Welcome to the forum Brockster.
Lots of friendly helpful people on here to sort you out matey.

I'm sure there will be an official welcome from one of our moderators soon.

I can't help with this question, but I'm pretty sure some one will.

Have fun.

 

Hi @Brockster and welcome to the forum. Please have a read here and complete the signature box with your car's details which will save you having to tell us what you have in the future.

Announcement - Please Read, Forum Signatures

Hi & Welcome to the forum, Firstly, please make sure you read our Site Rules. Secondly, it's highly recommended that you fill out your vehicle details in your signature, this will help any future discussions/enquires and save you having to type it in each time, make sure you enter your make...

www.kugaownersclub.co.uk

I can't really help in your query but mine has climate and I never use it as it's meant to be used. If I'm hot, i turn it down and in the summer it's always on cool. I have found in most cars that setting a temperature and then pressing auto never works for me so just easier using it manually. Now if you wanted to rid yourself of that sync 1 system then I can answer a query or two.

 

Yeah I'll be looking into that too, I have a thing about up-speccing cars after I buy them, driving my other half mad usually.

 

I have retrofitted mine to sync 2 with the 8" touch screen which I am really happy with. Thanks to @andspenka with that. He may have some ideas possibly on the climate update and obviously what I said about my climate is just my opinion whilst others may have a different one.

There are a few of us who have upgraded or modified a few things from a later or different spec Kuga.

 

What are the items that I am going to need to buy to complete a retrofit please?

 

You my want to have a read of the link below. It's a long read from start to finish, a lot of which is my fault. Maybe have a read of the first few pages and then jump to about page 25. I may edit the thread at some point if @andspenka doesn't mind as some of my posts may drag on and perhaps not relevant to the thread.

A few of us have done the conversion with andspenka being the first and you would have both of us on hand to assist with questions.

You have to remember this is a major undertaking and is quite time consuming but the end result is worth it in my opinion, but it's not the sort of task you would want to do more than once. After you have got your head around the wiring and a loom conversion lead made, the only other thing you need to worry about is how to fix the screen in the big hole in the dash board. Parts you will need are:

Top cover - 3 parts to this - front section top hat, rear section, speaker mesh
CD bracket
ACM mounting brackets if using your old ACM
Sync 2 screen
FDIM - that's the radio control panel
Sync 2 USB media hub
Sync 2 media hub usb lead
SD map card if you want navigation

I have most if not all of the part numbers

Kuga Sync 2 & 3 Retrofit

I have recently completed a full upgrade from Sync 1 to Sync 2. It was much more work than I ever first imagined but it is 100% worth it. For anyone considering doing this, you need to be confident with wiring, ideally soldering but you could use connectors. There are a number of the pins that...

www.kugaownersclub.co.uk

 

Thats great , thankyou, I'll start looking for the parts and buy them as and when, I'm guessing upgrading the information display in the cluster is probably a no no?

 

If the cluster on the Kuga is anything like my old MK3 Focus I had then (which I am fairly sure it is) then it's a straight swap if you have the cluster with the small display.
Mileage would need adjusting on it as that is stored in the cluster.

What does your current one look like?

 

 

@Brockster - I forgot to add that you will need a ford compatible OBD reader and FORScan software to programme the sync 2 screen. I would only advise using a decent OBD reader for programming such as the OBDlink EX.

With reference to your query on the cluster I am only familiar with mine. Does your instrument cluster show N, S, E or W in the display.

EDIT. I see your picture now and it's different to mine. An IPC swap on the Kuga would be a first that I am aware of on this forum.

 

yes it displays compass

 

That's like what my old Focus had.

I won't be back in my Kuga until tomorrow night but will have a look for you to see how it comes out.

If it is anything like the my Focus then its lower the steering wheel to the lowest point, remove the cowling above the steering steering wheel and this will reveal a couple of torx screws. Undo those, cluster pulls out and disconnect cable on the back.

Again, if like the Focus, the one with the bigger screen would be plug and play with the mileage needing adjusting to suit.

I may not be correct as my experience of swapping the cluster was on the focus but being the same platform I would guess it is similar

 

That's like what my old Focus had.

I won't be back in my Kuga until tomorrow night but will have a look for you to see how it comes out.

If it is anything like the my Focus then its lower the steering wheel to the lowest point, remove the cowling above the steering steering wheel and this will reveal a couple of torx screws. Undo those, cluster pulls out and disconnect cable on the back.

Again, if like the Focus, the one with the bigger screen would be plug and play with the mileage needing adjusting to suit.

I may not be correct as my experience of swapping the cluster was on the focus but being the same platform I would guess it is similar

Thanks, I'm hoping the cluster can be adjusted using forscan.

 

A conflict of opinion there on the mileage correction but I wasn't 100%. It can be easily checked and confirmed.

 

I am not sure on forscan. I've used it for many things but mileage correction isn't one so am not 100% sure myself either.

 

FoCCCus will do it as you said. A little bit of info here.

How to backup the BCM Car Configuration?! - FORScan forum

 

I've seen the mileage adjustment when in engineering mode but I've never clicked on it so I have no idea if it can be up or down.

@Brockster have you not considered going to Sync 3? It's a much better system than Sync 2, although more expensive but it's worth the extra expense.

 

To be honest either would be better than what I have, but if the right stuff becomes available, then yes.

 

Thanks, that looks like a great resource

 

Hi and welcome to the forum a I’m a bit late but better late than never,,lots of helpful and friendly members here to help you with any questions you have about your kuga as you have already found out,,if you are not after any questions about the kuga just come here for some banter and believe me there are some here with a few members 😂,.

 

@Brockster - This is an interesting read of a member who bought a sync 3 unit from Ali Express. This was a sync 2 to 3 upgrade and the seller coded the APIM to his car. If the seller can do that for a sync 1 car then you should receive a unit that could be plug and play. Note I said "could be". Assuming that your volume controls are the same on the Zetec then I can't see an issue. It may be an idea to post a picture of the right steering wheel control as I am not familiar with your model or it's features. If it has bluetooth handsfree calling then I would assume it's the same as mine.

Sync 2 to Sync 3 Upgrade via AliExpress Kit | Ford Kuga Owners Club Forums

If you are looking at upgrading the clocks I would do this first. I would suggest you get clocks from a Kuga that matches your car's fuel type and not a C-max which shares the same dashboard. Remember to save a copy of both your BCM and IPC configuration before swapping anything just in case. If you are not familiar with Forscan there are some decent tutorials available on their website. @jlawes20389 has said on the Focus it was a straight swap over. Hopefully that will be the same for the Kuga.

If you can only get your hands on an instrument cluster that has more miles then you will need a specialist like in the link below who can adjust the mileage accordingly.

Ford Focus instrument cluster repair - Bing video

What is worrying here is the car's mileage is stored in the IPC. I don't think I need say any more.

 

If you are looking at upgrading the clocks I would do this first. I would suggest you get clocks from a Kuga that matches your car's fuel type and not a C-max which shares the same dashboard. Remember to save a copy of both your BCM and IPC configuration before swapping anything just in case. If you are not familiar with Forscan there are some decent tutorials available on their website. @jlawes20389 has said on the Focus it was a straight swap over. Hopefully that will be the same for the Kuga.

If you can only get your hands on an instrument cluster that has more miles then you will need a specialist like in the link below who can adjust the mileage accordingly.

Ford Focus instrument cluster repair - Bing video

What is worrying here is the car's mileage is stored in the IPC. I don't think I need say any more.

While I think of it, do not get clocks from a focus either, whilst they may look the same physically, there is some differences in the hardware/software so will not be fully compatible.

I believe the mileage is stored in another location too but the IPC is the one that you see.

It was definitely a worthwhile upgrade on my Focus when I had it and I was fortunate enough to find one very cheap with the mileage only needing adjusting upwards to match although I do have the software/hardware needed to adjust downwards if I needed to.

 

Would definitely be good to see it done. I dont see any issues and would think it will be simple. Might even be able to get the digital speedo too

Depending on locations I'm happy to offer help in sorting the mileage should the OP go for it and have a cluster with a higher mileage.

 

Thanks, I have just purchased a new cluster with slightly lower mileage, so I await it's delivery next week, also waiting on a USB lead too. I may need guidance with adjusting the mileage, as I have never used forscan, saying that though it looks infinitely better than the land rover software that I am used to.

 

I have some recommendations for the OBD reader if you want.

 

I ordered a Vgate vLinker FS if they are any good

 

Looks to have Forscan recommendations.

 

Not a great deal in it price wise, I think I would have stuck with the OBDlink EX personally.

 

Unfortunately I'd bought it before I got the recommendations

 

Clocks here, just need to wait for a bloody USB lead to turn up

 

OBDLink EX next day from either Gendan or Amazon. You sure yours isn't coming from China.

 

Hah, no it's coming from amazon US, from the link on the forscan website, which to be fair probably came from china in the first place.