2023 F350. 6.7 P.S. Lariat Ultimate package. The GPS will fail intermittently. This has been on-going from day 1. This happens just about anywhere. No pattern that I can determine. I'm convinced that this is not due to poor GPS signal. I've started taking photos of the navigation screen showing GPS with the dreaded red circle and a diagonal line through it. The only thing that comes to mind is that there may be some kind of electrical connection problem at the GPS antenna. I do have a new drive-through car wash near my house and the truck gets washed frequently.

Has anybody else had similar issues? I hate taking the truck to the dealership as they are likely going to claim: "unable to replicate Customer's complaint" as the problem really is intermittent and is not "on demand".

JQ

 

There are fools out there driving with illegal gps jammers because they don't like their employer tracking them with vehicle mounted equipment.

Pass one these, and your gps goes squirely for a bit until good signal is found.

Not saying this is your problem, but.......

 

Some of us have had to have the telematics control unit replaced for GPS problems. But I haven’t seen any complaints about intermittent outages. They worked all the time or none of the time.

 

My 2024 goes in next week to get the TCU replacement done.

 

Keep in mind that there are a certain number of signals from GPS satellites needed to maintain a specific degree of accuracy. My 24 gets the GPS and Red Slash Circle every so often for a few minutes and then goes away and comes back and goes away. During this time my NAV still works 99% of the time. Without being able to see the accuracy and number of satellites that the system is getting a solid signal from I can't tell exactly but my suspicion is that it most of these instances are due to not enough satellites which cause an accuracy to fall below a specific threshold in the software. I also have noticed that since I have updated the TCU module software with the latest via FDRS that the instances of the Red Slash Circle and GPS have gone way, way down. So, maybe replacing the TCU helps as it forces the latest module software to be written as well where the newest software adjusted the required accuracy. Of course this is all supposition on my part, and it really isn't hard for me to believe that Ford would have a bad batch of TCU's that were installed... 148 recalls last year make that point. I am still waiting for the start inhibit to be re-enabled on my 2024 F-250. I had that feature for two months and used it constantly when in the city. Then one day, poof, gone. I called Ford and they said it was a known bug with the Ford Pass App and the infrastructure that communicates with the TCUs on the 2024 MY. They also said it would be functioning again sometime in the first part of 2026 so we shall see.

 

It's happened to me twice so far. When it does happen, it screws up my Android Auto GPS too.. Both the Ford GPS and AA will tell me I'm at home if I'm stationary. Once I start to move AA will work normally until I come to a stop again. Only way I can fix it is to unpair my AA and then my phone's GPS will route like normal. The Ford one will continue to show the No GPS signal and place me at my home address.

I've tried shutting the truck and opening/closing the door and that did not work. I've unplugged the batteries for acouple hours and that did nothing. Randomly the GPS will start working again.. first time it took acouple days and the next it fixed itself after several hours.

Note: while this is happening my truck cannot be reached by the Ford App either and my truck has not performed an OTA update since August.

Brought it to Ford for this and a Sunroof rattle. They supposedly tried manually downloading the update to their laptop and after 4 hours it failed the download. When they tried again it would not pickup where they left off and required another 4+ hrs. They told me it was working right now and to just bring it back when the Sunroof parts come in. They would attempt the fix again then.

 

You mentioned car wash, does this usually happen when the truck is wet or if it's raining? I recently put on one of the Baja Designs light kit that slips into the hitch receiver. This came with a harness that connects between the wiring harness and the back the the trailer wire connector. a couple of weeks a go we got some snow and slush. As soon as I started driving in that crap my Telematics unit went offline. After things melted and dried the unit stated to work again. Moral of the story check to see if there is water getting into the trailer wiring harness or any other harness at the back of the truck.

 

Doesn't happen every time I go to the car wash. Just with enough frequency that I wonder if there is a connection.

The CEL came on, so the truck is at the dealership (under warranty) while they are evaluating the CEL issue. I mentioned the on-and-off issues with the GPS and produced over a dozen photos that I showed to the Service Advisor. I'll report back in a day or 2 when the truck comes back.

JQ

 

Has happened to me from day 1 with my 23. Can go months without an issue then it's out every other drive. Once had it out all the way from MA to TN. Dealer shrugged their shoulders and I went to CarPlay and gave up.

 

While the truck was at the Dealer for the above-mention C-E-L, they "reprogrammed" the GPS system. Whatever that means. Not holding my breath.

Turns out that the C-E-L was a bad sensor in the DEF system. Dealer had the truck for 8 days. They had to order the sensor. It arrived in a package that had obviously been opened previously. The mechanic told the service advisor that he suspected that the sensor had previously been installed. As such, they ordered a new sensor and sent the new/opened/previously-installed sensor back.

JQ