Explorer MFT Upgrade - Ugh :(

[calb]

So we had our Explorer Ltd upgraded for MFT and navigation. We received a letter from Ford Canada this week (finally) but no SD card of USB drive. Instead we were directed to take the car to a dealership. I called the dealership and explained and they said that something needed to be done with the GPS too for Explorers so it would take 3 hours, not the hour I had expected.

Sent my wife ... and she was told that no ... it was SIX hours (on a day we'd planned to take a min-break) .... and it was. Not sure why because the two items listed showed .3 and .4 hours? Then my wife complains to me that all the preset navigation etc have disappeared. To make matters worse the car didn't find GPS signals when we started up today, and we were apparently driving through Lake Ontario! (Is that just a first time start thing?)

So I started resetting things. I get to the door code and it wants the factor setting from the card, to reprogram it. I input it, but it isn't recognized as the factory setting. It appears that the software reset changed the factory set pin number?

To top it off I've been telling my wife how this upgrade would improve things. While there is (based on limited use to date) a "slight" improvement in response (maybe it just beeps sooner when you touch), she has lost the temperature on the MFT screen, and as I predicted I heard about it (Ford - can you stick the exterior temperature in a screen somewhere?) Worse - it again said "No USB Drive installed" which seems to occur randomly. I pulled the USB drive off and re-inserted it and it seemed to work again.

The phone wouldn't pair until I turned off the phone's bluetooth and turned it back on, whereas it has performed flawlessly before (Blackberry Bold 9900)

Okay ... so I'd like to live with it for a whil, maybe some of this is isolated, but at the moment it is feeling like more of a downgrade. Will go back and read through the forums (I find I'm seldom alone), but has anyone else experience any of this?

 

[jrmexplorer]

So we had our Explorer Ltd upgraded for MFT and navigation. We received a letter from Ford Canada this week (finally) but no SD card of USB drive. Instead we were directed to take the car to a dealership. I called the dealership and explained and they said that something needed to be done with the GPS too for Explorers so it would take 3 hours, not the hour I had expected.

Sent my wife ... and she was told that no ... it was SIX hours (on a day we'd planned to take a min-break) .... and it was. Not sure why because the two items listed showed .3 and .4 hours? Then my wife complains to me that all the preset navigation etc have disappeared. To make matters worse the car didn't find GPS signals when we started up today, and we were apparently driving through Lake Ontario! (Is that just a first time start thing?)

So I started resetting things. I get to the door code and it wants the factor setting from the card, to reprogram it. I input it, but it isn't recognized as the factory setting. It appears that the software reset changed the factory set pin number?

To top it off I've been telling my wife how this upgrade would improve things. While there is (based on limited use to date) a "slight" improvement in response (maybe it just beeps sooner when you touch), she has lost the temperature on the MFT screen, and as I predicted I heard about it (Ford - can you stick the exterior temperature in a screen somewhere?) Worse - it again said "No USB Drive installed" which seems to occur randomly. I pulled the USB drive off and re-inserted it and it seemed to work again.

The phone wouldn't pair until I turned off the phone's bluetooth and turned it back on, whereas it has performed flawlessly before (Blackberry Bold 9900)

Okay ... so I'd like to live with it for a whil, maybe some of this is isolated, but at the moment it is feeling like more of a downgrade. Will go back and read through the forums (I find I'm seldom alone), but has anyone else experience any of this?

Fuse 29. After the upgrade many of us experienced goofy issues until a fuse 29 pull.

 

[calb]

OMG - the infamous fuse pull I've avoided up till now? I'm not looking forward to getting in the upside down twisty pretzel position for this.

 

[cnsheets]

OMG - the infamous fuse pull I've avoided up till now? I'm not looking forward to getting in the upside down twisty pretzel position for this.

Then do the battery cable pull.

 

[calb]

Then do the battery cable pull.

Heh - thanks

 

[peterk9]

Heh - thanks

calb, just a reminder that if you do the battery disconnect, there will be a few items that the Explorer will need to relearn. One is the transmission adaptive learning strategy and another is the idle process. There is a section in the Owner's Guide on how to do this and I don't think too many members may be aware of it.
It is in the Maintenance and Specifications section under Battery.
In short it says that because the engine is electronically controller by computer, some conditions are maintained by constant battery power. When interrupted, the engine must relearn its idle and fuel trim strategy for optimum driveability and performance.
If you do not follow the 6 steps mentioned, the Explorer will, over time, relearn the settings when driven.

Peter

 

[peterk9]

So we had our Explorer Ltd upgraded for MFT and navigation. We received a letter from Ford Canada this week (finally) but no SD card of USB drive. Instead we were directed to take the car to a dealership. I called the dealership and explained and they said that something needed to be done with the GPS too for Explorers so it would take 3 hours, not the hour I had expected.

Sent my wife ... and she was told that no ... it was SIX hours (on a day we'd planned to take a min-break) .... and it was. Not sure why because the two items listed showed .3 and .4 hours? Then my wife complains to me that all the preset navigation etc have disappeared. To make matters worse the car didn't find GPS signals when we started up today, and we were apparently driving through Lake Ontario! (Is that just a first time start thing?)

So I started resetting things. I get to the door code and it wants the factor setting from the card, to reprogram it. I input it, but it isn't recognized as the factory setting. It appears that the software reset changed the factory set pin number?

To top it off I've been telling my wife how this upgrade would improve things. While there is (based on limited use to date) a "slight" improvement in response (maybe it just beeps sooner when you touch), she has lost the temperature on the MFT screen, and as I predicted I heard about it (Ford - can you stick the exterior temperature in a screen somewhere?) Worse - it again said "No USB Drive installed" which seems to occur randomly. I pulled the USB drive off and re-inserted it and it seemed to work again.

The phone wouldn't pair until I turned off the phone's bluetooth and turned it back on, whereas it has performed flawlessly before (Blackberry Bold 9900)

Okay ... so I'd like to live with it for a whil, maybe some of this is isolated, but at the moment it is feeling like more of a downgrade. Will go back and read through the forums (I find I'm seldom alone), but has anyone else experience any of this?

I had my 2011 MFT update done and there was no mention at all of anything to do with the GPS. Everything went smoothly and was done within an hour. I believe that there is a post in another thread where a member lost the GPS.
As for the phone, my salesman who was in the vehicle with me going over some of the changes, said it is best to delete the phone from the MFT and start over as though the two (MFT and phone) had never met before. I did that and all is good.
I believe another member also did that phone delete from the MFT and the MFT from the phone and did the pairing again and was successful.

Have you reported the MFT upgrade on syncmyride? I was not able to do it via the USB reporting and phoned the IVT line and sent emails, which were answered, but here I am a month later and my account still shows V2.4 as my version.

Peter

 

[calb]

So the good news - my phone synchs nicely once again. Problem was my own fault; didn't click box to tell phone not to notify me on each connection.

Bad News - second morning GPS didn't seem to lock on - has GPX with red X through it. I park outside, no majorly tall buildings, close to downtown Toronto. Something definitely happened to GPS, and it got worse. This would happen after coming out of downtown underground parking, but I could understand that.

Any recommended procedures to check this before I return to dealer? Anyone else experiencing GPS problems as a result of the upgrade?

Yesterday it also black screened and did a system update as I was pulling out of the driveway - never had that experience before, but thankfully things came back operating properly.

Peter - wasn't aware of the Sync-checker. I'll run the tool and see if I can update Synchmyride.

As predicted my wife is pissed at Ford for removing the climate from the main screen. Come on Ford - it's minor - bring that back?

Overall I'm not overly impressed (although subject to GPS and system updates, I'm okay with it). Coming from the software industry I'll echo the comments of others that Ford should have dumped Flash, and beta tested with enthusiasts on this board or elsewhere.

 

[VinceL]

Out of curiosity, have you tried looking at the GPS data in the 'diagnostics mode' to see if anything looks screwy? Might help determine if the satellites (and how many of them) are being seen by the antenna. Won't really do much to fix the problem, but could shed a little light on the point of failure.

 

[Sgt1411]

I just talked to Ford of Canada Customer Service and was advised that there is a newer upgrade to the Performance Upgrade issues.

Who knows how accurate this is but he gave it to me as.

12M01 Sync and MFT update (Newer then the FA1102)

Maybe Ford IVT/CS here on this forum can advise?

 

[sdm9465]

I just talked to Ford of Canada Customer Service and was advised that there is a newer upgrade to the Performance Upgrade issues.

Who knows how accurate this is but he gave it to me as.

12M01 Sync and MFT update (Newer then the FA1102)

Maybe Ford IVT/CS here on this forum can advise?

If this is true, it would also be nice to know if those who had to take their vehicles to a dealer to get the "Performance Upgrade" will be able to do this update via SyncMyRide or if we will have to go back to the dealer again.

 

[Sgt1411]

Just got this back from dealer:

12M01 is simply extended coverage on your APIM if it fails. 12B36 is a
recent release for cooling fan strategy, and was not available to us at the
time you brought your vehicle in. This update should solve the overheating
issues that prevented you from doing your own my-touch upgrade. Please book
your vehicle in to have this recall performed.

 

[peterk9]

If this is true, it would also be nice to know if those who had to take their vehicles to a dealer to get the "Performance Upgrade" will be able to do this update via SyncMyRide or if we will have to go back to the dealer again.

Have you checked your account on syncmyride lately? Does it have the updated info there? I had my update done March 29th and tried, without success, using the status checker tool to report the update. It didn't work. I called the IVT number and reported the update to them. I later also sent Ford a notice and they said it would be taken care of. Guess what? It still says I'm on version V2.4 so I'm not likely to see any downloads there regarding any updates to the current version.

Peter

 

[Sgt1411]

Peter I had the same update done as you (11A02) and I had to load the status checker and go install it in my Ex then come back and plug into my Macbook. Then SYNCMYRIDE was updated.

 

[peterk9]

Peter I had the same update done as you (11A02) and I had to load the status checker and go install it in my Ex then come back and plug into my Macbook. Then SYNCMYRIDE was updated.

I was able to download the status checker program but after plugging it into the Ex and back into my PC, I got a pop up saying there was nothing to read. I used both a Memorex and Dane elec drives. I use a similar Memorex flash drive in the Ex to play my music.
I know that there is one brand that they guarantee will work but I don't see why I have to go and buy another USB flash drive just for this purpose.

Peter

 

[calb]

Out of curiosity, have you tried looking at the GPS data in the 'diagnostics mode' to see if anything looks screwy? Might help determine if the satellites (and how many of them) are being seen by the antenna. Won't really do much to fix the problem, but could shed a little light on the point of failure.

I have to look at how you bring that up. Again this morning GPS doesn't work. I wonder if programming "home" might help it? Have to try that too.

Strange part is that it worked perfectly (albeit with poorer maps) before. I'd think the GPS would work the same on a software upgrade, so perhaps they did adjust the GPS in some manner? Anyone else (particularly in Canad) told their GPS needed adjustment with the upgrade?

 

[VinceL]

^ It's in a sticky at the top of this sub-forum

 

[peterk9]

I have to look at how you bring that up. Again this morning GPS doesn't work. I wonder if programming "home" might help it? Have to try that too.

Strange part is that it worked perfectly (albeit with poorer maps) before. I'd think the GPS would work the same on a software upgrade, so perhaps they did adjust the GPS in some manner? Anyone else (particularly in Canad) told their GPS needed adjustment with the upgrade?

calb, someone had problems with their calendar not picking the correct date. I'm not 100% sure but I believe the dealer disconnected and reconnected the battery with the vehicle outside so that it would reaquire the satellite.
Not sure if that would address your problem or not.
You will have to do a search on calendar or something similar I guess.
I haven't gone through and read the stickies on this.

Peter

 

[mayher]

Need to know how I can fix the following.

Updated MFT though the package received from Ford in the mail. All is well and the system really does perform much better than previously but I have one problem remaining.
On the home screen where the compass is located, the street name is supposed to be located underneath the compass. Sometime the street name is there, and sometimes it is not. Funny thing is that the street name is always under the compass located on the main instrument cluster. You would think the same program would drive both screens, but this is obviously not the case. Didn't want to stand on my head and try a fuse # 29 pull so I did a battery pull instead which did not help. Any suggestions or ideas??

 

[peterk9]

Need to know how I can fix the following.

Updated MFT though the package received from Ford in the mail. All is well and the system really does perform much better than previously but I have one problem remaining.
On the home screen where the compass is located, the street name is supposed to be located underneath the compass. Sometime the street name is there, and sometimes it is not. Funny thing is that the street name is always under the compass located on the main instrument cluster. You would think the same program would drive both screens, but this is obviously not the case. Didn't want to stand on my head and try a fuse # 29 pull so I did a battery pull instead which did not help. Any suggestions or ideas??

Sorry I don't have an answer for you but now that you've disconnected/connected the battery you should be aware that the EX will now have to relearn a few things such as idle and fuel trim for maximum performance and driveability. There are 6 steps listed in the manual to do this. If you do not follow the steps the Ex will relearn over time. Also the transmission will have to relearn the shift points related to your driving style.
Did you try to do the Master Reset that is now available on the MFT screen settings before you pulled the battery?

Peter