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.

 

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

That is true of most GPS systems.

 

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.