2018 STX. Trying to figure out if the APIM is going bad or if there's another cause. The display screen and radio work intermittently. Normally the first start up in the morning the screen works and the radio comes on as normal. Has some lag to it but after a few minutes that goes away. Every start up after though the screen either stays black or the ford logo just keeps reloading and tweaking out with lines through the screen and what not. Radio doesn't work, usb wont work, nothing. Back up camera works right away though every time, but will cut out to a black screen for a few seconds and then comes back on every time.

I've done the reset holding the power button and the seek button and that worked for a couple days. Now that doesn't even register if the screen is black. I've checked the fuses and those are good. My next step is to try a new battery even though the current one starts the truck up right away and seems to be working fine. If the APIM was bad wouldn't everything be completely dead? I can't figure out why it works sometimes and not others. Is there anything else I should check before dropping a few hundred on a replacement APIM?

 

Are you on your original battery still?

 

Yea still the original battery. Plan on getting a new one put in this week

 

Is it the 4 inch or 8 inch version? Is it on the latest available release of Sync? Have you unhooked the battery for 15-20 minutes as part of troubleshooting?

The behavior you're describing sounds more like a power/ground or CAN Bus issue vs. an APIM issue. Unless you have Pro Trailer Backup Assist or 360 cameras, your backup camera terminates to the APIM, so the fact that your camera works every time would make it very odd if the APIM was failing.

 

My screen was acting odd a couple of weeks ago. APIM staying off and not booting, rear camera staying on, etc. My battery was bad (good voltage but tested bad). Changed batteries and all my ofdd symptoms have gone away.

 

It is the 8 inch screen. Sync is up to date I believe. Will have to double check that. I have unhooked the battery and that didn't change anything. Don't have the Pro trailer back up or 360 cameras. Its just an STX model so nothing too fancy on it.

I am hoping a new battery fixes it. Can't figure out why it works in the morning when I start it up and go to work, but the majority of the time anytime after that nothing works. Its like the screen gets stuck in the start up and shutdown sequence until the truck sits long enough that it clears itself out.

 

My bet is battery too. Seen many threads that the battery starts and runs some electronics fine, others not so much. It's like a fine line at a certain voltage. Also, since you might be on that fine line, make sure you reset the BLM or it could take a few days for the system to recognize your new battery. For grins, you could try charging your battery? Minimum get it checked at Autozone etc.

 

Just an update. Replaced the battery and that didn't fix it. Looked at my current sync version and I have version 3.0 build 18093. Will try to get that updated to 3.4 this weekend to see if that fixes it.

 

Good Luck!!! Make sure to stock up on coffee and power bars.
Get a big bottle of tylenol, grab some stress ***** and set aside 18-24 uninterrupted hours of failed download time!

Ford's sync system is equivalent to an accountant using an abacus!!!

Anyway...I don't know that updating the version of sync will rectify the problem...just my opinion.

 

Sorry to hear battery did not resolve the problem. Did you reset the blm? It might still think old battery is in there? Some differing thoughts, but usually most agree that it needs to sit overnight, untouched, to learn the state of charge, or reset the blm via various ways.