Sync 2/MFT to Sync 3 (3.4) upgrade climate control displays

[cr08]

Thought this may be a good thing to reference here for the users on this forum. Within the past few months I upgraded my 2013 Energi from Sync 2/MyFord Touch to Sync 3 and have bumped it up to the latest 3.4 version thanks to the work of the dudes over at CyanLabs and their Syn3updater tool.

 

One thing to note in this process for our older vehicles is the climate controls displayed in Sync that we were used to in MFT and were also available in Sync 3.0-3.3.x are gone in the later 3.4 versions since they are technically no longer 'compatible' due to the underlying communication architecture in our 2013's (and likely 2014 and 2015 models as well) is different than what is used in newer vehicles.

 

That all said, this can be re-enabled and with first hand experience in my own vehicle, it works 100% with the added bonus of having the 'climate repeater' feature also work (this feature, whenever you adjust the climate control through physical controls, shows the temp/fan/etc changes on the touch screen similar to if you adjust the volume).

 

This has all been documented well on a thread over on the CyanLabs site and the necessary AsBuilt tweaks via ForScan:

 

Re-enabling climate domain/repeater options after 3.4 update + parking sensor display - Ford / Configuration (AsBuilt) - CyanLabs Official Community

 

(The additional topic in that thread concerning the parking sensor display has not been tackled yet, still need to get the OBDLink adapter necessary for the PAM firmware updates. I've also briefly brought up elsewhere on the forum about trying to see if the ambient lighting can be enabled and controlled via Sync as AsBuilt parameters exist to enable this. Not getting my hopes up on that one given the architecture of how the ambient lighting module is wired in our vehicles, but will still give it a shot and post here if anything promising comes about)

 

------

 

Semi off topic and probably long enough for its own topic now: After about 2 1/2 months of having Sync 3 in my 2013 I will say that I do highly recommend this upgrade if you have the funds to do it. Just about 99% of the functionality works flawlessly and the addition of CarPlay/Android Auto has been a godsend. I use AA myself basically every trip. I bought an all inclusive kit for mine which was pre-programmed for my C-Max so it was literally plug and play. Total install time not counting gathering tools together (really the only major thing needed is the appropriate sized socket for the bolts holding the center vents and the APIM in. Everything else basically snaps in) was probably 15-20 minutes tops including replacing the USB hub (this is required if you use CarPlay, still recommended otherwise. The stock hub with the SD slot and composite video connections 'works' but it throws an error on screen at every vehicle start and the composite video/aux connections no longer work with Sync 3).

 

Here's some of the functions I was originally worried about losing and my notes on them as well as some general observations I've found:

 

 

• The only 'major' bug I have right now is the auto screen brightness when it dims the lights (say going under a bridge or something) the APIM display flickers on this one but from what I have gathered it is due to an older APIM/screen module as mine is an early 2016 module. Newer ones with newer firmware seem to behave in this respect. It also appears it may be specific to Focus/Escape/Kuga/C-Max models and related to the different 'global lighting' communication protocol used and incompatibilities therein. That said, I have not found it to be terribly distracting myself. It doesn't seem like it flickers between full brightness or full dim and the 'steps' it flickers between seem to be a relatively small brightness difference. And it only occurs during the transition between brightness levels when the ambient light suddenly changes. When it settles in one spot it is fine. I will have to make a note to get my good camera that I can lock the exposure on and capture this while someone else is driving.
  • A 'workaround' for this issue other than getting a newer APIM module and screen is there is a version of Sync 3 where an 'auto brightness' toggle still existed. This is version 3.4.19101. This version and prior still had the auto brightness toggle. Later versions removed it. 
• The basic parking sensor/beep functions work perfectly. This doesn't seem to rely on the APIM at all. The PAM communicates directly to the ACM to produce the beeps through the speakers and that is not changed in any way during this upgrade.
• The auto parking assist function does not work properly for these early model vehicles and this upgrade. The on screen graphics are not displayed correctly with some text/icons off screen. The actual functionality also may or may not work. It seems to be hit or miss for some. Those it has worked for it seems like you have to know beforehand what the various tones it produces tell you to do and rely on them as the displays on screen don't function properly out of the box. I haven't had the opportunity or location to give this a solid go on mine to confirm if my 2013 still 'works' without the display. It does seem that if you can update the PAM firmware via ForScan and do some additional AsBuilt modifications it can be made to work 100% however. UPDATED 2/13/2024: The auto park assist works fine, but the on screen displays may not be accurate. If you've used it before and know the steps and the beeps, you can follow that and it SHOULD function normally on 'feel' alone. Unfortunately this is not something that can be fixed without potentially a LOT of reverse engineering work.
• MyFord Mobile and the integrated TCU/Modem still works fine. No loss of functionality here and the on screen Value Charge adjustments work fine. The functionality where a Master Reset in Sync decouples the vehicle from the linked MFM account also still works. UPDATED 2/13/2024: As we all know, MyFord Mobile is gone. The newer 4G TCU's and FordPass work fine with this upgrade even on these older model vehicles.
• On some Ford vehicles it is reported the integrated GPSM (GPS module for stuff like the dash compass, 911 assist, EV+ mode, and the now defunct Sync Service/turn by turn directions for those without factory nav. This module is buried underneath the dash behind the IPC on our vehicles) clashes with the new GPS module in the Sync 3 platform (Sync 3 now uses a separate 'dumb' GPS antenna directly attached to the APIM. The old GPSM sat on the CAN network and communicated to modules such as the IPC, BCM, and APIM that way) meaning you'd see stuff like the compass display spinning or the factory nav wouldn't be accurate or would bug out. This often means the GPSM would need to be disconnected altogether. Anecdotally with my 2013 this is not necessary and the two GPS sources co-exist fine. The compass, EV+ mode, and the GPS info provided to MyFord Mobile (which I am 99% positive is still using the factory GPSM and not the new GPS source from Sync 3) all functions accordingly.
• Navigation and audio displays on the IPC (gauge cluster, right side display where you have Navigation/Phone/Audio/Efficiency screens) continue to work 100% with the built in media and nav functions. Android Auto will also work with this to some degree (on Sync 3.4 only. 3.0-3.3 do not relay this data over. This only applies to AA/CarPlay. Base Sync 3 nav/audio functions still send this data over for all Sync 3 versions) 
  • Navigation via Google Maps or Waze will display turn by turn directions on the IPC, however some data is missing. Namely the overall trip ETA at the top. Both the distance and time here just show 0's. This does appear to be an issue with Ford's programming not relaying this info over to the IPC. Per Android developer info, all of this nav info (namely the missing overall trip ETA data) and more is sent to the headunit while using AA and is available on other vehicles. Everything else including the current street name, next street, and distance to next turn will display fine. Speed limits also display on mine however I believe this may be reliant on the factory nav data. I'm not sure if this displays for those w/o factory nav. EDIT: Added an example photo of this functionality. Link
    UPDATED 2/13/2024: This only applies to Android Auto. CarPlay even with the latest Sync versions will not show turn by turn data on the IPC with Sync 3.
  • At least for Google Maps on Android Auto, you can use the 'up/down' arrow buttons on the steering wheel to go to the nav menu on the IPC and during an active route you have a Cancel Route option here that does work and cancels the route in Google Maps. This is the only command I have seen available while using AA and that it works.
  • (This is potentially Android Auto specific) Audio info displays fine. Similar to the nav data, artist and track name display, progress bar is accurate, and elapsed time display is there. The track count however always shows 0/0 for me at least when using Youtube Music and Poweramp. Have not tested any other music apps EDIT: Tested multiple audio apps including Plexamp which display track counts via Bluetooth. All show 0/0 via Android Auto. Link)
  • Bluetooth Audio now displays actual data! With MyFord Touch the IPC would just show 'Bluetooth Audio Stream detected'. Now it displays the same data as if playing from a USB flash drive including artist/title name, progress, etc.. I am not sure off hand if the track count displays properly or is 0/0 like my experience with Android Auto. I will test this later this afternoon and edit my post accordingly. EDIT: Full info is displayed including track counts for select apps. In my case, Youtube Music shows 0/0 regardless of playlist or music selection. Other apps like Poweramp and Plexamp display the proper song count. Link

 

If anyone has any questions at all regarding the Sync 3 upgrade on these older vehicles, I'd be happy to answer any of them.

Edited February 13 by cr08
Added links to Imgur photos for some examples. Examples highlighted in red. 02/13/2024: Added extra notes to update with new firsthand data since the original post was made.

[homestead]

Cr08, Thanks for the details.

Where did you get the hardware sync 3 hardware?

Does CyanLabs charge for their updater?

[cr08]

I bought mine from seller 'mitrals' on eBay: mitrals on eBay -- I believe he also hangs out on some of the Facebook C-Max groups and has listings in the FB marketplace. That said, these kits are becoming so commonplace from various sellers it isn't hard to find anymore. I'd just stay away from those trying to fleece you for $1000+ like 4Dtech. $500-$600 seems to be a good average all in for a non-nav system with $700-$800 being what I'd expect for factory nav. And many will pre-program the APIM for your vehicle with just your VIN. The one additional caveat I'd add is to avoid any Chinese/overseas sellers and try to buy from those with locations in the US. Counterfeit/bodged APIM's out of China seem to be somewhat common and may not exactly be stable in the long term.

 

The CyanLabs program is absolutely free. Basically it's a relatively user friendly frontend for pulling Sync 3 update components from Ford's site and building a working USB stick to manually update with. This is especially necessary for two reasons on vehicles like ours: 1) The SyncMyRide site is not going to officially recognize 2013-2015 models as having Sync 3 and being able to take those updates even with the Sync 3 APIM installed. 2) Earlier Sync 3 modules are only officially allowed to update up to 3.3.x versions, but unofficially 3.4.x is a solid update for these with a lot of new features, performance improvements, and bug fixes. Ford will also not sanction this update through SyncMyRide and must be done manually (either by hand or via CyanLabs' Syn3updater application). And lastly 3) Doing the Sync 2 > Sync 3 upgrade causes the automatic update feature to not work as Ford's still looking at your VIN and seeing it as a Sync 2 vehicle. So any future updates will need to be done manually as well.

Edited July 23, 2021 by cr08

[homestead]

Looked on ebay, all the sellers were from China except for one.  $550 to upgrade my 2013 SEL.

My Sync 2 is currently working but a little flaky and need to pull the fuse once in a while.

If it dies I think I'll upgrade to Sync 3 rather than repair what I have.

[takingittothemax]

Video it, and put it on YouTube ?

 

I've watched Escape and Focus upgrades, and they look a little tricky in parts, but otherwise completely doable.

[cr08]

21 minutes ago, takingittothemax said:

Video it, and put it on YouTube ?

 

I've watched Escape and Focus upgrades, and they look a little tricky in parts, but otherwise completely doable.

 

If you're talking about the Sync 2 > Sync 3 upgrade itself, no real need. The procedure is basically 100% identical to that of the Escape as the dash and center console components are identical to the C-Max. That's basically how I got so familiar with it initially was watching the Escape installation videos, of which there are a lot of already. ?

 

Programming-wise I wouldn't know the first place to start. lol. There's a LOT of moving parts in the AsBuilt coding. And given most sellers pre-program them for your vehicle, it's not a huge deal. That said, if anyone jumps on this and needs an AsBuilt copy from a fully loaded SEL, I can at least provide that. lol

[cr08]

So I'm probably going to make a separate thread for this once I've completed what I want to do and have something more substantial to show...

 

Been messing around in ForScan to see what features can be enabled in the C-Max that aren't enabled from the factory or intended to be. The first one that I was surprised to come across that is actually a direct feature toggle (and not needing to know and flip AsBuilt bits) in ForScan is displaying the Cruise Control set speed on the IPC (it will also display the previous set speed if 'cancelled' which is nice!). I'll attach a little teaser image here. 

 

I finally got an OBDLink EX ordered which I need for doing firmware updates including the PAM so I can re-enable the auto park function and hopefully that opens up some other new Sync 3 specific features as well.

[Mike G]

I want that!

[jonyi]

Hello , cr08,  Would you share the USB module part number?  I got one off ebay but the connector does not fit.  I have 2014 CMAX energi.  I got HC3Z-19A387-B.

[cr08]

On 9/20/2021 at 3:18 PM, jonyi said:

Hello , cr08,  Would you share the USB module part number?  I got one off ebay but the connector does not fit.  I have 2014 CMAX energi.  I got HC3Z-19A387-B.

 

As far as I am aware, no Sync 1/2 vehicle doing the Sync 3 upgrade will be fully plug and play on the USB hub. You need an adapter cable for the power feed and it will vary depending on the model year of the vehicle. For yours being 2014 it SHOULD be a 'Gen 1' adapter. Here's the one listed at 4dtech for a good image to reference: 4D Tech | Ford Upgrades, Replacements & Accessories

 

Don't necessarily need to buy it from 4dtech, you should be able to find them on eBay or even make one yourself. The Sync 3 retrofit thread over on 2gfusions actually has more info on how to built your own adapter for this.

[jonyi]

Hello cr08, 

Couple of questions.  

I did the upgrade to SYNC3 with APIM from ebay which had 3.2 installed.

I upgrade to 3.4 via Synalab sync3 updater but display was defaulted to 50% was unable to change it within Sync menu.  

Did you had any issues with the display brightness?  I downgraded to 3.3 and display was OK.

 

Also, I have not programmed the APIM yet with new asbuilt file.   Few issues but nothing major.

Did you update the APIM module only?  Since my car is 2014 Energi SEL with 300A, do I just down load the .ab file with 2016 VIN number that has same 300A option?

 

 

Thanks much in advance.

[cr08]

Looks like you may have a thread open on the Cyanlabs forums with F150chief already providing good advice on the AsBuilt stuff. I'd stick to that since they are super knowledgeable about AsBuilt related stuff in Sync 3. That's largely outside of my wheelhouse especially for the initial Sync 2>Sync 3 migration. When I got mine, my APIM was already preprogrammed for me. That said I imagine if you get the AB file for a factory Sync 3 vehicle with the same or similar options, it should at least get you a good baseline to start from and tweak from there.

 

Brightness issues I haven't had any problems other than the known flickering issue when the light sensor in the vehicle triggers a change. I can change the brightness slider on the APIM just fine. This may be something that is resolved with the proper AsBuilt especially if the existing config is set for a different lighting architecture.

 

And as far as the update process, the APIM was the only thing that needed to be modified in the AsBuilt department. The rest of the car remained stock and unmodified. I much prefer sticking to stock as much as possible and this is one of many reason I made the move to Sync 3 with my '13 was it was all super easy and plug and play. It's been rumored way back in the early days of Sync 1/2 that Ford engineers wanted to build the system to be easily upgraded like this and seems like they managed to accomplish a lot of what they wanted even if Ford at the top level doesn't officially support this upgrade.

Edited November 6, 2021 by cr08

[Falcon1772]

Is it possible to do this with the android version of Forscan. I just got this Cmax. I'm use to AlfaOBD for my Ram 1500. its incredibly in depth and you can do SOOOOOO much stuff. But it all works via the app and my bluetooth obd tool. I'm seeing that most stuff with Forscan has to be done with a laptop.

 

On 8/6/2021 at 11:46 AM, cr08 said:

So I'm probably going to make a separate thread for this once I've completed what I want to do and have something more substantial to show...

 

Been messing around in ForScan to see what features can be enabled in the C-Max that aren't enabled from the factory or intended to be. The first one that I was surprised to come across that is actually a direct feature toggle (and not needing to know and flip AsBuilt bits) in ForScan is displaying the Cruise Control set speed on the IPC (it will also display the previous set speed if 'cancelled' which is nice!). I'll attach a little teaser image here. 

 

I finally got an OBDLink EX ordered which I need for doing firmware updates including the PAM so I can re-enable the auto park function and hopefully that opens up some other new Sync 3 specific features as well.

 

[cr08]

That's correct. The AsBuilt/config changes like this can't be done via the app and must be done via the Windows app.

 

EDIT: I also know that I've been putting off getting the new thread set up with the modifications I've found. I'll start working on that this weekend. There won't be much to start but I'll add things as I go and will happily solicit anything anyone else finds. You all have probably seen the F150 AsBuilt spreadsheets floating around. I'll probably design this closely to that.

Edited November 19, 2021 by cr08

[olidx]

As I had found enough hours of time during the year end Holidays break, I finally moved to work on my Sync 2 to Sync 3 upgrade on my 2013 CMax energi SEL 303A.

Lots of valuable information on the Ford community forums, ForScan, CyanLabs and of several contributors, like @cr08 on the forum have been a great help to get this going so thank you very much for all your insights!

I had purchased components a while back and really put off the upgrade, but so far it really gives a breath a fresh air to the CMax, and Android Auto is really welcome. Highly recommend to make the upgrade if you are running Sync 2.

I used the following components:

- APIM JJ5T-14G370-ACC (used from an 2018 Ford Escape with navigation)

- USB-C hub LB5Z-19A387-B (new Ford genuine part and ordered trim adapters on aliexpress)

- Right angle Fakra connector GPS antenna (the first one I ordered gave DTC and sometimes an error message at startup even though signal seemed to be okay, so got a different model and I am no longer getting DTC)

- Gen1 USB power adapter cable for the USB Hub

I updated the APIM from 2.3_17109 to 3.4_22251.

The APIM was coming from the previous vehicle AsBuild, so I gathered a few reference and tried to match it as close as possible to the 2013 CMax energi SEL 303A config.

 

Here is the programming in abt ForScan format (again may not be optimal, so use with care)

; Block 1
7D0G1G12B2865038014
7D0G1G2028816800A04
; Block 2
7D0G2G155530106C049
7D0G2G282001000006D
7D0G2G3640545
; Block 3
7D0G3G10101000000DD
; Block 4
7D0G4G10100040000E1
7D0G4G20005E2
; Block 5
7D0G5G117A21798286D
7D0G5G2BE9C
; Block 6
7D0G6G1805E
; Block 7
7D0G7G1110433000027
7D0G7G2000006820068
7D0G7G30004306A007F
7D0G7G46446
; Block 8
7D0G8G1005000000131
7D0G8G2700040000091

 

Appreciate if you have any comments on the topic and feel free to ask if you have questions!

Edited February 5, 2023 by olidx
Update and improve content.

[homestead]

Found an ad for upgrade for sync 2.

Looks to be an add on rather than replacement.

There is an Install video.

Anyone try this?

[takingittothemax]

On 1/22/2023 at 2:16 PM, homestead said:

Found an ad for upgrade for sync 2.

Looks to be an add on rather than replacement.

There is an Install video.

Anyone try this?

 

Saw some forum posts about this Roadtop system on another Ford forum. I think the on-screen functionality is fine, but the sound quality from the connected Android phone or iPhone is rubbish because it's going through Roadtop system and the AV inputs.