I am a Ford Senior Master Techician (dealer tech since 1983; yeah, I’m old…). I did a quick search, but didn’t find the answer I was looking for; My sister just bought a 2016 MKX factory equipped with SYNC 3, non-navigation. She is currently at Version 2.0.1674. As a Ford Technician. I know that I have personally bricked more than one 2016 MY APIMs by updating via FDRS. I have access to Ford’s Universal SYNC 3 Updater USB. As I do not want to brick my sister’s APIM, does the CYAN updater work reliably? Anyone have experience using the Ford Universal USB on 2016 MY vehicles? Ford’s website indicates that her APIM can be updated to 3.0.23219. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
SYNC Region: NA
Navigation Variant: Non Nav
Manufacturer Year: Pre MY20
Install Type: OEM
Old SYNC Version: 2.0.16074
New SYNC Version: 2.0.16074
Do you have a error message, if so what is it?
Seekling advice prior to update.
The reason why Cyanlabs still even exists is because it works so well. Even Ford techs use it! This shows how reliable it is.
Your Daughter has an H series APIM and we all know those are the tough ones. That being said I have upgraded one all the way to 3.4 successfully. People do it all the time but there is still risk involved.
Cyanlabs uses the original Ford updates so if the APIM has a problem with FDRS it may have a problem with Cyanlabs. 99% of the time you are fine if you read the documentation and do a little research. Odds are most the APIM’s you bricked were recoverable.
I used CYAN to update the SYNC 2 to SYNC 3 conversion in my 2013 MKZ perfectly; all the way to 3.4.32188. My APIM was also a newer one (MY 2018, I believe).
Ford is horrible with support for SYNC 3. Everything we do is scrutinized because they seem to think we are replacing parts that don’t need to be replaced. I discovered this site from other Ford Techs.
It is an app that Ford provides that is supposed to update any SYNC 3 system to the latest that Ford has released for a certain vehicle. It takes forever (a couple of hours) to download all the files and update the USB initially.
They released the program, I believe, because too many APIMs were being bricked by updates in the field.
I used it on my son’s 2018 F150, but it would only update it to 3.0.xxxxx with it. I have not explored any further options for his truck, yet. I use it quite regularly for certain recalls and TSBs. Sometimes when using FDRS to perform an update, it will ask you to use the universal USB, as it saves a ton of time by not having to download the same files as are already on the USB.
Here is a link to the Universal USB Updater app. It is not clear if this is a tool that non-dealership/Ford personnel are supposed to have access to, however.
We had have some reports of users using Ford’s upgrade packages that resulted in black screens with a fully functional APIM… radio, reverse camera, audio, bluetooth… that all worked, but with a black screen…
They were not a lot of cases, surely a small %, but still…
If you’re risk adverse I’d take the vehicle to 3.0.23219 using Ford’s approved method.
It’s pretty much a driver/bug fix leveling with 3.4.23188 just doesn’t have the newer interface
This shows how reliable it is.