Sync 3 black screen - Should I be scared?
 

Yesterday my truck did something it had never done before. I had turned off the truck and then restarted it. The Sync 3 screen had the Ford logo on it for what appeared to be an unusually long time, then the screen went black. The screen remained black and began playing the music I had been playing from my USB drive. The steering wheel controls would not do anything to change songs or raise and lower the volume. I could lower the volume via the radio knob. but the on/off button did nothing. The HVAC controls seemed to work, but nothing was on the screen. I tried turning the truck off and restarting, but still nothing. Luckily later that day when I restarted the truck everything was working again.

I am running Sync 3 v.3 Build 18025

I am afraid this issue will happen again and the screen stop working completely. My truck has very little time left on the factory warranty. Is this a fluke or should I talk with the dealer?

You still have warranty? Go STRAIGHT to the dealership!

That's a common thing with the bootloader in the APIM, it's the equivalent of doing a forced shutdown of a PC then a Boot. The sync 3 uses the Ford logo as a way to hide the fact its starting up. It doesn't have the fastest processor. Unless it was a fault there will be no stored fault in the APIM.

Your APIM is starting to fail and it`s a common problem that most dealers should know about.
The only fix is to get it replaced.

Are you still under the factory 3/36K warranty?

I hope so because if you have to come out of pocket, you`re going to be at the 1K mark for the dealer to replace and program a new one.

In case you`re wondering, these APIM`s are vehicle specific and the dealer has to program each one to each vehicle if a replacement is needed.

Holy Cow. I will go today. Thanks for the insight.

The guy at the Ford dealer was well aware of the issue. He wrote it up and said I would have to bring it back with the black screen before he could do anything. He said as long as it was written up before the end of the warranty it should be covered.

This thing is making me rethink buying the extended warranty. Does anyone have any thoughts the Ford extended warranty?

Yes a Ford premium ESP is a great investment. Look at Lombard Ford they do great prices and no interest installment plan. I paid 1860.00 for 7/125k. In regards to the sync 3, the APIM modules are a lot more reliable than they used to be. The black screen upon shutdown and reboot is a lag in the bootloader. You should be able to confirm this by duplicating it. Even if it does die I would not pay a dealer 1k to replace it. It's a 20 min job and the used APIM can be had for 200.00 or upgrade to a Nav APIM for 300. All you need to do is copy the As built data from old to new and you are back in action.

My 2016 did that twice. My resolution was to shut off the truck for about 10 minutes and the screen came back.

But to be safe I would want the dealer to have a record of the event.

I had cell phones that would go brain dead. Resolution was take out the battery and re-install.

Got to love the computers.

Thanks, ford390gashog. I will check Lombard Ford out. That price is quite a bit lower than the $2,400 he quoted at my dealer. He mentioned Premium Care. Is that what you are referring to? Does this warranty cover the truck as if it was still onder full factory warranty or are there deductibles and items not covered?

In a way I have to say this issue hits me like it does smokewagun. I had a 2002 F-150 with zero issues until about 125,000. Since buying this 2016 I had a stuck sunroof which dealer says, yeah, that's a problem we know about. PVD wheels peeling which dealer says, yeah, that's problem we know about and now the APIM which the dealer says, yeah, that's a problem we know about.


This is a beautiful Lariat with 25,000 miles. This scares the bejesus out of me as I think to the future.

You need the premium care warranty to cover these electronics. https://www.lombardfordwarrantys.com see the premium ESP coverage. I have found it to pay for itself on the last seven trucks.

It's not the screen that goes bad, the screen is fine. The APIM is on the back of the screen and is a separate component. Just like the ACM is mounted and hidden below it in the dash. There is three major components in the radio systems now and this is due to can bus protocols. I can safely say the majority of APIM units I have had to replace are not bad but corrupt because the program isn't perfect. The hardware is fine and just needs the As built data wiped and reloaded.