GPS Drops out after radio repair

[Tom W8JI]

When I first bought my 2023 Ranger FX4 the radio AM and FM was basically stone dead. The dealer said an antenna cable was not plugged in correctly. The radio works great now. I can even listen to a Havana Cuba station on 530 AM at night.

But, the GPS is dropping out all the time. It works, then it doesn't. That dealer is too far away, over 100 miles. But they were great to work with.

A different local dealer seems to have weird policies, or maybe they are standard now. They make an appointment like a month out and give a ten-minute late window. If you get there 11 minutes late like I did (some power line crews had the road blocked and I had to reroute) they make you get a new appointment. My ride home and I were a little ticked. I figured I needed to leave the truck anyway. This was NOTHING they were going to fix while I waited.

Anyway, the service manager allowed me to leave the truck and a few days later they called me. They said they updated the GPS and thought it was fixed, but then it dropped out. They said they cleaned corrosion off the antenna ground and it was fixed.

I picked it up and within a block it dropped again. So here is my question....

Is the GPS system sensitivity just stinky poor? Even if I am on an open clear road with a clear sky view it drops in and out. Sometimes I get the little red "no GPS" warning on the screen. Other times there is no warning and it has me miles from where I am really at. I'm guessing this is going to be a mess to get fixed since a code would not tell them what to do.

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[cfhgarza]

After market GPS antenna will work and are pretty cheap. When I did a Sync 3 retrofit in my Escape I just stuck it to a metal bracket under the dash and it worked fine. https://www.amazon.com/Navigation-Waterproof-1575-42MHz-AntiAging-Vehicles/dp/B0BM4TDC34?gQT=2
There is test menu where you can see the signal strength. I think it's hold track forward on the wheel and dash for 5 seconds.

 

[RangerBill]

When I first bought my 2023 Ranger FX4 the radio AM and FM was basically stone dead. The dealer said an antenna cable was not plugged in correctly. The radio works great now. I can even listen to a Havana Cuba station on 530 AM at night.

But, the GPS is dropping out all the time. It works, then it doesn't. That dealer is too far away, over 100 miles. But they were great to work with.

A different local dealer seems to have weird policies, or maybe they are standard now. They make an appointment like a month out and give a ten-minute late window. If you get there 11 minutes late like I did (some power line crews had the road blocked and I had to reroute) they make you get a new appointment. My ride home and I were a little ticked. I figured I needed to leave the truck anyway. This was NOTHING they were going to fix while I waited.

Anyway, the service manager allowed me to leave the truck and a few days later they called me. They said they updated the GPS and thought it was fixed, but then it dropped out. They said they cleaned corrosion off the antenna ground and it was fixed.

I picked it up and within a block it dropped again. So here is my question....

Is the GPS system sensitivity just stinky poor? Even if I am on an open clear road with a clear sky view it drops in and out. Sometimes I get the little red "no GPS" warning on the screen. Other times there is no warning and it has me miles from where I am really at. I'm guessing this is going to be a mess to get fixed since a code would not tell them what to do.

Here is the wiring diagram that contains the antenna system. You should probably check the cable connections for the antenna, power to the antenna, splitter connections. The satellite part of the antenna and splitter would be used for the GPS receiver.

 

[Tom W8JI]

Here is the wiring diagram that contains the antenna system. You should probably check the cable connections for the antenna, power to the antenna, splitter connections. The satellite part of the antenna and splitter would be used for the GPS receiver.

Now that is very helpful!!! A rock-solid satellite signal eliminates the main coax that runs straight through the splitter. I don't know the antenna details, but GPS is around 1.5 GHz and Sirius XM is around 2.3 GHz. The antenna MIGHT share the same antenna connections for both bands and be a dual band design or it might spit internally to two different antennas.

This is great seeing that diagram!

It looks like the problem is either the antenna itself, the splitter, the coax from the splitter to the GPS receiver, or the GPS receiver itself. It can't possibly be a "ground" like they thought. Antennas in the GHz range don't depend on the vehicle chassis ground since the wavelength is in centimeters.

I have test equipment that would isolate the issue but I can't personally meddle in a warranty issue. A cheap $100 Chinese NanoVNA could likely determine the real issue.

 

[Tom W8JI]

Here it is the end of June and this issue is still going on. A dealer has had my truck for weeks as they change things.

I'm not sure what they have guessed at so far but now they are telling me it is the APM or something and they are on national back order. They don't know how long it will be before they can try another "let's just guess at it" part.

I could sweep the antenna system, cables, and splitter with a $100 nano-VNA but that isn't my job and I don't know where the cables run or what type of connectors they use. Some simple test gear would verify whether the antenna system up to the GPS antenna port is working. At least this would eliminate everything up to that port.

How does one get ahold of a Zone Rep?? This is kind of silly, like a year to get a GPS going.

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