (no OK Button) will get you a fully functional system.

[Jon04CTSV]

Here's what I don't get though. I was told that the microphone and switch had to be rewired to go to the nav unit instead of the sync module. Yet, that one time I started it up and everything crazy, my voice button and voice control were FULLY FUNCTIONAL. I turned off the car, turned it back on, and the voice button no longer works. My phone works fine, people can hear me so the microphone is obviously working.

 

The one time I had everything go nuts was when it said "Installing English from Disc" on start-up.

 

Like I said...

 

After having everything taken apart for over an hour... I plug everything back in, start the car... My nav system says Installing English from Disc or something like that... Weird, never seen that before. It powers up and voice button on the steering wheel works. I can make calls, control my audio... SWEET! But I go through the nav screen and many things don't work. It's connected with my phone, but it doesn't see my phone on the screen. I cannot place calls using the screen (but can with voice). I can play songs off my USB, but the nav screen does not show the name of the song. Weird as hell.

 

I turn everything off, disconnect the Sync connectors in the center console and plug them back in, turn it back on, and everything's back to normal. Everything works again except for the steering wheel controls.

Edited April 8, 2010 by Jon04CTSV

[Tanjima]

Here's what I don't get though. I was told that the microphone and switch had to be rewired to go to the nav unit instead of the sync module. Yet, that one time I started it up and everything crazy, my voice button and voice control were FULLY FUNCTIONAL. I turned off the car, turned it back on, and the voice button no longer works. My phone works fine, people can hear me so the microphone is obviously working.

 

The one time I had everything go nuts was when it said "Installing English from Disc" on start-up.

 

Like I said...

 

After having everything taken apart for over an hour... I plug everything back in, start the car... My nav system says Installing English from Disc or something like that... Weird, never seen that before. It powers up and voice button on the steering wheel works. I can make calls, control my audio... SWEET! But I go through the nav screen and many things don't work. It's connected with my phone, but it doesn't see my phone on the screen. I cannot place calls using the screen (but can with voice). I can play songs off my USB, but the nav screen does not show the name of the song. Weird as hell.

 

I turn everything off, disconnect the Sync connectors in the center console and plug them back in, turn it back on, and everything's back to normal. Everything works again except for the steering wheel controls.

Which connectors - the big 52 way on passenger side in center console or the one that connects to the SYNC module at the back of the cconsole ?

[Jon04CTSV]

Which connectors - the big 52 way on passenger side in center console or the one that connects to the SYNC module at the back of the cconsole ?

 

Had everything unplugged. There were 3 connectors in the center console, had them all unplugged. Had the nav removed from the center stack as well.

[Tanjima]

Had everything unplugged. There were 3 connectors in the center console, had them all unplugged. Had the nav removed from the center stack as well.

 

The 3 connectors are the ones that plug into the back of the Nav unit, SYNC is a seperate module located right at the back of the centre consle behind the air vents for rear passengers.

What were you trying to do apart from removing existing radio and plugging in the Nav unit ??

[Jon04CTSV]

The 3 connectors are the ones that plug into the back of the Nav unit, SYNC is a seperate module located right at the back of the centre consle behind the air vents for rear passengers.

What were you trying to do apart from removing existing radio and plugging in the Nav unit ??

 

There are 3 connectors that plug into the back of the nav unit on the center stack. There are also 3 connectors inside the center console.

 

I've had the nav in the truck for about 6 months now. Everything works but voice button doesn't work.

 

I found this post: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2348302&postcount=13 and was going to attempt to do that, so I took everything apart. However, I could not locate the right pins.

[Jon04CTSV]

Sorry to bump my old thread but wondering if anyone has any new info.

 

I'm wondering what will happen if I update sync. On Ford's sync page, you have to tell them whether you have the nav or no nav. What if I download the new sync software for the vehicle with nav and install it?