1998 Explorer Sport with the upgraded AM/FM/Cassette/CD and 80 watt amp. (no subwoofer) The radio is working fine, but the display has gone out. Could this be a fuse. I noticed 3 fuses for radio. 2 of them stopped the radio from playing and one did not, but that fuse was not blown. If not a fuse, could it be anything other than the display being shot? If the dispaly is shot, can I order that part from Ford. Is it hard to get to. I can not even figure out how to pull the radio. Has anyone dealt with the problem before? Thanks...
I had posted this email below that I received from ford quite a while ago, but since I keep seeing this come up with people who don't realize that it isn't an isolated incident (I gave up counting at over 50 different post on it) that I post this again to show the deep concern that ford has with this issue. I especially like the "This will be our last written communication to you on this concern" part.
Steve
Dear Stephen,
Thank you for your message of 08/11/01 regarding your 1998 Ford Explorer. We appreciate the time you have taken to write us concerning the mach stereo system in your vehicle.
As previously communicated to you on 07/13/01, we feel that every consideration has been given to this matter and was appropriately addressed in our prior response. If any additional information regarding this matter should become available in the future, we would appreciate you letting us know. This will be our last written communication to you on this concern.
Stephen, we encourage and welcome you to communicate with us again via e-mail should you have a different issue or inquiry.
Thank you for being a member of the Ford family.
We appreciate your business and therefore would like to apologize for any frustration caused by this situation.
Stephen, we hope that you will remain a Ford customer in future years.
At Ford Motor Company, we consider the satisfaction of our customers as one of our most important objectives. If you have any other inquiries or concerns, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to address them.
Thank you for contacting Ford Motor Company.
Sincerely, Blaine Ford Motor Company Customer Relationship Center
The following information is displayed to confirm that your personal OwnerConnection data is correct. If you notice any errors or discrepancies in the information, please revisit
formatting link
and make corrections to your profile. Thank you.
Original Message Follows:
Hello,
I have contacted you twice before about the display on my 98 explorer's Mach stereo system. The display dims to the point where it can not be seen. Both times I received replies that indicated that you felt that it was an isolated incident and not a design flaw. I now have on file 15 other owners all with the same exact problem. In some cases the radio has be replaced at much reduced cost. Please do not treat this once again as an isolated incident. I have been a loyal ford customer and this is my second explorer. I had expected to buy my third. However, with the way I have been treated with this radio problem I will be looking closely at your competitors. In the wake of the bad press that the explorer is getting can you really afford to alienate more owners by failing to fix this design flaw? I will more that gladly send you the list of people with this problem so that you can contact them and verify that this is a very common problem and should be covered past the 36000 mile warranty. Should a $600 stereo only last 3 years?
I will be looking forward to your reply. Once again please do not just send me another quick form reply or I will be forced to go to the local media with this problem.
my 2000 Limited also had this problem (Mach stereo). fortunately, it was still under warranty and was fixed. my view of Ford has changed somewhat because they won't admit this is a widespread problem. maybe because it is not safety related??
1998 Explorer Sport with the upgraded AM/FM/Cassette/CD and 80 watt amp. (no subwoofer) The radio is working fine, but the display has gone out. Could this be a fuse. I noticed 3 fuses for radio. 2 of them stopped the radio from playing and one did not, but that fuse was not blown. If not a fuse, could it be anything other than the display being shot? If the dispaly is shot, can I order that part from Ford. Is it hard to get to. I can not even figure out how to pull the radio. Has anyone dealt with the problem before? Thanks...
I've never posted this fix on this forum, hope this helps.. I posted this fix to a different explorer forum quite a while back, I now have ~113K miles on my X and my display is still functioning...
I have a 98' Sport with the Mach sound system, and my display went out at around 50K miles(this was about 18 months back). I lived with the problem for about 6 months when I was lucky enough to stumble upon this board and find this thread... So, after popping out my system and cleaning the display driver board, this fixed my display... For a while...
About 2 months ago, the display died again.. I decided to try to find a more "permanent" fix. After calling Ford and Visteon I was able to learn that the Mach system's Head Unit is indeed manufactured by Pioneer. I found a telephone number for Pioneer's parts center off their website, and was able to order a replacement board. I received the board about 3 days later, installed it in my system, and it has been working fine for about a week now...
If you'd like to order the part from Pioneer, their parts center # is (800)421-1404. You will need to give them the Pioneer model number off your HU for them to cross reference the part. This model number is located directly underneath the Ford Part number on the label underneath the unit. For example, the Ford part number on my radio is F87F-18C868-BD and the Pioneer model number is FH 2116 ZF, so look for something in that format. The part(s) that you will receive is a "kit", which includes 3 circuit boards. This included not only the display driver board, but also 2 other small boards, one of which contains the rear connectors for the radio and another small board located close to this(they would not sell me the display driver board separately). The part number for this kit is HWM5469 (at least for my radio model). I only replaced the display driver board, which was VERY easy to do, and this fixed my display problem. To replace the other 2 boards, you would need to completely disassemble the radio and make at least
20 - 30 solder connections. I didn't suspect these boards to actually be bad in my radio, so I didn't think replacing these would be of any benefit (and it could be very risky if you're not adept with a solder iron). With shipping and handling these parts cost me about $95, much less than my Ford dealership and most repair shops wanted to fix it. If this permanently fixes the problem and prevents me from having to dismantle the radio every
6 - 12 months, it should be worth it!
By the way, two differences I noticed on the replacement board:
1) The 2 watt resistors on the top of the board located under the shield are mounted about a half inch above the circuit board. I'm guessing Pioneer realized the design flaw of placing components that generate that much heat directly next to other sensitive components.
2) The quality of the workmanship on the replacement board is significantly better than the original board. On the original, you'll notice very poorly soldered connections on the bottom of the board, and A LOT of excess flux which was never cleaned off the board. I consider this as a contributing factor to the original failure.
With that said, I STRONGLY URGE anyone who has had this display problem to contact Ford's Customer Relationship Center at 1-800-392-3673 and report it. I spoke to them on several occasions trying to get this issue resolved, and they denied any knowledge of the problem. They did state however that if enough owners complained about the problem that they may consider implementing some sort of program to cover it (e.g. extended warranty on the radio). It really disturbs me that I paid approx 30K for this truck back in
98', an extra 1K of this for the sound system, only to have it die 3 years later and have Ford completely deny that there is a problem. I spoke to two different Ford dealerships, and several radio repair shops, and THEY ALL stated that they see this problem A LOT. I would think that a company with the motto "Quality is Job 1", would be interested in resolving a "quality control" problem that effected a large number of customers.
Anyway, sorry about the rant at the end, I certainly hope this info helps somebody out there!
I too experienced the radio display problem. Ended up doing an exchange with a retail concern in Denver who provided radios and service to the area Ford dealers. Like you, I pushed the issue with Ford Customer Service and achieved the same results. Though courteous, everyone I talked to denied there was an issue let alone a widespread problem. After my third letter to FCS, I received the same BS as you. The exchange radio has been installed for about 20K miles with no problem. I had about 45K when the problem first manifested itself.
Had the same problem. I sent mine to these folks, and now it works fine. Turnaround time depends on how fast you want it shipped. Take a look and good luck.
Thanks so much for the detailed description of what you did to repair your radio. I also have the same problem with my Ford radio. I also have contacted customer service and been blown off by them. I have tried to solder the connections myself and have been frustrated with it. I might just have to break down and buy the parts you mentioned. I was originally hoping that someone would post the detailed self-fix on the boards components, but everyone seems to point to the version for sale by someone on the web. I think it would be interesting to start a list of all of those that have had the problem. I bet the guy selling the fix has a listing of how many people he has dealt with, but of course he is making money on the fix.
and it was the best $20 that I've spent (especially when compared to what Ford wanted...$550!). I was able to get my display back after being without it for over 9 months. The guy is extremely helpful and responsive to any questions you have about the procedure and process to get your radio repaired. He does offer a service to send it in (if you can't do it yourself) or I think another service where he'll send a working board to swap with you. With any of the options, you'll come out way ahead of the Ford dealer solution...$$$
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.