The below instructions will guide you to easily and safely update your car to the latest version of SYNC 3, this is currently SYNC 3.4
Before continuing please review the below image.
If your car screen looks like the left side you are able to upgrade if it looks like the right side you will need to replace your SYNC 2 unit with a SYNC 3 system.
If you need to replace your unit with SYNC 3 we recommend the upgrade kits available at NaviUpgrade
WARNING!
THIS WILL NOT WORK ON CARS MANUFACTURED ON OR AFTER 2020 (MY20), IT WILL “BRICK” YOUR UNIT.
You can use Syn3 Updater v2.6+ to update MY20 APIM's without reformatting
IF YOU PROCEED YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO RETURN TO ANYTHING BELOW 3.2 AFTER FOLLOWING THIS PROCEDURE.
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS. THIS HAS BEEN EXTENSIVELY TESTED BY MANY PEOPLE WITH MANY DIFFERENT CARS WITH NO ISSUES.
NOTICE!
ONCE YOU HAVE INSERTED THE USB YOU WILL HAVE FORCED YOUR STEREO IN TO “FACTORY MODE” IT WILL NO LONGER BOOT NORMALLY UNTIL YOU COMPLETE THIS PROCESS!
Why Update?
Android Auto / Apple CarPlay (if you are on a really old version you may not already have this)
Android Auto navigation on the small screen in the Dash (IPC)
Much snappier and more responsive user interface
A nicer looking stock blue theme
Newer map data for the built in navigation
If you update your firmware (see our ford hub page) you can also get Radio logos and Calm Mode.
Requirements
You will need 1 USB drive between 8-32GB, 8GB is fine for non navigation, 32gb is recommended for navigation.
Mac OS Video Guide
If you are using a Mac computer please follow this video instead
Please note that if you are already on SYNC 3.4.19274 or above you won’t be able to enter factory mode, please first downgrade using the downgrade guide
Format the USB drive as exFAT in windows by right clicking the drive in This PC and pressing Format… and then make sure it’s set to exFAT and press Start.
Copy the downloaded autoinstall.lst to the root of your USB drive, make sure it’s named autoinstall.lst.
Create a folder called SyncMyRide in the root of your USB Drive.
Copy 1u5t-14g386-cb.tar.gz (Reformat Tool) downloaded above to the newly created folder on your USB drive. Do not extract any TAR.GZ files!
FORD HAVE MADE SOME CHANGES TO THEIR BACKEND AND THEREFORE DIRECT DOWNLOADS ARE DISABLED, THIS IS LIKELY A CONFIGURATION ISSUE ON FORDS END AND WILL LIKELY BE FIXED
UNTIL THE ISSUE IS FIXED BY FORD, SYN3 UPDATER AND OUR MANUAL METHOD ARE OFFLINE!
THE BELOW 'GENERATE FILES AND CONFIG' WILL NOT WORK!
Downloading the files
Checking the USB Drive
Once all files (reformat.lst, autoinstall.lst and all the relevant tar.gz files) have been downloaded and copied to your USB drive, your USB drive should look like the screenshot below with all your tar.gz files in the SyncMyRide subfolder.
Safely remove the USB Drive, go to your car and follow the Updating the car section below.
REMOVE ALL OTHER DEVICES FROM YOUR CAR SUCH AS OTHER USB DRIVES, SD CARDS ETC. IF YOU HAVE OTHER DEVICES INSERTED THIS WILL RESULT IN A RED SCREEN SAYING "ERROR UPDATE PACKAGE NOT FOUND"
Updating the car
insert the USB drive in to your car with SYNC 3 and make sure the ignition/engine is on, you should see the following message.
You will see the following message, do not remove the USB at this point, it will restart automatically in a few moments.
Once the car has rebooted it will start the reformat process of SYNC 3 and will progress through the following screens, depending on the packages used it can take between 10-60 minutes.
Once the install is complete you will see this screen, remove the USB and the SYNC 3 system should start! If it doesn’t turn the ignition off, open the car door, then close the door and turn the ignition back on.
Once SYNC 3 is fully booted go to Settings > General > Master Reset This will clear a lot of bugs and other incorrect information and will be the first thing we tell you to do if you have any issues.
Downgrading (from 3.4.1974 or higher to 3.4.19101)
Preparing the USB Drive
In order to use the reformat tool used in the main section of this guide you must be on versions below SYNC 3.4.19274 as the reformat tool was blocked on SYNC 3.4.19274 or above.
You can however downgrade to an older version of SYNC 3.4 to be able to re-use the reformat tool.
Format the USB drive as exFAT in windows by right clicking the drive in This PC and pressing Format… and then make sure it’s set to exFAT and press Start.
Copy the downloaded autoinstall.lst to the root of your USB drive, make sure it’s named autoinstall.lst.
Create a folder in the root of your USB Drive called SyncMyRide.
Copy 5U5T-14G381-AP_1555085337000.TAR.GZ downloaded above to the newly created folder on your USB drive.
Copy GB5T-14G386-SC_85041.tar.gz downloaded above to the newly created folder on your USB drive.
Do not extract any TAR.GZ files!
Safely remove the USB drive.
Downgrading the car
Switch on your car ignition and insert the USB you will see the following message at the top.
Once the install is complete you will see this screen.
You should now be on version SYNC 3.4.19101 and can now re-use the reformat tool.
Additional Resources
Upgrade Feedback Form
Once you have updated and tested everything, please be so kind as to give back to this guide by filling in the upgrade feedback survey
