Hello, I have a 2016 MKX that I am currently tearing the engine apart due to the dreaded internal water pump failure. I thought it would also be a good time to upgrade the 3g modem to a 4g modem to get the lincoln way remote start/lock features back that I haven’t been able to use since 3g was discontinued. I have previously watched several videos and read forum posts about doing this via FORScan. From what I recall, JA1T-14G229-AJ is the reccomended part number, but seems availability is still an issue. I was wondering if TCMs from a nautilus (or other vehicle) would also work, and if so, would the process be much more involved? Would a TCM such as LA1T-14G229-AL work? Or is it best to go with the reccomended part number?
SYNC Region: NA
Navigation Variant: Nav
Manufacturer Year: Pre MY20
Install Type: OEM
Old SYNC Version: 3.0
New SYNC Version: 3.3
Do you have a error message, if so what is it?
Sync version not accurate, I don’t remember what version I updated too offhand and vehicle is not nearby.
Are all J-series TCUs NA? Sorry for the stupid question, just want to make sure I don’t get one that won’t be compatible. I see one for sale: JL3T-14G229-AG, this should work?
Awesome. Part is ordered. Now just need to get the antenna. I’ve seen both bingfu and PICA mentioned, is one better to use than the other? I’ve also read that the old antenna can’t be used but another post saying both the old and new antenna need to be connected? I’ll hopefully start working on this in a few weeks once I have the engine back together.
I have been looking for some of the PICA antennas and connectors, it seems they are also hard to locate. Would PICA antenna HL3Z-19A390-A work with connector JL3Z-18812-E for my vehicle? I believe this goes into the tan (bluetooth controlled parking heating) connector and then the vehicles original antenna needs to stay attached to the purple (GSM) connector?
Or if I go with bingfu antenna, it will be the only one that connects and it connects to the purple (GSM) connector?
I also read that the using the bingfu antenna would cause a loss of DTC? What is DTC? How does this affect the functionality if at all?
The Bingfu is, well, crap. The Ford PIFA antenna is the one to use. Be mindful it needs to mount to the metel body.
. Not true.
(bluetooth controlled parking heating) connector? I don’t know where you are reading this but it is absolutely wrong.
The primary GSM antenna will connect to the pruple FAKRA port on the TCU. This is the primary TX/RX GSM port. If you are planning on using the hotspot, you can connect the Tan port to another GSM antenna. This port is RX only to help provide a stable cellular data signal for the hotspot WIFI. This is not the WIFI antenna, that is internal to the TCU on the circuit board.
If you don’t plan on using the hotspot then the second antenna (tan) is not necessary.
The Bingfu will cause a DTC, antenna open circuit.
I’ll leave the tan port empty and connect the antenna to the purple FAKRA port on the TCU.
On the MKX forum, I read that NL1Z-19A390-A is the official Ford 4g antenna that is part of the upgrade kit. I’m not sure if this is also considered a bingfu antenna? If so I’ll go with HL3Z-19A390-A.
Alright, finally finished with the water pump so will be working on the 3g to 4g TCU upgrade in the coming days. I have already pulled the old 3g TCU out and installed the 4g TCU and PICA antenna (it is screwed to metal unibody). Will be working on using FORscan to do the firmware update. Will be rereading the different threads I came across previously to see best way to proceed.
Well already having issues. It seemed to have been going well, was able to go into PIM and get all info as well as pulling up the asbuilt information. Then got an error and said cant read the DTC. Tried disconnecting and reconnecting, no change. Tried making new profiles… new profiles didn’t even show that a TCM was there… Any thoughts? I didn’t change anything so not sure why the TCM was showing at first but then just stopped showing.
Alright, got everything working! Just had to unlplug the battery for 30 minutes to reset to get the TCM to show up again. Set up was much easier than I was expecting.
The calibration level was not the latest known, but I didn’t have the option to update the TCM and ultimately it is working either way:
App functionality works. I can start/stop, lock, unlock from app. Fuel level, oil life, washer fluid all showing. No tire pressure but I read that should pop up after a few driving cycles.
I appreciate all the help! I should have done this a few years ago! Now I just need to update sync from 3.3 to the current version. I’m hoping to be able to figure out how to use FORscan to keep the old color scheme (brown) rather than the blue in newer versions.
Just a note to keep in mind, if you have any battery issues, running down for no reason after adding the TCU, upgrade the firmware to -CT. There is an SSM from Ford on this but I can’t find it right now. Keep in mind the TCU firmware upgrade takes just over an hour with FORScan. (That was when -CT was released, maybe they improved it a bit since then…)
I didn’t see an option to upgrade to -CT. Under calibration and programming, the only TCU option was to access Asbuilt. There wasn’t an option to upgrade the firmware there. Is there another way to upgrade it? The FORscan version was 2.3.65 if that makes a difference.
I do already have a battery draw somewhere so I’ll keep an eye on it closely to see if it is getting worse.
That version is only asbuilt data and a few tools. The full paid version has more stuff and firmware programming. If you don’t have an issue in the next few days you will likely be ok.
