GPS goes Wonky!

[blackc2004]

Every once in a while my GPS will go wonky and tell me I"m driving somewhere I clearly am not! IN this case, I wasn't even driving in the direction it had me going... I was going west and it said I was going east!

IS this just a bug or should I take it in for service?

Sponsored

 

[Msfitoy]

Same thing happens occasionally with Waze or any other nav app...I think it's signal related...

 

[j0shm1lls]

Earth's magnetic field has been rapidly heading toward reversing and I've noticed a lot of weird things happening with my GPS as well, both the truck GPS and android auto GPS. Could be related? Maybe not...

Maybe not about to flip, but its at least moving quickly.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2019/02/05/earths-magnetic-north-pole-has-officially-moved/

 

[t4thfavor]

Earth's magnetic field has been rapidly heading toward reversing and I've noticed a lot of weird things happening with my GPS as well, both the truck GPS and android auto GPS. Could be related? Maybe not...

Maybe not about to flip, but its at least moving quickly.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2019/02/05/earths-magnetic-north-pole-has-officially-moved/

GPS doesn't use the compass. I suppose it could be affecting the satellites, but my regular old Garmin has never missed a beat.

 

[MINI Ranger]

Every once in a while my GPS will go wonky and tell me I"m driving somewhere I clearly am not! IN this case, I wasn't even driving in the direction it had me going... I was going west and it said I was going east!

IS this just a bug or should I take it in for service?

I had this happen a couple of times after the truck was parked in an underground parking garage. I realized that it also displayed an odd icon on the screen, the letters GPS with a diagonal bar thru them. I drove 35 - 40 miles after leaving the parking garage and the GPS never found itself.
I even cycled the key off and back on at a red light to see if rebooting would help, but to no avail. It worked properly again after sitting overnight at home in the garage. The same thing happened the next day after parking in the same parking facility.
I don't know if the failure was related to circling in an underground parking facility or just a coincidence.

 

[gcan]

Bringing this back up, my screen has a red GPS with a line thru it in the lower left corner. The Nav works sometimes but often gets lost mid trip. This even happens when I plug my IPhone into the USB and use it’s map….it will be fine then suddenly go crazy. I can unplug the phone and then replug it and it will operate correctly for a while.
My local dealer keeps the truck all day for any thing so would rather trouble shoot myself if possible

any experience or advice

 

[Rp930]

It’s the UFO’s. Don’t you guys look at the news?

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Bringing this back up, my screen has a red GPS with a line thru it in the lower left corner. The Nav works sometimes but often gets lost mid trip. This even happens when I plug my IPhone into the USB and use it’s map….it will be fine then suddenly go crazy. I can unplug the phone and then replug it and it will operate correctly for a while.
My local dealer keeps the truck all day for any thing so would rather trouble shoot myself if possible

any experience or advice

Hi Gcan,

Yes....use Google Maps on your cell phone. Sync is just the pits... I do not use it...

best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[gcan]

I’ll give Google a try….the Apple Maps on my IPhone also goes wonky at times when plugged into the USB below the radio….I can unplug and replug and the GPS picks back up.

very odd, being it’s sporadic I believe I may have a GPS connection issue

 

[gcan]

Why would my phone maps also go crazy when I plug into the USB and use the screen? Unplug all good…. Plug in and it may show me driving on water….very odd

 

[JetEngr19]

Why would my phone maps also go crazy when I plug into the USB and use the screen? Unplug all good…. Plug in and it may show me driving on water….very odd

CarPlay will use the truck’s GPS antenna if available. When you unplug your phone it switches back to the iPhone’s built in GPS antenna.

I’ve had this issue also. Rebooting Sync seems to fix it.

 

[gcan]

I’ve tried rebooting and it’s the same.
I may just run by the local dealer and ask them if they can check the antenna.
I paid extra for the Lariat with all the bells and whistles including Nav and I would like for it to work properly

thanks for the input and help

 

[pocket_geek]

You are now 400 miles off the coast of California. Turn Left.

 

[mtbikernate]

very odd, being it’s sporadic I believe I may have a GPS connection issue

GPS signal quality varies a lot over time and by location. It's not a constant thing, as your device calculates your position from signals received from various satellites. Those satellites are always moving. So satellite position can impact reception. They can be blocked by terrain or skyscrapers. They can be clustered too closely in the sky, so the geometry is poor. A position fix requires your device to be able to "see" a minimum of 3 satellites, but possibly more if some are clustered. This can be tricky if your antenna has a narrow view of the sky.

On top of that, atmospheric conditions can interfere with signal quality, and space weather can interfere with GPS satellites.

The quality of your GPS antenna and processor are also factors.

I've experienced this with my phone and pretty much any GPS app I've used over the years. Also various Garmins and Trimble survey grade gear. The most frustrating occasions have been when my phone is bugging out and can't figure out where I am (so the position jumps around a lot and snaps to different roads, which forces the nav to recalculate and keep trying to send me different directions every few seconds) and switching to my wife's phone (same model) everything is fine.

So I'm certain that there's also some potential trouble with receiver hardware/software that I'm not even aware of.

If you really think about it, it's amazing that GPS works as well as it does as often as it does.

Sponsored