Have a problem with the sync 3 module and sent it off to the coverters over here which they then send to the USA for modification/repair. Unfortunately their USA source isn't responding to messages as to ETA or if in fact they are still in business. Conversion people fitted a module from a Lariat (mine's a 6.7 d Platinum) to keep me on the roadand I loose some functions. Also when I try and update the sync3 I've found the serial no is tied in with my Vin which of course is different due to the module difference. Tried Ford Aus & USA - of course they say go to the dealer and don't want to know - and the lack of Platinum functioniality is giving me the gripes. Has anyone in the forum know of any sync 3 bods that can also do Australian maps or get the module back(They use Ford Territory maps for Aus)
Thanks

 

Just curious who your "converters" are?

Harrison F Trucks? American Car Company? Performax International? Maracoonda Automotive? SCD Remanufactured?

The only folks I have experience interacting with down under is Harrison F Trucks. I went to their facility in QLD about 5 or 6 years ago. They had just opened it, but now I understand that it has since been closed, but their original facility in VIC is still there in Melton, near Melbourne. I can no longer remember exactly where the Harrison F Truck facility in QLD was located, but I recall driving on M1 north from Brisbane, where I flew in from, and hung a right eastbound toward the Sunshine Coast somewhere north of Caloundra but south of Coolum. Somewhere in a suburb in the middle sat the new and mostly empty building that Harrison F Truck was occupying, with a couple of trucks on display (one of the first alumibody F-150s, and a steel body Super Duty... that was impeccably converted. I think the place was in the Maroochydore area, just a little bit west of the coast.

Anyways, the owners of Harrison had bought or leased a building in the depressed Detroit Michigan area for a song, that had once been home to an automotive supplier plant, and their stated plan was to use that building to develop the conversion for the 17 up Super Duty, while leveraging the proximal locale with the administrative, research, and development epicenters of the OEMs to nurture relationships that would help facilitate and resolve the very type of troubles you speak of.

They call themselves Harrison F Trucks because they cannot use the name Ford. They operate outside of Ford of Australia, which is likely why your local Australian Ford dealer doesn't want anything to do with this issue.

 

Thanks know of them and wasn't impressed with their service side of the business which is now located in western suburbs of Melbourne. Thge Qld branch still advertise and they now get their trucks converted by VDC (Vehicle Development Corporation) which they did before but after problems in USA decided to use VDC I guess. The Qld facility had issues with the steering which gave them a bad name (maybe why they closed there) I believe Performax -another Qld company based in Gympie - was the problem but there was a bunfight with Ford Aus who squashed the fleet deal Performax had at the time with the USA for whatever reason (more than likely didn't want the F Trucks imported or just being Ford Aus and attitudes of persons born out of wedlock). My vehicle was converted by VDC as a private customer and I have not had issues prior to this dozee one with the sync3 module. [prior to 7.3 diesel going out of production many ford dealers sold the trucks, so I guess internal politics popped up at sometime hence the current situation]

 

The 7.3L Ford trucks that were made in Brazil and shipped to Australia were a Ford Motor Company sanctioned product, through and through. In fact, these Brazilian built trucks have physical features especially designed for the Australian market that USA and Mexican built trucks do not have, such as factory fitted quad shocks for the rear end.

But once production shuttered in 2005, you guys got stuck with only Falcon utes with tray beds as your Ford open air hauling light truck solution. Anything else was aftermarket. And Harrison was overpriced. And all the new truck options set an Australian back almost $200,000.00 AUD by the time all the bs fees, tariffs, inspections, and taxes are paid. So American "Aluminum" is definitely a status symbol that gets some envious attention down there. Then to top it off, Holden shut down. I'm drifting off topic.

In your position, I'd learn everything you can about how Sync 3.4 is used on Ford models that are "official" in Australia, in order to see how the Australian map data set is packaged and updated with the software. That seems to be one side of the problem.

The other side of the problem is the Platinum feature set that you say has not been accessible with a Sync module from a Lariat personality. When looking at these problems separately, some individual solutions may come to mind. We have a member here on FTE who was on the Ford vehicle technology team that created the 3.4 Sync update, but I can't out him. I just mention that he roams around here once in a while incognito, and you might find words of wisdom here and there if you read every single thread on Sync there that exists here over the last year.

I have no personal experience with Sync. I have Fords that have it, but I don't use it. I'm too busy replacing the tin foil on my roof, cause you know, Big Brother and all.

Solutions may come out of box. I'll give you a brief story to inspire you to persevere. I used to buy Honda cars for my wife. I think I bought four over the years, so I had garnered some experience with the Honda automotive ecosystem. It is not bragging to say that a customer typically knows more about the product than the car sales person at any given dealership, and such was the case with my salesman, when I bought my last Honda some 25 years ago. I knew, and apparently the Honda salesman with the most seniority at the dealership didn't know, that the factory Honda alarm for a Civic did not come with any remote key fobs (in the mid '90's), but the Accords and Preludes of that era did. However, my wife didn't want an Accord or Prelude. She wanted the smaller Civic hatchback design.

I went to the dealer and ordered a Civic hatchback with every possible option, and to that added every possible dealer installed accessory, and did not negotiate price. Whatever amount they said they wanted, I wrote them a check for at time of delivery. So when they presented the purchase contract and Vehicle Get Ready (the list of all the dealer installed accessories to be put on the new vehicle) for me to sign, I pushed it back across the desk and asked them to type in "with two remote key fobs" next the line that said "vehicle alarm". The salesman laughed outloud and scoffed at my ignorance, exclaiming "Factory alams always come with remote keyfobs, that goes with out saying, it doesn't need to be written."

The check that I had just written while he was preparing the contract was still in my hands while I gathered my things to leave.... and he said where are you going? I said I need to see "WITH TWO OPERABLE REMOTE KEY FOBS" in WRITING, on that contract, or no deal. Shaking his head, he retyped the contract with the language I required, and I handed him the check.

It took the dealership service department several conference calls with the engineers in Japan to figure out how to retrofit an Accord remote keyless entry and alarm brain into a Civic that never had those features, and many man hours of pre delivery get ready shop time (over two weeks) for the dealer to fulfill their end of the contract that they typed and had me sign. But they DID find a way. And EVERYTHING electrical worked for the entire 350,000 miles she got out of that car. I was not in a hurry, the car was a surprise Christmas gift and I needed a place to hide it anyway, so might as well be at the dealership, while they thought outside of the box to put in a key feature that should have been designed into the car in the first place.

So keep at it. At the end of the day, it is just circuits and switches. 1's and 0's. I wish I could help you further, because challenges like this are interesting, and not insurmountable.

 

Thanks for the info Y2KW57, very appreciated greatly illuminating and interesting Honda story - sounds like they are like that world wide (sales people) as you outlined the "xtras" that the Brazillian RHD's, aren't fitted on the imported ones direct from the USA and as you say it's only 1's & 0's and after following up you bod _ think I remembered he answered a query some time ago - shall beat the Ford mushroom theory cloud and get the FFie back into original guise somehow.