Anyone seen this before? VP3 8.4 crash when reversing

[Ken226]

About once a week my VP3 radio (with nav) will display this screen for a few minutes, then the screen goes black.

The radio still keeps working. The physical audio controls still work, music still plays, can still change channels with the steering wheel controls, everything.

The conditions: the radio is set on the "Radio" screen, displaying a fm channel. It's pretty much always at the end of my work day, after the 6 mile drive home. It always occurs the moment I put the truck into reverse to back into the driveway.

I have an OEM backup cam, but the moment I shift into reverse, I get this scrambled screen with part of a nav map showing. Then the screen goes black, but everything else seems to still work.

If I shut down the truck, then later go restart it, the radio is back to normal. This happens about once a week.

 

[SitKneelBend]

About once a week my VP3 radio (with nav) will display this screen for a few minutes, then the screen goes black.

The radio still keeps working. The physical audio controls still work, music still plays, can still change channels with the steering wheel controls, everything.

The conditions: the radio is set on the "Radio" screen, displaying a fm channel. It's pretty much always at the end of my work day, after the 6 mile drive home. It always occurs the moment I put the truck into reverse to back into the driveway.

I have an OEM backup cam, but the moment I shift into reverse, I get this scrambled screen with part of a nav map showing. Then the screen goes black, but everything else seems to still work.

If I shut down the truck, then later go restart it, the radio is back to normal. This happens about once a week.


View attachment 542224

Did you buy the vehicle used?

 

[Ken226]

Did you buy the vehicle used?

Yes. I bought it in early 2017. It is 2013 year model.

It worked flawlessly until 2019, when I activated the Navigation. Even after adding Nav, it only acted up a couple times a year. It has randomly crashed and rebooted a few times (i only noticed this a few time a year on average), and only when using Nav.

This new behavior, the screen scramble/blackout just started about week ago, and has done it several times already. It always does it when I put the truck in reverse.


I may try resetting it to default in the engineering menu, to see if the behavior persists after Nav is gone. I can always add the Nav back later, if i want. I probably won't though, the Uconnect Nav sucks pretty bad compared to google maps on my phone. It wasn't worth it to add Nav.

 

[SitKneelBend]

Yes. I bought it in early 2017. It is 2013 year model.

It worked flawlessly until 2019, when I activated the Navigation. Even after adding Nav, it only acted up a couple times a year. It has randomly crashed and rebooted a few times (i only noticed this a few time a year on average), and only when using Nav.

This new behavior, the screen scramble/blackout just started about week ago, and has done it several times already. It always does it when I put the truck in reverse.


I may try resetting it to default in the engineering menu, to see if the behavior persists after Nav is gone. I can always add the Nav back later, if i want.

Is the Nav screen what was previously displayed before putting it in reverse or does it jump to that screen and the distorted image?

 

[StateOfMind]

This just happened to me for the first, and hopefully only time. I had gone through a car wash maybe 1/2 hour earlier, so I chalked it up to that being the possible cause.

 

[Ken226]

Is the Nav screen what was previously displayed before putting it in reverse or does it jump to that screen and the distorted image?

No. it was on the fm radio screen. It jumped to that weird, scrambled screen when I shifted into reverse.

 

[Ken226]

This just happened to me for the first, and hopefully only time. I had gone through a car wash maybe 1/2 hour earlier, so I chalked it up to that being the possible cause.

I live in the Pacific Northwest. Every day, all day, for 9 months out of the year, it is like going through the car wash. 9 months of rain, and 1-1/2 months each of summer and winter

 

[Ken226]

I decided to remove the nav by doing a factory reset this morning. The plan was to do the reset and drive it for the next couple weeks to see if the issue went away, or it keeps crashing.


So, I went into the engineering menu and selected "reset to factory defaults". The radio rebooted, and Nav was indeed, verifiably, gone! All was well with the world and the radio reverted back to it's original, navigation free state. It appeared to be properly reset.



About half an hour ago, i went to the grocery store to pick up a few items, and the Navigation buttons and page is back. The radio works fine, but after the factory reset, I still have nav. I switched to the Map screen, drove around and Nav is still there and indeed working.

It's still on Software version 18.45.01, and still has the dealer/code activated nav, even after I did both the "reset to factory defaults", AND the "reset radio", options from the engineering menu.

I guess i'm stuck with Nav, and will have to just live with the crashing....maybe..

 

[SitKneelBend]

This just happened to me for the first, and hopefully only time. I had gone through a car wash maybe 1/2 hour earlier, so I chalked it up to that being the possible cause.

It very well could be the cause...

I live in the Pacific Northwest. Every day, all day, for 9 months out of the year, it is like going through the car wash. 9 months of rain, and 1-1/2 months each of summer and winter

The scrambled backup image can be caused by moisture in the tailgate connections for the camera. Many correct it by cleaning the connection and packing with dielectric grease.

I decided to remove the nav by doing a factory reset this morning. The plan was to do the reset and drive it for the next couple weeks to see if the issue went away, or it keeps crashing.


So, I went into the engineering menu and selected "reset to factory defaults". The radio rebooted, and Nav was indeed, verifiably, gone! All was well with the world and the radio reverted back to it's original, navigation free state. It appeared to be properly reset.



About half an hour ago, i went to the grocery store to pick up a few items, and the Navigation buttons and page is back. The radio works fine, but after the factory reset, I still have nav. I switched to the Map screen, drove around and Nav is still there and indeed working.

It's still on Software version 18.45.01, and still has the dealer/code activated nav, even after I did both the "reset to factory defaults", AND the "reset radio", options from the engineering menu.

I guess i'm stuck with Nav, and will have to just live with the crashing....maybe..

This is normal behavior, after reset it can take several power cycles for all of the features to return to the screen as the radio reads and stores configurations from the BCM. I believe 18.45.01 is the last firmware created for that radio. I asked if bought used because faulty third party modules can sometimes cause screen aberrations like this. Have you ever opened up and looked to see what's behind the radio?

 

[Ken226]

It very well could be the cause...

The scrambled backup image can be caused by moisture in the tailgate connections for the camera. Many correct it by cleaning the connection and packing with dielectric grease.

This is normal behavior, after reset it can take several power cycles for all of the features to return to the screen as the radio reads and stores configurations from the BCM. I believe 18.45.01 is the last firmware created for that radio. I asked if bought used because faulty third party modules can sometimes cause screen aberrations like this. Have you ever opened up and looked to see what's behind the radio?

I had it off back in 2017, when I installed the OEM trailer brake controller and backup camera. Everything is OEM inside, nothing aftermarket has ever been added.

I've driven it several times today, and so far it has worked normally.

 

[SitKneelBend]

I had it off back in 2017, when I installed the OEM trailer brake controller and backup camera. Everything is OEM inside, nothing aftermarket has ever been added.

I've driven it several times today, and so far it has worked normally.

Maybe that reset you did squared it away! If it happens again, I'd consider cleaning the connections. It's strange that it brought the map up with it though...

 

[Ken226]

Maybe that reset you did squared it away! If it happens again, I'd consider cleaning the connections. It's strange that it brought the map up with it though...

I read on another forum (Challenger, I think) earlier today that one of the fixes in the ra3 18.45.01 update was the issue with nav disappearing after a hard reset. Supposedly, after updating to 18.45.01, it no longer disappears after a reset?

Do you know if that is correct or not? Has anyone you know of with 18.45.01 in a vp3, lost nav after a hard reset?

 

[SitKneelBend]

I read on another forum (Challenger, I think) earlier today that one of the fixes in the ra3 18.45.01 update was the issue with nav disappearing after a hard reset. Supposedly, after updating to 18.45.01, it no longer disappears after a reset?

Do you know if that is correct or not? Has anyone you know of with 18.45.01 in a vp3, lost nav after a hard reset?

You're the first I've heard but to be honest I don't here much about RA3/RA4 issues anymore.

 

[Ken226]

Just an update, for anyone in the future who has a similar issue and finds this thread.

After 3 days and about a dozen drive/shutdown cycles. After the "reset to default settings", my VP3 radio appears to be working normally again. It also still has Nav, and somehow, oddly, after the reset, my backup camera image is better, less washed out with better resolution.

Maybe back in 2019 when I updated Uconnect to the 18.45.01 software, I should have done a reset after? Not sure.