navigation doesnt work
 

I purchased a used 2005 escape hybrid a few months back, I havent been able to get the navigation to work right, I believe its not getting satalite signal, I clean the disc and it brings up the map but the triangle is not where i am, totally different location, off road conditions, or something like that. I did the radio test and it says the sat. anttena is ok. another thing is that the clock stops. it shows correct time when i start the vehicle but after a couple minutes it just freezes, I think this goes back to the satellite signal. can i use any other satellite ant. or does it have to be factory. the one behind the radio has a short lead so i cant reposition it. thanks for any help.

Re: navigation doesnt work
 

Are you on a new road? the maps are 3 years old may not have your location. That would indicate an offroad condition.

Re: navigation doesnt work
 

What color is your compass heading letter (located at the very bottom of the LCD screen)????

Re: navigation doesnt work
 

the roads are not new, the compass is red most of the time, it does flash between red and green once in a while but still it doesnt correct the vehicle position, its only worked correctly a couple of times, when in la it worked for about 20 minutes then lost signal, I am in central california and have been up to northern california and it didnt work at all the whole time. it had become frustrating, I went somewhere in san franscico area and could not use it to help me find a location., i went to riverside down south and it did not work at all the whole trip. I think its just not getting satellite signal.

Re: navigation doesnt work
 

It is possible to install the antenna upside down, despite the fact that it is a tab and hole design to prevent this. If the antenna is indeed bad, you can get one for an '07 as there was a design change which I would hope would be an improvement. The antenna lists for about $80 but can be got for ~ $50 from the Ford parts discounters.

Also a bad vss signal can cause flaky behavior because the unit will not update your location if it doesn't think you have moved.

Re: navigation doesnt work
 

The compass direction letter should be white, when you are getting a usable signal.

It does sound like you either have a bad GPS antenna, a bad wire/connector from the antenna, or a bad Nav system.

Re: navigation doesnt work
 

Hi cOugar69 -
I have had my NAV show me at totally different place - several miles from where I actually was - and where the vehicle was. I tried taking out the CD and basically re-booting - but no difference.
I finally just went to the menu 'by memory' , 'Menu' , 'vehicle position' and basically had to zoom in and out till I had the closest current position that the vehicle was at that time - waited a few seconds and all was correct.

Phillip

Re: navigation doesnt work
 

Everytime I've had that happen (and it doesn't now that I leave the disc in all the time) all I've had to do is wait for a few minutes or start driving for a few minutes.

The problem seems to be that the system takes a long time to get the first fix. If you leave the discs in... its getting a fix all the time. If you take them out, it starts from scratch and it takes a while.

I think all the zooming and stuff wasn't what got yours correct... it was merely that it took time.

Re: navigation doesnt work
 

That is true of most GPS systems.

Re: navigation doesnt work
 

Agreed. Just wanted to point out that putting the disc in and leaving it in seems to eliminate the problem. I use the changer or my MP3 player for music anyway.