When reading internet forums we may come across many posts in which the problem is a Ford Denso non-working radio-navigation. It is time to debunk the myths about the cause of the fault and the supposed impossibility of repair – as we often read on forums..
To be specific, we are talking about the following faults:
- the unit does not start at all (and it is not due to a failed update!)
- the unit starts up sporadically, and the user thinks disconnecting / reconnecting the battery fixes the problem (it does, temporarily…)
- the radio tuner goes haywire – a button screen appears, on which we only see 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8 (quite right, and where are 3,6,9?)
- in service mode you cannot enter the AUDIO tab
If you updated the Denso and there was an interruption / error during the process, we can also repair such a problem – however, the process of "reviving" it in this case looks completely different.
Causes that definitely do not cause the fault of the radio not switching on
Let’s start with the theory that it is all down to the mechanic who disconnected the battery terminal. We can even list these so-called causes that circulate around the internet:
- someone tampered with the radio and the unit ‘reset itself’ (incidentally, what was supposed to reset?)
- the radio went into sleep mode and the radio function disappeared
- the culprit is a burnt-out tuner module
Ford Denso radio-navigation not working – so what now?
We come back to the key question – can the unit be fully restored to working order. Of course! The original problem is related to a fault on the main board; this is a typical defect that we effectively eliminate. Equipped with a bench testing set, we will fully check your radio both before and after repair.
What other faults could happen to you?
This Visteon / Denso unit can cause quite a few problems. There is plenty that can go wrong:
- the CD player may stop reading audio discs (track count 31 appears and that’s all)
- the DVD player does not read the map disc
- your display is mechanically damaged or the touchscreen does not respond
Example part numbers:
3S7T 10E887 AD 3S7T 10E887 AE 3S7T 10E887 AF 5S7T 18B988 AF 4M5T 10E887 AE
We hope that with this short post we have cleared up some of the ambiguities and myths surrounding this, admittedly, popular navigation system.
