Explorer SiriusXM Stuck "Acquiring Signal" (Intermittent) 2018 Models | Page 9 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

Explorer SiriusXM Stuck "Acquiring Signal" (Intermittent) 2018 Models

So, my 2018 Sport seems to have decided to begin working as expected. It has been several days since it has dropped. The only thing I am aware of that has changed is several weeks of torrential rain in north Texas. Otherwise, I have not seen any updates to Sync or Sirius that might have resolved this. From my observation it just started working.

Two thingss are important to me about this issue. One, as I stated in an earlier post, is that this is costing us, the consumer, money in disrupting a service for which we inur a monthly cost. In that both we and Sirius are the losers as I do not plan on renewing my soon to expire subscription until this is fixed. Secondly, I also have to agree with other posters, the onus should not fall on us to periodically ping Ford about a fix. Ford knows who owns affected vehicles and how to contact them. It is Ford’s responsibility to not only contact us about a fix but to also keep us abreast of the ongoing status.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





......... Secondly, I also have to agree with other posters, the onus should not fall on us to periodically ping Ford about a fix. Ford knows who owns affected vehicles and how to contact them. It is Ford’s responsibility to not only contact us about a fix but to also keep us abreast of the ongoing status.
Good luck with that.:)

Peter
 












I also have a 2018 Explorer Sport with the same problem. System worked great for 4 months then started dropping out. Then I connected to WIFI thinking I needed a system update. Initially I thought that had fixed it because it worked flawlessly for three weeks straight. Now it is back searching for signal. I tried updating again and refreshing Sirius signal but it is still not working. It is very frustrating. I even went online and chatted with Ford. They had no solution and just gave me a case #. That was a month ago. I am still paying a Sirius bill that I can not use. FORD NEEDS TO PUT THIS AT THE TOP OF THEIR PRIORITY LIST!
 






Welcome to the Forum Kurt.:wave:
Are you past your 6 month free subscription already? As stated several times, Ford is aware of the issue and there is no use contacting Sirius or the dealer since it appears to be an issue with the antenna configuration. Not sure why it works for a while before the issue arises. It appears the Sport seems to be affected the most here/

Peter
 






Welcome to the Forum Kurt.:wave:
Are you past your 6 month free subscription already? As stated several times, Ford is aware of the issue and there is no use contacting Sirius or the dealer since it appears to be an issue with the antenna configuration. Not sure why it works for a while before the issue arises. It appears the Sport seems to be affected the most here/

Peter
Thanks! I just wonder if Ford knows how how widespread the issue is. I contacted them so I could be added to their list if they have one.
 






I am new here and happened to stumble across this thread while researching the problem I am having with my factory Siruis radio. I am having the exact same problem many of you are reporting. However, I do not own an Explorer. I have a 2011 Dodge Caliber. I have owned this car for 3 years and have been a Suruis subscriber for over 10 years with absolutely no problems until last week. My radio constantly cuts out and the "acquires signal" for long periods of time. It never used to do this. I am out in the open, no obstructions, no changes to car. Resending signal multiple times have not helped and either has Siruis. I do not want to pay hundreds of dollars to take the car to the dealer to be looked at. Have any of you managed to locate the issue or a fix? I am beginning to wonder if there is a satellite problem and not a problem with our vehicles. I am beyond frustrated and to the point of dropping Siruis but I can't imagine life without Hair Nation & Classic Rewind.
 






I am new here and happened to stumble across this thread while researching the problem I am having with my factory Siruis radio. I am having the exact same problem many of you are reporting. However, I do not own an Explorer. I have a 2011 Dodge Caliber. I have owned this car for 3 years and have been a Suruis subscriber for over 10 years with absolutely no problems until last week. My radio constantly cuts out and the "acquires signal" for long periods of time. It never used to do this. I am out in the open, no obstructions, no changes to car. Resending signal multiple times have not helped and either has Siruis. I do not want to pay hundreds of dollars to take the car to the dealer to be looked at. Have any of you managed to locate the issue or a fix? I am beginning to wonder if there is a satellite problem and not a problem with our vehicles. I am beyond frustrated and to the point of dropping Siruis but I can't imagine life without Hair Nation & Classic Rewind.


I can't imagine life without Octane
 






I am new here and happened to stumble across this thread while researching the problem I am having with my factory Siruis radio. I am having the exact same problem many of you are reporting. However, I do not own an Explorer. I have a 2011 Dodge Caliber. I have owned this car for 3 years and have been a Suruis subscriber for over 10 years with absolutely no problems until last week. My radio constantly cuts out and the "acquires signal" for long periods of time. It never used to do this. I am out in the open, no obstructions, no changes to car. Resending signal multiple times have not helped and either has Siruis. I do not want to pay hundreds of dollars to take the car to the dealer to be looked at. Have any of you managed to locate the issue or a fix? I am beginning to wonder if there is a satellite problem and not a problem with our vehicles. I am beyond frustrated and to the point of dropping Siruis but I can't imagine life without Hair Nation & Classic Rewind.
Welcome to the Forum.:wave:
See these posts; Explorer SiriusXM Stuck "Acquiring Signal" (Intermittent) 2018 Models and Explorer SiriusXM Stuck "Acquiring Signal" (Intermittent) 2018 Models
I doubt yours is caused by the same problem.

Peter
 







I'm sorry. I just assumed that since everyone else's was working fine (just as mine was) and now is not (just as mine is) and is now doing the exact same thing as mine, that maybe the issue would be the same. Shame on me for thinking so. But it seems to me if no one can find the issue or fix for different makes and models doing the same thing, maybe it's not an equipment problem but a satellite issue.
 






I'm sorry. I just assumed that since everyone else's was working fine (just as mine was) and now is not (just as mine is) and is now doing the exact same thing as mine, that maybe the issue would be the same. Shame on me for thinking so. But it seems to me if no one can find the issue or fix for different makes and models doing the same thing, maybe it's not an equipment problem but a satellite issue.
If it was a satellite issue then it would be affecting more than just the 2018 models. There was a change made to the antenna on the 2018 Explorer because of the 4G modem WiFi setup. That's what is causing the issue according to Ford. That would not be applicable to your vehicle.

Peter
 






If it was a satellite issue then it would be affecting more than just the 2018 models. There was a change made to the antenna on the 2018 Explorer because of the 4G modem WiFi setup. That's what is causing the issue according to Ford. That would not be applicable to your vehicle.

Peter
 






Don’t know if I wrote this before and will write again. The multi antennas that operate off the rear shark fin, with the fin (that I had on my 2017 Explorer with no issues) and now having an external antenna added for what others have said is a cell phone antenna and I assume for the built in WiFi for bad coverage areas makes a lot of sense. I removed mind and tried and still the same. However, depending how the external antenna is mounted within the fin still might be blocking or interfering with satellite signals to the Sirius with the antenna base housing or wiring. I love my Explorer but ... also sent a letter to Fords Director of US sales Andrew Frick ... didn’t have an exact address so requested it be forwarded to him ... so far no reply or returned to me. Hopefully some good news soon. I get SIRUS on my cell phone and pipe it into the Explorer via the Bluetooth and works fine.
 






Don’t know if I wrote this before and will write again. The multi antennas that operate off the rear shark fin, with the fin (that I had on my 2017 Explorer with no issues) and now having an external antenna added for what others have said is a cell phone antenna and I assume for the built in WiFi for bad coverage areas makes a lot of sense. I removed mind and tried and still the same. However, depending how the external antenna is mounted within the fin still might be blocking or interfering with satellite signals to the Sirius with the antenna base housing or wiring. I love my Explorer but ... also sent a letter to Fords Director of US sales Andrew Frick ... didn’t have an exact address so requested it be forwarded to him ... so far no reply or returned to me. Hopefully some good news soon. I get SIRUS on my cell phone and pipe it into the Explorer via the Bluetooth and works fine.
You can easily see what you have posted simply by clicking on the number of messages (5) shown in your profile in the left margin.;)

Peter
 






After suffering through this problem for 2-3 months, the satellite reception has now been flawless for the last 3 weeks.

Hope this is it and that it clears up for others as well.

Joe
 






I'm guessing an engineering issue with the new shark fin antenna. Remember the difference between 17 model year and 18 model year is they now have the 4G LTE antenna up there too. I bet its a shielding issue causing interference.

My 2017 Sirius is rock solid never drops unless I'm in a tunnel.

Yup ... and the cost would be a lot since they would have to remove the 4G LTE antenna and place it somewhere else and like where without making it look jerking and replacing with a vehicle specific painted color fin they previously used. Haven’t seen any 2019 Explorers yet and they hat might indicate what they may do?!? AND since he started not a safety issue it’s back burner time.
 






After suffering through this problem for 2-3 months, the satellite reception has now been flawless for the last 3 weeks.

Hope this is it and that it clears up for others as well.

Joe

Mine has been working for the last 16 days straight..... hopefully I did not just jinx myself
 






BTW for those that think a SYNC update may fix this in the future (I have seen this mentioned several times) that isn't going to fix it. The SYNC module does not contain the Satellite receiver. SYNC just acts as a head unit (display and channel control) for the AM/FM/Sirius receiver which is in a completely different module called the ACM. The only way of updating the ACM is by going to the dealer and should this be the fix for it, Ford will publish a service notice to dealers which they have not yet...the issue is still being investigated. The point of this post is to make sure those out there aren't waiting for a magic SYNC update to correct the problem.
 






Brand new Ford Explorer owner and brand new member to this forum... first thread I searched on was the SiriusXM issue I was having: Acquiring Satellite Signal error. Low and behold - a known problem in the 2018 Explorer Sport's (which is what I just purchased). Worked solidly for a week and then over the last 3-4 days intermittent and frustrating. It appears many of you in this thread have also seen this issue. I have an appointment with Service on Saturday. Will update if anything comes out of it. I can only hope that the fix is there and Ford is definitely aware of this issue in the new 2018s. Thanks all for the info! Really helpful.
Having the same problem. Tried numerous 'refreshes' with Sirius. They are saying it must be the vehicle.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





Having the same problem. Tried numerous 'refreshes' with Sirius. They are saying it must be the vehicle.
Welcome to the Forum.:wave:
The problem is identified in several posts in this thread, and as mentioned, no sense contacting Sirius.

Peter
 






Back
Top