Stereo

[Canadiangirl]

Bought a explorer Eddie Bauer Edition. Came with a after market stereo. The stereo doesn’t fully work. The sync doesn’t work at all.
Any ideas how to fix or a better stereo that might hook up to all the features that don’t work with this one.

 

[Rcflyer330]

What exactly is not working? Is it steering wheel buttons? To retain the steering wheel control you need have an idatalink maestro installed with that alpine head unit. If you cant change the time i know the headunit needs multiple different safety inputs hooked up to acess that setting (the brake pedal signal, parking break signal, gear selector park signal and i think there is another one are the inputs needed). To bypass it there is a little module you can install that fools the head unit into thinking thoes safety inputs are there.
I believe sync is the proprietary ford software in their factory head unit and the features of the sync system go away once you change the unit.

 

[rmcalis]

I bought a Kenwood nav/audio unit and the idatalink maestro install kit from Crutchfield. It kept all the steering wheel controls (plus added a couple) and I was able to keep most of the sync functions with a wiring modification in the console. Crutchfield has excellent advice to help you through purchase process and a good technical staff to get you through the install (or a audio install shop can do it for you). Just hope the installer of the current unit didn't mess up the wiring too much.

 

[Canadiangirl]

What exactly is not working? Is it steering wheel buttons? To retain the steering wheel control you need have an idatalink maestro installed with that alpine head unit. If you cant change the time i know the headunit needs multiple different safety inputs hooked up to acess that setting (the brake pedal signal, parking break signal, gear selector park signal and i think there is another one are the inputs needed). To bypass it there is a little module you can install that fools the head unit into thinking thoes safety inputs are there.
I believe sync is the proprietary ford software in their factory head unit and the features of the sync system go away once you change the unit.

Can’t change time, Bluetooth is disabled, Navi and calls won’t work, usb doesn't work.

 

[Canadiangirl]

I bought a Kenwood nav/audio unit and the idatalink maestro install kit from Crutchfield. It kept all the steering wheel controls (plus added a couple) and I was able to keep most of the sync functions with a wiring modification in the console. Crutchfield has excellent advice to help you through purchase process and a good technical staff to get you through the install (or a audio install shop can do it for you). Just hope the installer of the current unit didn't mess up the wiring too much.

I’ll have to look into them. This is a alpine deck but things don’t work or are disabled. I’m hoping the previous installer didn’t mess up the wiring either.

 

[Rcflyer330]

Can’t change time, Bluetooth is disabled, Navi and calls won’t work, usb doesn't work.

The time thing is locked because you need to hook wires into the parking brake signal, park range signal, and there is another i cant remember. Bascily the parking brake, range and the third signal have to be on in order to access the time change function (its really stupid if you ask me)
This particular head unit does not have built in bluetooth according to crutchfield you would need to buy the adapter. It does have gps maybe there is an update for it. The usb i think only work with apple products and usb drives with music files on them.
Alpine INA-W900 Navigation receiver at Crutchfield
And this is what you need installed to change the time.
Amazon.com: MicroBypass Parking Brake Override Bypass for Alpine: Automotive.

Alpine makes great head units you may want to contact your local alpine dealer or alpine support and have them look at it to see if it can be fixed for cheaper than buying a new one. Alpines older and their newer cheaper head they made you buy add on modules like bluetooth, gps and cd players in order to keep the cost down.

 

[Canadiangirl]

The time thing is locked because you need to hook wires into the parking brake signal, park range signal, and there is another i cant remember. Bascily the parking brake, range and the third signal have to be on in order to access the time change function (its really stupid if you ask me)
This particular head unit does not have built in bluetooth according to crutchfield you would need to buy the adapter. It does have gps maybe there is an update for it. The usb i think only work with apple products and usb drives with music files on them.
Alpine INA-W900 Navigation receiver at Crutchfield
And this is what you need installed to change the time.
Amazon.com: MicroBypass Parking Brake Override Bypass for Alpine: Automotive.

Alpine makes great head units you may want to contact your local alpine dealer or alpine support and have them look at it to see if it can be fixed for cheaper than buying a new one. Alpines older and their newer cheaper head they made you buy add on modules like bluetooth, gps and cd players in order to keep the cost down.

I’ll have to look into it. It’s definitely a pain in my butt as nothing works on it and I have a wire that runs from the centre dash under my glove box to a little black thing on the dash. Totally weird to me