Broken APIM Black screen Band-Aid

[J.W.]

So the APIM in my '21 that feeds radio, navigation, cameras, infotainment, etc. to the screen gave up back in May. It has been on backorder with no word or delivery date from Ford. Making the 12" screen useless. No radio, no Bluetooth, no nav, you get the picture. Black screen of death in other words.

Well, after my first trip to Moab later that same week, with no radio, maps, trail cameras, I took to the interwebs to learn what I could about these modules.
BTW, did just fine in Moab without the fancy cameras etc. It's just something paid for and equipped but not working thing, thing. Ya know!?

Started looking for an APIM. Soon found, like most Bronco parts, replacements are few, if any.
It's a Sync4 module in the Bronco and I began to read up on vehicles running Sync4 with bulit in navigation, cameras (rear and/or front), "infotainment" etc.
From what I could find, only the F150 and Mustang Mach-E for 2021 have Sync4.
I needed more info on the APIM in the Bronco, after figuring out where it was located in my own Bronco I took a chance and popped the Hero Button assembly out of the dash to see what I could see. Not much. Grabbed my cheap bluetooth borescope connected to my phone I went probing around behind the screen looking for the module. Specifically, looking for model or serial #'s, plug arrangement, and just what it looked like in general.
Found it!

Taking this info back to the interwebs to see what I could find. But found no exact match.
So what is close?
Focusing on the F150 being on the road and available before the Bronco and most similar in features and build I found its APIM for sale widely. I inquired of those sellers for a Bronco one matching my numbers and features. Zero. Was told it's definitely different since the numbers don't match.

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[J.W.]

I find it hard to believe that this part would be such a "one off" that this one alone will work in the Bronco, nah. Especially when all manufacturers do their best at platform sharing and cross compatible parts etc. Slightly different features or programs, sure. But the basic hardware? Come on, there's not a specific assembly of hardware that only goes to this or that vehicle.

What I did find was multiple modules of the same structure with slight variations in connections, features, and model #'s of course.

Knowing what I had and what I needed I narrowed it down to an identical looking module with identical connections and alot of the same numbers in the model/serial/programing whatever, eh it's close.

Finally, I took a chance and paid real money for an APIM programmed for a 2021 F150 spec'd with built in nav, 12" screen, front and rear cameras, all similar to my Bronco.

 

[J.W.]

Then it was time to get down to business and open up the dash. Which was surprisingly easier than I was dreading. Don't get me wrong, I was nervous as all hell! But, it went well, took some time and tools, more than just a couple screwdrivers and a hammer.

First I just tried a plug in test without removing the original module. Pushed the start button and Bam!the screen lit up!

No Bronco splash screen of course, just a simple Ford one, reminiscent of the one in my 2014 Expedition. But it worked! the radio turned on with all my stations still programmed even!

 

[J.W.]

Removed my stock APIM, the Black one on the left, and mounted the replacement F150 APIM, Silver one on the right, for temporary use and reassembled the dash.

There was some F150 information being displayed in the cards on the right. However after dabbling in Forscan for a bit I did a reboot of the APIM and uploaded my original module as built configuration.
Even changed the splash screen to the Bronco one, since every APIM is preloaded with the different model splash screens anyway that was no big deal.
All cameras are working as before, even has the Bronco as the vehicle on the 360 view.

It did take a minute for the navigation to come together, at first it acted like I didn't have it and just showed the map, it soon populated itself with all nav features as it had before. After that, everything was working and has been working great for going on 2 months now!

Only things I haven't figured out is the vehicle picture in the cards for the fuel economy, it shows an F150 still and the on board owners manual. Tapping that through the menu behind up the manual for the F150. Neither of which I'm really concerned with at this time.

I hope this was somewhat informative. Let me know of any questions, tips, clarifications, or observations. I'm happy to talk about it.

Most importantly I'm happy to have the screen/radio/console working until Ford figures out how to do this them-damn-selves. And as always, any attempt at doing this or something similar to your own vehicle it be at your own risk.

 

[Snowdogyyz]

Wow! Nice job figuring that out! With no ETA on these modules, this could be a nice fix for many!

 

[phishphood]

I wonder if I could get the dealership to do this

 

[TheShark]

Excellent, it's a shame you had to dip into your pockets to "fix" the problem, at least temporarily. Makes you wonder why Ford couldn't have done this, I mean my gosh waiting since May. I did something similar with my Maverick, the Maverick actually doesn't offer nav but since its stablemates the Escape and Bronco Sport do I got a APIM with nav off of eBay, swapped it and now the Maverick has nav, works like a charm. Again you wonder why Ford couldn't have offered this at least on the Lariat Lux.

 

[Tricky Dick]

Nicely done!

 

[reigny]

Absolutely incredible but no way would i do this! I may have missed it but what did you pay for the F150 APIM? My car has been in the shop for 2 weeks so far... I'm driving a '22 Explorer loaner.

I wonder if I could get the dealership to do this

Interesting thought.

 

[J.W.]

Absolutely incredible but no way would i do this! I may have missed it but what did you pay for the F150 APIM? My car has been in the shop for 2 weeks so far... I'm driving a '22 Explorer loaner.

Sketchy for sure I know!
I paid $214 for the F150 module off ebay.
I'm surprised you even got a loaner! The past 3 times I've had a vehicle in for repair they haven't had any to loan out at the moment.

 

[reigny]

Sketchy for sure I know!
I paid $214 for the F150 module off ebay.
I'm surprised you even got a loaner! The past 3 times I've had a vehicle in for repair I'm good they haven't got any to loan out at the moment.

I didn't even ask for one. But i did say "hi I'm Karen and I need to speak with the service manager". We talked for 2 minutes and he came back with a loaner car. True story.

I'm in Florida and am looking forward to the cooler weather. I haven't been able to take the top down or doors off because it's so hot. Yes, I have a loaner car but I'm going to want to get my Bronco back next month!

 

[J.W.]

Excellent, it's a shame you had to dip into your pockets to "fix" the problem, at least temporarily. Makes you wonder why Ford couldn't have done this, I mean my gosh waiting since May. I did something similar with my Maverick, the Maverick actually doesn't offer nav but since its stablemates the Escape and Bronco Sport do I got a APIM with nav off of eBay, swapped it and now the Maverick has nav, works like a charm...

This is basically how I approached the idea to at least try it. Seeing much support for swapping Sync modules for other models that have the option available, just not ordered with X trim level. I figured it's not any different, just that I need a module that works, but with the same options.

 

[Bigmoose]

I wonder if your issues are a module firmware thing. I bet the dealer can probably reflash your apim with the right firmware variant.

 

[J.W.]

LoL, that is a fantastic way to go about it, well done sir!

Yeah it's been a hot summer here as well, currently still rocking 100°+ days.

I did, a number of times, pull the rear widows and drop the top all the down tho to drive home from work. Actually was nice the next morning on the way to work when it cooler!

 

[J.W.]

I wonder if your issues are a module firmware thing. I bet the dealer can probably reflash your apim with the right firmware variant.

I think it is a firmware, that is specific to the Bronco, hence the owners manual being part of it. Not sure about the dealer doing it, and I haven't been to eager to ask them about doing it either, LoL.

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