For about ten months now, I've been dealing with my computer screen in my car going blank and staying blank. (I blogged about some of is on the It All Went Dark post.) But this problem wasn't one and done.
The screen is the only way to control or use a few things in my car: The backup camera, the seat warmers, the radio, being able to hook my phone up to the system and listen to my podcasts on the car's speakers, navigation (I mostly use my phone), and being able to use the phone hands free.
After the screen came back, it stayed on for a while and then it went blank. Repeat this a few times with the blank time becoming longer and longer. In May, I went dark for so long, I thought it was dead and then the system rebooted itself months later and stayed on for weeks.
Until it went out again.
It was still out when I went for my oil change at the beginning of December and I asked the Ford dealership to look at it. Luckily I came in on the right day of the week, because the guy who fixes the Sync system is only there one afternoon a week and I picked the right day. I still had to wait because I'd gotten there early in the morning, but at least I didn't have to come back another day to have him look at it.
So the Sync guy tried to reset it three times, but it kept going dark. I needed to replace the module. It was expensive, but I'd already priced out the part and it was right about what I expected. There was no doubt about replacing it. I like that backup camera and it's winter. I need the seat warmers. :-)
I went back the next week to get it fixed. I even took the day off from work since I had another appointment in the morning. They'd received the wrong part.
The following week, I called to see if the part was in, didn't receive a callback before I had to leave for my 2pm appointment and drove all the way out there to find out that the part hadn't come in. The following week, the Sync guy was off because it was the time between Christmas and New Year's Day. This was fine with me because I was on vacation, too and didn't want to spend a day waiting for the car.
First week in January and I called the day before. The part was there! So I went out there the next day and got my module replaced.
It's glorious!
Backup camera. Seat warmers. Radio. Navigation. And I discovered something new when I hooked my phone up to the new system. I can listen to my phone on my car stereo via Bluetooth!
This never worked on my old system because I looked for it. I figured maybe it was just too old to have it. Maybe it was, I don't know, but I do know I have it now. On the plus side, this is a nice alternative to plugging the phone in to use the speakers. On the other hand, I had been listening to a podcast at home, force quit the app I use to play my podcasts, got in the car, and my podcast started playing. O_O Um, no, thank you. I'll tell you if I want you to play.
It's silly, but I kind of feel as if I have a new car. And when I went to the grocery store, I was able to park wherever I wanted instead of pulling through because I had the backup camera. This is so awesome!
