KimJSuperStar
Member
- Joined
- February 5, 2023
- Messages
- 16
- Reaction score
- 5
- City, State
- Bunker, Nearby
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2014 PIU
In 2015 I purchased 2014 PIU at auction for $1500 after it was rear ended by a small Illinois towns infamous drunk driver. The chief hated Fords and wanted a Tahoe so he sent the car to the Ford dealer for a repair estimate, and of course it was totaled because OEM parts are expensive.
For years I have been putting up with the made in China aftermarket panels but they all suffer the same problems. They are $800 a pop, the software is absuletely garbage, they don't fair well in hot weather and the buttons and panels stop working over time.
Here we are now eight years later and the same generation of explorer has lots of after market support including the ability to upgrade to sync 3, meanwhile those of us rolling around in PIUs get left behind.
Two weeks ago my third after market panel died, so I have decided to break down and try to make this work with parts from E-Bay. There are some people out there who claim that they have gotten this to work, but wont explain in detail how they did it. So here my attempt and trying to make this work, I am hoping some people smarter than me will be willing to chime in so we can put this to bed once and for all.
To date I have purchased the following hardware:
Sync 2 APIM and Screen with Part DT4T-14F239-AD
4 to 8 inch sync adapter harness for a 2014 ford explorer:
8 inch automatic temperature control panel with out Sony option: FB5T-18A802-EA
HVAC Control Module: https://parts.ford.com/shop/en/us/electrical/control-modules/control-6454893-1?pdp=y (On the way)
A Sync Control Module: EB5T-14B428-AA
So here is how assembly and testing went:
Removed the HVAC interface panel
Removed the 4 inch screen and disconnected the connector attached to it.
Removed the receiver and disconnected the single 56 pin connector
Removed the original HVAC control module and disconnected the 26 pin connector, inserting the adaptor harness, and the reconnecting the original 26 pin connector
Reinstalled the original HVAC control module
Installed the 56 pin adapter into the harness and than back into the receiver
Plugged the remaining portion of the adapter harness into the unconnected open slot on the receiver
Feed the power cable down from the harness to the media hub
Feed the two USB cables down from the sync 2 module to the media hub
Reinstalled the receiver, Installed the 8 inch display, plugged the new 8 inch HVAC interface
End State:
Wiring Shortages:
There is no place to plug in the 56 pin connector portion of the adapter harness. When I watch videos on youtube of explorer owners doing radio swaps, this harness exists.
My interceptor did not have anything plugged into the right hand side of the receiver, but the sync adapter harness has a plug that plugs into it to tap two wires but there is no harness from the car for the female side of the plug to mate with.
CAN Bus / Programing Issues
The end result of all of this was that the screen would not turn on, the HVAC panel would provide an audio confirmation that it was receiving the commands but would not actually do anything. The radio portion of the panel was inoperative. So I left the 8 inch screen in but plugged in the 4 inch screen and sure enough some interesting things started happening, the panel worked normally.
What was intresting was that I got some indicators on the 4 inch screen that I have never seen before and the temperature was being shown in multiple places. Makes me suspect that the HVAC interface panel itself is the temeperature probe for the automatic air conditioner.
Most explorers shipped with automatic air conditioning controls. The interceptors were entirely manual. I proved that the multi-zone AC interface panel is capable of running in single zone, but I suspect that there is a dependency on a more featured module.
Researching the sync unit not starting I found out that the unit requires CAN Bus commands to start. So I need to confirm that the sync module is getting CAN bus signals, this lead me down the rabit hole and eventually to forscan.
There is an option code for APIM enable, but to enable that value requires the automatic HVAC module. The manual HVAC module is very limited, but the automatic one has a lot of extra can bus items on it like heated and air conditioned seats. Makes sense while the basic one isnt programable.
Since there is an APIM option I am testing the theory that the APIM gets is start control command from the HVAC module can bus. I also noted that some major companies selling 4 inch to 8 inch kits are including this module as well. Makes since as forscan also has options to disable any features not in use at the module level.
Focusing on the missing 56 pin connector, the adaptor harness expects to use about 14 of those pins. But I don't see a place to tap into that is obvius.
There is a capped 2 or 4 pin connector left of center just below where the center console meets the dashboard, there is a capped ~28 pin connector with power on the right hand side affixed to the exoskelton of the dashboard, and of course there are the two police service taps center.
I am hoping that maybe there is a connector that is untapped that can just be adapted, but havent quite been able to find it. It looks like in the wiring diagram that it goes behind the dash into the BCM harness and I don't see anything easy accessible. This requires more research.
For years I have been putting up with the made in China aftermarket panels but they all suffer the same problems. They are $800 a pop, the software is absuletely garbage, they don't fair well in hot weather and the buttons and panels stop working over time.
Here we are now eight years later and the same generation of explorer has lots of after market support including the ability to upgrade to sync 3, meanwhile those of us rolling around in PIUs get left behind.
Two weeks ago my third after market panel died, so I have decided to break down and try to make this work with parts from E-Bay. There are some people out there who claim that they have gotten this to work, but wont explain in detail how they did it. So here my attempt and trying to make this work, I am hoping some people smarter than me will be willing to chime in so we can put this to bed once and for all.
To date I have purchased the following hardware:
Sync 2 APIM and Screen with Part DT4T-14F239-AD
4 to 8 inch sync adapter harness for a 2014 ford explorer:
8 inch automatic temperature control panel with out Sony option: FB5T-18A802-EA
HVAC Control Module: https://parts.ford.com/shop/en/us/electrical/control-modules/control-6454893-1?pdp=y (On the way)
A Sync Control Module: EB5T-14B428-AA
So here is how assembly and testing went:
Removed the HVAC interface panel
Removed the 4 inch screen and disconnected the connector attached to it.
Removed the receiver and disconnected the single 56 pin connector
Removed the original HVAC control module and disconnected the 26 pin connector, inserting the adaptor harness, and the reconnecting the original 26 pin connector
Reinstalled the original HVAC control module
Installed the 56 pin adapter into the harness and than back into the receiver
Plugged the remaining portion of the adapter harness into the unconnected open slot on the receiver
Feed the power cable down from the harness to the media hub
Feed the two USB cables down from the sync 2 module to the media hub
Reinstalled the receiver, Installed the 8 inch display, plugged the new 8 inch HVAC interface
End State:
Wiring Shortages:
There is no place to plug in the 56 pin connector portion of the adapter harness. When I watch videos on youtube of explorer owners doing radio swaps, this harness exists.
My interceptor did not have anything plugged into the right hand side of the receiver, but the sync adapter harness has a plug that plugs into it to tap two wires but there is no harness from the car for the female side of the plug to mate with.
CAN Bus / Programing Issues
The end result of all of this was that the screen would not turn on, the HVAC panel would provide an audio confirmation that it was receiving the commands but would not actually do anything. The radio portion of the panel was inoperative. So I left the 8 inch screen in but plugged in the 4 inch screen and sure enough some interesting things started happening, the panel worked normally.
What was intresting was that I got some indicators on the 4 inch screen that I have never seen before and the temperature was being shown in multiple places. Makes me suspect that the HVAC interface panel itself is the temeperature probe for the automatic air conditioner.
Most explorers shipped with automatic air conditioning controls. The interceptors were entirely manual. I proved that the multi-zone AC interface panel is capable of running in single zone, but I suspect that there is a dependency on a more featured module.
Researching the sync unit not starting I found out that the unit requires CAN Bus commands to start. So I need to confirm that the sync module is getting CAN bus signals, this lead me down the rabit hole and eventually to forscan.
There is an option code for APIM enable, but to enable that value requires the automatic HVAC module. The manual HVAC module is very limited, but the automatic one has a lot of extra can bus items on it like heated and air conditioned seats. Makes sense while the basic one isnt programable.
Since there is an APIM option I am testing the theory that the APIM gets is start control command from the HVAC module can bus. I also noted that some major companies selling 4 inch to 8 inch kits are including this module as well. Makes since as forscan also has options to disable any features not in use at the module level.
Focusing on the missing 56 pin connector, the adaptor harness expects to use about 14 of those pins. But I don't see a place to tap into that is obvius.
There is a capped 2 or 4 pin connector left of center just below where the center console meets the dashboard, there is a capped ~28 pin connector with power on the right hand side affixed to the exoskelton of the dashboard, and of course there are the two police service taps center.
I am hoping that maybe there is a connector that is untapped that can just be adapted, but havent quite been able to find it. It looks like in the wiring diagram that it goes behind the dash into the BCM harness and I don't see anything easy accessible. This requires more research.