[bluto]

Are you adding sync or just the buttons for the radio? I added the sync buttons so a total of four wires had to be added to the clockspring connector on the steering column. Two go to the sync module and the other two go to the radio (pins 18+19). There are wires going into 18 & 19 at the radio connector that you can tap. These go from the radio connector and then stop and the next connector going into a larger harness if you don't have steering wheel buttons from the factory.

Edit: for the clockspring connector harness mentioned above will have 4 empty pins for the 4 wires mentioned above. What I did was to cut off this connector from a junk yard escape and then de-pin the wires out of it. Then i was able to splice on to these short wires and then snap the pins into the connector on my vehicle. I have a few spares of these wires and if you want I can mail you some.

 

[V6Beast]

So here's a question for you...

All I'm trying to do is add the steering wheel buttons and nothing else. Don't care about sync, but are you saying sync is dependent on this all working? One thing I noticed when I swapped the steering wheel harness with the 09+ that has terminals for the headunit side and cruise control on the other side, only the right side buttons illuminate while the left side do not at all. Equally nothing works on either set of buttons. No cruise control, no audio controls or anything.

Now if I swap back the original harness thee are that came with the car for cruise control only, I get cruise control back and it illuminates, but obviously the right side audio control panel is a dud.

I compared both harnesses and for the cruise control the wires lead to the same terminals on the clock spring and are all the same color other than one additional wire that jointed is jointed to one of the terminals on the cruise control. This plugs into the audio controls and I'm guessing steals power from the cruise control switch and leaves it inoperable? Very strange. Had a second spare 2009 steering wheel harness from a wheel that came with audio controls and the same set of buttons. Same issue.

So do I need to swap in sync and add the 4 terminals at this point? Sucks but I think at this point I'm going to revert to the original harness with just cruise control and call it a day for now until someone confirms. Bummer

Sorry in advance I'm on mobile and the pics keep flipping idk why

 

[V6Beast]

Original cruise control only harness on an 09.

 

[V6Beast]

09+ harness with cruise control and audio control buttons. Notice that second wire spliced in from the factory on the cruise control side.

 

[V6Beast]

Make up of the full 09+ cruise and audio control harness.

 

[bluto]

Ok, let me see if i can help clear up your trouble. You absolutely don't need sync for just the radio buttons to work. But the media button you have on your steering wheel picture is the sync version. What this means is that it has three more functions than the non sync version. The sync version adds three buttons for voice, hang up , and ok. This is in addition to the buttons that just control the radio (vol +, vol -, seek up, seek down and media). So you can either ignore these three extra buttons or look for the other version of this switch module that only has the 5 radio functions.

The important thing to note now is that with the sync version, the signals for the 5 radio functions come out the button module on 1 pair of wires and the 3 sync funtions come out on a separate pair of wires. What that means is that you need to find the two pins coming out of the media button that show different resistance values when you press any of the 5 buttons for the above mentioned radio functions. Those two wires need to go out of the steering wheel, through the clockspring and be connected to pins 18 & 19 on the big connector at the back of the radio. There will be two other wires coming out of the media button needed to make the buttons light up with the headlights. These just get connected to the like wires on the cruise control button. The ground should be obvious as well as the wire that has 12 volts present with the lights on.

The bottom line is that you should leave the cruise control button pinned as it was. Once you find the right two wires on the media button for the radio controls those will leave the steering wheel through the clockspring and the power and ground for the button illumination marries up with the cruise button. I will need to look through the pictures earlier in this thread to point you at exactly which pins should be used for the radio buttons. But for now hopefully this long winded explanation has helped you understand how everything is laid out.

 

[bluto]

I marked up the one of the pictures from earlier in the thread. This is what you want the connector leaving the steering wheel to look like for a 2009+.

 

[V6Beast]

So I did initially purchase the other radio control button switch which doesn't have the sync button. Since I don't plan to integrate sync, would the wiring for that switch be less of a headache?

 

[bluto]

It does not really matter. The factory radio is never going to be able to do anything with those three extra buttons without sync so you could omit connecting the yellow & red wires from the steering wheel harness to simplify things. The only other thing is if it is going to bother you looks wise to have 3 unused buttons.

I left the info about the differentiation for the sync buttons in my explanation for general reference. And also when using an aftermarket radio and steering wheel button adapter, it is possible to combine the radio buttons and the sync buttons onto a single circuit so as to be able to use all 8 buttons with the aftermarket radio.

 

[V6Beast]

It does not really matter. The factory radio is never going to be able to do anything with those three extra buttons without sync so you could omit connecting the yellow & red wires from the steering wheel harness to simplify things. The only other thing is if it is going to bother you looks wise to have 3 unused buttons.

I left the info about the differentiation for the sync buttons in my explanation for general reference. And also when using an aftermarket radio and steering wheel button adapter, it is possible to combine the radio buttons and the sync buttons onto a single circuit so as to be able to use all 8 buttons with the aftermarket radio.

So basically only volume will work when using the button switches? That's honestly fine, but would the media button be the same issue regardless of which of the two button configs I use on the right side? If I could get the media button working on either setup that would be nice, but volume is the only one I truly care about since I mostly use AUX anyways. I attached a pic of the other radio button setup I have to work with.

Do you have any idea why the second harness for the 09 cruise control and sync buttons when connected in my car prevents cruise control from lighting up and being functional? I dont mind having to hook up the radio buttons at a later time, but wanted to at least get my cruise control buttons working and illuminated again for a upcoming roadtrip on Sunday. May just even swap back the original cruise control only harness for the meantime.

I'll try and compare the wiring diagram and see what I can come up with.

 

[bluto]

This is the button that I was thinking of that has only 5 functions for the radio only:

I think the issue with the cruise control is that there are variations across the years. We know that 2008 is very different than 2009. There might be other variations from 2009 onward. What I recommend and what is described in the first post of the thread is that you put your original cruise control button and harness into your new wheel (with the second cutout for the media buttons) and then pin the extra wires for the media buttons into it. The picture I posted just above should help. In your original harness the connector that leaves the steering wheel should have empty wire connector pin holes in the spots that are designated for the two radio wires and the two sync wires. You only need to add the two radio button wires. An then you will need to add these on the clockspring connector on the steering column and run them over to the radio. These wires are not present leading from the clockspring connector over to the radio if you did not have the media buttons installed from the factory.

 

[V6Beast]

^^Good plan.

Now I am having another issue I'm a little puzzled on... after I swapped wheels initially, and went to drive the car, I noticed the wheel is no longer centered. This isn't my first time removing an installing a steering wheel on a car, so I swear I made sure prior to initial removal of the original wheel, I made sure the wheel was centered and steering lock engaged before removing, but looking at the pic below, when driving straight, the wheel is off about 5 degrees to the right.

I tried to fix this a week ago late one night thinking the wheel was just a few splines off, but when I tried to adjust it for how much it is off, I thought I recall the spline design having three notches that pretty much guarantee you can't mess it up as they're 1/3rd turns apart from another. I'm tempted to try this again, but don't want to keep removing the airbag an unnecessary amount of times as it will over time ruin the fitment.

Has anyone else run into this issue? I don't recall the alignment being this off before so I don't want to compensate with the tierods with an alignment just to mask the issue as that leads to other problems.

 

[bluto]

That looks strange for sure. Are you certain that you can't just pull it back out and turn it slightly counter clockwise to engage the sprocket one more tooth to the left? It seems like the alignment on these would be idiot proof for the guy that slaps them in place on the assembly line. Having to do a fine adjustment on each one would be costly.

 

[V6Beast]

That looks strange for sure. Are you certain that you can't just pull it back out and turn it slightly counter clockwise to engage the sprocket one more tooth to the left? It seems like the alignment on these would be idiot proof for the guy that slaps them in place on the assembly line. Having to do a fine adjustment on each one would be costly.

Im going to try but I thought the exact same thing. Just haven't had time lately. I thought I recall the steering shaft spline having 3 prongs which pretty much prevent you from messing it up anything less than a drastic amount. I swear I tried what you just recommended but it was late last time I gave it an attempt so maybe I missed something? I'm just as surprised honestly but will give it another go this weekend. Lol.

 

[cravend]

Hi!

I'm trying to update the radio on my 2008 Ford Escape (6-CD, no subwoofer). I pulled a radio, SYNC module, and wiring harness out of a 2010 Escape from a junkyard. However, the wiring harness has a slightly different plug (I believe for power? I've attached photos).

I would appreciate any help/advice. I don't care about steering wheel controls, I just want basic Bluetooth.

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/gzkBGQLXLbaVqCeo7

EDIT: my car has a sirius receiver under the passenger seat. It isn't mission critical to make it work, just wanted to mention it. The new radio has a port that I believe is for the Sirius antenna.

 

[thesavo]

Wheel misalignment discussion:
The key way should be the same between both wheels. I changed my wheel out for one with media buttons. Both seem be off by the same few degrees, but now I'm not sure. Mine is definitely askew. There is a forscan service procedure call recalibrate steering angle. Perhaps that or Turing one tie rod end in one cycle and the other side out the other. Or perhaps wheels are not all identical and are calibrated after install?

@cravend
As far as plugs not matching, there's an intermediate plug upstream of the radio mounted to the dash frame, it's c248 on most diagrams. It's different after 2008.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

 

[cravend]

@thesavo that's the one that I'm having trouble with. Is there any sort of adapter / modified harness that would let me use an '09 radio in my '08 Escape?

 

[bluto]

You need the T harness in the sync upgrade kit mentioned in the first post of this thread. With that you can plug your 2009 radio and sync module into your 2008 vehicle without any modifications. While it would be possible to hack something together with the harnesses that you got from the junkyard, it would probably be a very time consuming endeavor. The part number for the sync upgrade kit is 9R3Z-14D212-A, there are a few on ebay right now, but they are asking stupid prices (considering many were sold on ebay for $63 back in the day). I would put a saved search on ebay an hopefully one will come up soon for a reasonable price.

 

[cravend]

Awesome, I'll keep an eye out for it. Do you know if there's a part number specifically for the harness? Or do I need to buy the whole upgrade kit. Also, what does the upgrade kit contain (as far as I know, I have everything except the harness).

 

[bluto]

https://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx1 ... 772f1d.jpg

See this picture from page 1.... The kit comes with the T harness, an un-programmed sync module, a microphone, a 3 button keypad to trigger sync, a usb cable, some cable ties, and instructions. I think the harness does have its own part number but I remember trying to search by that number and didn't find anywhere selling it.

With the kit and a 2009 radio, everything is plug and play going into a 2008. You will need the sync module you got out of the Escape from the junk yard because it is already programmed. The one that comes in the kit is not programmed and cannot by programmed by the dealer on a 2008 (not that any dealer would want to do the programming for this kit anyway in 2020). You can sell the un-programmed sync module on ebay. Hopefully your sync module has version 1.x of the software on it since 2.x and up give an audible warning about 911 assist being disabled.

You will use the remote that comes with the kit to trigger the sync unless you want to install the steering wheel button that has the three sync buttons built in. The microphone is also needed unless you try to upgrade to a mirror with a built in mic. And the usb cable plugs into the proprietary connector on the sync module and provides a regular usb plug for a flash drive with music on the other end.