Hey guys, I am having two separate problems that are related through the head unit. I have a 2016 XLT with sync 3 that is about 10k miles out of warranty.

First, I have been having an intermittent issue with the back up camera randomly not working. I will just get a blue screen when I put it in reverse and a window that pops up and says that the camera is not available. This will last for a day or two and then go away for a few weeks. I have tried a few fixes that I have found on this site from others with this issue but nothing has worked. I have put off taking it into the dealership due to being worried that the cost to fix it will be too much.

The second problem is my doing. I spilled about 16 oz of hot coffee right into the center console. It was about equally spilt between the cup holders and the bin where the USB ports are. I got it cleaned up pretty quickly and everything seemed just fine until a day later. Now my USB ports will not charge any device, Android Auto will not activate and I get a pop window telling me that the device plugged into USB needs too much power, even with nothing plugged in. I pulled out the USB ports and I found coffee in the connections that attach to the back of the ports when I disconnected them so I probably caused a short. Even with the dongle unplugged I still get the pop up so I probably have to replace the wires too and not just the dongle that houses the ports.

My question is, at this point, would I be better off just taking it to a car audio place and just getting a new deck with a backup camera system and new USB ports or would it still be better to take it into the dealership and stick with paying for the factory stuff?

 

Your camera I can't say but I would lean toward a loose connection which may be a simple (relative to how much you take apart to see it) fix. The USB hub is probably done for but easy to pop out and replace.

 

Have you went to the tailgate and unplugged your camera connections and cleaned them out with Electrical cleaner and put back together--may just be that all it is!

USB port just order another port and replace, your wires are fine, just the USB you toasted!

 

My 2015 King Ranch did the same thing they replace a part in the dash. Can not remember what that part was.

 

I'll try just replacing the USB port, but seems to good to be true with the high power popping up even after the USB port is pulled out.

I will also try that with the back up camera, I checked the connection in the tailgate and it was solid but I will see if the electrical cleaner will help. I didn't even know that was a thing.

 

Yep disconnect the connector and spray out both sides and put back together!
99% sure the USB port is toast--

 

Don't forget dielectric grease on that tailgate connector. Will help prevent this same problem in the future (if that's where the issue is).

 

I hope your looking at the connector under the rear of the truck where you can disconnect the tailgate rather than the one in the tailgate.

 

probably the APIM aka sync module

 

Any idea what the cost on this would be sans warranty?