Ford Sync3 v3.0 “The installation has run out of space” Upgrade Failure or IT Guy Buys a Truck.

68 thoughts on “Ford Sync3 v3.0 “The installation has run out of space” Upgrade Failure or IT Guy Buys a Truck.”

1. I hope this works for me as I am having the exact same issue. One question from a non-tech gal; what do you mean by and how do you “rem” lines? I have modified my file to be exactly what yours shows (the three separate sections), but I do not know how to “rem” line.

   I am guessing rem is removed and that there is probably a simple way to “hide” them in programming, but not sure.

   Thanks in advance!!!

2. Sorry Cynthia. Most people that would read this blog are Techies. I should not assume that since this is only a semi-technical subject.

   You are close. “rem” is techie for ‘Remark’. In this case, any line that starts with a ‘;’ (semicolon) is considered a ‘remark’ and ignored. The file in this post with the second part divided into 3 installs is all ‘rem’s so it will do nothing run as-is. To get each section to process, you remove the semicolons from the lines for that section. In this case, a section starts with a ‘[name]’ entry and ends with an ‘Options’ entry. To do the next section you put them back in the section you just did and remove them from the next one.

   I put a more detailed (for non-techies) post on Reddit on this. I added that link to the bottom of this post.

3. THANK YOU!!!
   Im off to the garage after some modifications to the original “copy” 🙂

   Merry Christmas to you and yours!

4. YOU, Sir, are the greatest!!!

   30 minutes later and my issue is resolved! As a non-techie, I cannot thank you enough for taking time to explain this and help me after multiple people at Ford could not.

   You are amazing!

5. Glad it helped.

6. Worked as described. I see no indication of waze so that is probably only for the Nav version.
   I use waze on the phone with a magnetic vent mount anyhow.
   Any idea what we have gained by jumping through all these hoops?

7. In my case got the upgrade to work and enabled CarPlay! You should now have the ability to use CarPlay although on an older vehicle you may also need to upgrade the hub too. If you plug in your iPhone and nothing happens with Sync3 version 3 installed, you probably need to replace the hub next. That part for my 2016 F-150 was ‘HC3Z-19A387-E Blue’ but it depends on the vehicle.

   I don’t use Waze but Waze should work from your iPhone via CarPlay once that works. I don’t think Nav makes a difference but I am no expert here since I don’t have it. There is yet another requirement and that is iOS 12 to add the app to CarPlay: same for Google Maps.

   Just more fun.

8. THANK YOU SIR!!!!! I have been struggling to get this update to work on my 2016 mustang non-nav SYNC 3 v1.0 system and this was the only solution that worked!! I even took for dealership, wasted two days dealing with them and they wanted $1,100 to replace my APIM module, the module worked perfectly fine it just would not accept the update correctly, which made me believe that the file from Ford was messed up, but i could not figure out how. Thank you SO MUCH for posting this, saved me so much money and headache, all just to get Apple CarPlay haha!

9. Yes, the things we go through for technology! Thanks for the comment. Glad it helped.

10. do you know if this works for cars with Nav? Looking at my file, it is not broken into 2 installs, just one big install of the 7 files”:

    ; SYNC3 Consumer Assembly Upgrade – Release 3.0.21 – Only for Nav/NA assemblies.

    [SYNCGen3.0_3.0.19205_PRODUCT]
    Item1 = HB5T-14G386-THA
    Open1 = SyncMyRide\HB5T-14G386-THA.tar.gz
    Item2 = HB5T-14G386-TCB
    Open2 = SyncMyRide\HB5T-14G386-TCB.tar.gz
    Item3 = JR3T-14G391-CE
    Open3 = SyncMyRide\JR3T-14G391-CE.tar.gz
    Item4 = JR3T-14G381-AS
    Open4 = SyncMyRide\JR3T-14G381-AS.tar.gz
    Item5 = JR3T-14G423-CB
    Open5 = SyncMyRide\JR3T-14G423-CB.tar.gz
    Item6 = HB5T-14G387-AAB
    Open6 = SyncMyRide\HB5T-14G387-AAB.tar.gz
    Item7 = GB5T-14G386-AB
    Open7 = SyncMyRide\GB5T-14G386-AB.tar.gz
    Options = AutoInstall,Delay

11. No I do not because I have no NAV vehicles to test it on and have no feedback from anyone with NAV. Is this failing with an out of space error? If it is, I don’t see why this can’t be broken up the same way the as NON-NAV install.

    The NAV systems probably have more space to work with so you may not even have a problem. Perhaps why the downloaded install is not broken up at all?

    This link has the generic information to break it up: https://musingsoftheproletariat.com/fixing-sync3-upgrade-space-errors/

12. NICK! YOU ARE A GENIUS AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PUTTING IN THE TIME AND EFFORT TO HELP US IN THIS DILEMMA. IT WORKED!! I WOULD LOVE TO BUY YOU A BEER AND SHAKE YOUR HANDS IF IT WASN’T FOR THIS COVID19

13. I would take the beer! That is what I do — I drink beer and solve puzzles. 😉

14. Worked like a charm. Thank you!

15. Thanks – this worked on my Sirius non nav equipped 2016 F150

16. do you run these separate on different thumb drives or put them both on the same thumb drive. I’m not a computer guy at all but just trying to get my 2016 truck sync 3 updated from version 1

17. You could use multiple drives, but it would be silly since you can only do one update at a time and then restart the vehicle. While you restart, change the drive to select the next install. Doing it all at once is what causes the problem in the first place. This link has more details: https://musingsoftheproletariat.com/fixing-sync3-upgrade-space-errors/

18. Hi Nick,
    Extremely helpful, as I’ve almost gotten it installed on my truck (we’re using the same build, incidentally).

    Just wanted to confirm what Options you had selected for the final section of the 2nd half (the -AB file). I’m adding the AutoInstall, and I figure I should leave the other options in place? Or did you remove the “Delay”?

    Thanks again for a terrific explanation. As bad as I am at coding, even I was able to get the first 5 files installed…

19. The options I added are in the post:

    “Note: I had to add a header to each part, an ‘options = AutoInstall’ line to the first two, and change the ‘Item’ and ‘Open’ lines for each to ‘1’ to reflect the first, and only, item in each.”

    I removed nothing.

    The syntax as I understand it is described here: https://musingsoftheproletariat.com/fixing-sync3-upgrade-space-errors/

20. Thank you thank you. After multiple attempts to talk to ford they couldn’t help . You were spot ok and worked great.

    Thank you

21. Thank you Andrew! It’s great to get feedback that I am helping.

22. Nick!

    I been trying to figure this out for the past week and finally came across your post!

    I now have an updated Sync3 Version3 system thanks to your help.

    Appreciate you for the post!

23. More endorphins!

    Thanks for the feedback,

    Nick

24. Hi Nick, I’m having the same issue with my 2016 F150. I don’t know anything about coding but I think I can follow these instructions. Thank you for figuring this out. I do have 2 questions?

    1. The first part of the file “ ; SYNC3 Consumer Assembly Upgrade – Release 3.0.21 – Only for My16 NonNav/NonEU assemblies.” Does this the remain for the very first install?

    2. Does it matter if it’s a usb 2.0 or 3.0?

25. Only change the lines I referenced. The line you mention here is the first line and it begins with a “;” on the file as it comes from Ford. So, it is a comment and never does anything anyway. It is just there for documentation.

    USB 2.0 is just fine. The speed of the controller in the vehicle is what matters and I think they are still all 2.0. Vehicles are slow to catch up. At least it’s not an eight track! A 3.0 thumb drive should work into either 2.0 or 3.0. So, either one should work.

    Nick

26. After trying ideas for almost a year, this one worked. Thank you Nick. You’re my 2020 IT hero!

    Summary: Use Notebook to modify the autoinstall.lst – Install only Section 1 (PRODUCT – smaller files) then split Section 2 (ALL – larger files) in 3 parts and install them separately.

27. You are welcome Julio. 2020 Hero? Does anyone want that? Maybe 2021?

    -Nick

28. Followed all steps above and the install worked great. Swapped USB hub to the HC3Z-19A387-E, bought from the Ford dealer. Plugged my new iPhone 12 in with the Apple lightning cable and it just says device detected. Left new hub in and did the install all over again. Installed fine, but same result when I plug in my phone. Apple CarPlay does not come up and Sync does not display on the phone either (Settings, general, CarPlay). Does this take a few power cycles to fully complete everything?
    2016 F-150
    (Side note, phone and cable combo do work in a different vehicle with UConnect).

29. It should work right away. You are sure it upgraded — the version is correct? Is the USB hub connector on fully? If that all checks out, it sounds like a question for Ford. Hub part is bad?

    Nick

30. Went out and looked again. Turned the key on and it says “This USB device is not supported. Please remove”. Hadn’t seen this before. Actual hub PN is HC3T-14F104-BD which looks to the the new version of what my package was labeled as. This is the new hub with only the lightning cable plugged in, nothing else connected (not even my phone).
    Sync 3, V 3.0, build 20204.
    Gracenote 1.1.1.1130 (GL-0011).
    XML file created earlier from the install, uploaded to Ford and says everything was successful.
    No Apps show with nothing connected. When I plug my phone in, it says Device Connected and then shows an App, Pandora. I can choose a audio input source as my iPhone.
    I am lost. Maybe it will randomly start recognizing it.

31. I can only help with the uprade which it looks is compete. Something is not right or broken: cord, phone or the hub. That is not the correct part number? You got an old hub in a new part box? My bet would be the hub is broken.

32. Definitely not the cord or phone, works fine in another vehicle. Only thing I can find online is that HC3T-14F104-B replaced HC3Z-19A387-E.
    The bag was labeled as the A387, but actual part says F104. Unopened and straight from Ford. Probably worth a call to them Monday if it doesn’t magically update itself by then!

33. Its not going to fix itself. If it says it doesn’t recognize the phone, its the wrong part, or it is broken. When I look for that part number I only see references to version 2.2 not 3. I think the parts guy grabbed the wrong box. Ford is your only solution (especially if you want your $ back). Or, just get one from eBay. 🙂

34. Yeah I’m not sure what happened with the P/N. Looking on Ebay and there are a lot that say HC3Z-19A387-E but the photos show the HC3T-14F104-BD. Found a youtube video of a guy swapping, and he took the F104 out and put in the A387-B. Looks like I need to send this hub back and re-do.

    Thanks for all the help.

35. Nick, thank you for your instructions. I tried upgrading several months ago, but had no luck. This weekend I tried again with the same results. Searching for some help I came across your instructions. When I followed your instructions everything worked perfectly. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

36. Thanks for the feedback. It makes it all worth while.

37. Great job with the post. I was able to successfully update from 1.0 to 3.0 on my 2016 expedition non-nav.

    Thank you very much!

38. Thanks Domingo.

    Nick

39. Thanks so much! So helpful!!!!!!!!

40. Does this work for the latest version released in late 2020? I have a 2016 non nav with 1.0 and everytime I try to install, the error code “one or more bad installation files” will this fix this? Thank you

41. I don’t know. Make sure the version is compatible with your vehicle and give it a try. ‘Bad installation files’ normally means the file is: missing – wrong name – in the wrong place. See the Mac comments if you are using a Mac.

    This post is about upgrading from the initial version to Build 19205 (Release 3.0.21 in the lst file banner). I just upgraded from Build 19205 to Build 20204 (Release 3.0.25 in the lst file banner). It did take twice to get it to take but I did not have to change the ‘lst’ file to get it to work. looks like Ford may be getting better. This, however, does not mean this will be everyone’s experience.

42. I have tried everything and no matter what I do I am still getting the same message. I have tried even installing a single item at a time and get the same “out of space” massage. Ay advice would be welcomed. I just can’t justify spending $90 at Ford to do something that is supposed to be simple and free and so many people seem to be able to do with zero issues.

43. This turned out to be another case of Mac file extraction. I encourage anyone with a Mac to read the comments on this blog. The Mac does not create the ‘SyncMyRide’ folder with the ‘tar’ files that the installer expects. Instead it extracts the ‘tar’ files with “SyncMyRide\” appended to the front of the file name. I.e. “JR3T-14G381-AX.tar.gz” becomes “SyncMyRide\JR3T-14G381-AX.tar.gz”. It looks like it’s in a folder but it is not.

    If you have a Mac, this is not fatal. Just create the folder yourself, move the ‘tar’ files to it, and remove the “SyncMyRide\” from each ‘tar’ file name. If you do not do this the installer cannot identify the files and do the installation.

    Themi Mintaz originally commented on this.

44. Hello, help me please, i have sync 3 version 1.0
    And when start install, it installed and then afret rebooting it writes that “Bad Installation File”.
    I changed my autoinstall.lst to

    ; SYNC3 Consumer Assembly Upgrade – Release 3.0.25 – Only for My16 NonNav/NonEU assemblies.

    [SYNCGen3.0_3.0.20204_PRODUCT]
    Item1 = HB5T-14G386-THB
    Open1 = SyncMyRide\HB5T-14G386-THB.tar.gz
    Item2 = HB5T-14G386-TBC
    Open2 = SyncMyRide\HB5T-14G386-TBC.tar.gz
    Item3 = GB5T-14G386-SC
    Open3 = SyncMyRide\GB5T-14G386-SC.tar.gz
    Item4 = JR3T-14G391-BF
    Open4 = SyncMyRide\JR3T-14G391-BF.tar.gz
    Options = AutoInstall

    ;[SYNCGen3.0_ALL]
    ;Item1 = JR3T-14G381-AX
    ;Open1 = SyncMyRide\JR3T-14G381-AX.tar.gz
    ;Options = AutoInstall

    ;[SYNCGen3.0_ALL]
    ;Item1 = JR3T-14G423-BB
    ;Open1 = SyncMyRide\JR3T-14G423-BB.tar.gz
    ;Options = AutoInstall

    ;[SYNCGen3.0_ALL]
    ;Item1 = GB5T-14G386-AC
    ;Open1 = SyncMyRide\GB5T-14G386-AC.tar.gz
    ;Options = Delay,Include,Transaction

    Start new update and it come good, without any error, but after 5-10 min it`s write that installation complete, and remove USB
    Then it start reboot and if not remove USB it`s start again to upgrade, if remove USB it will reboot to old version without any changes.
    Maybe i need to Browse the Flash Drive and select the XML log in the SyncMyRide folder in official ford website?
    But after update in my usb i didn`t have any xml files, help please who know what problem??

45. Dominic,

    “Bad Installation File’ means it cannot find the ‘tar.gz’ files that the LST file indicates it should use. I assume you do not have those files on your USB in the ‘SyncMyRide’ folder with the correct names.

    Did you extract them on a MAC? If so. please read Themi Mintaz’s original comment on this.

    A MAC does not create the folder. It renames the files with the folder name and leaves them at the root of the USB. The installation cannot find them, gives the “Bad Install File” error, and stops. Since it did nothing, you would still be on the original version and have no XML file. Exactly what you see.

    Extract on a PC or correct the existing structure per Themi Mintaz’s comments and try it with the original LST file (from Ford). It may just work since you have not gotten an “Out of Space” error.

    Nick

46. This fix worked for me exactly, thanks for all the help. It seems parsing out the install files is the way to go. Great Idea

    2016 Ford Edge Sync 3 version 1 – Version 3

47. I bought a 2016 Mustang in 2021. It had been a rental and never had a Sync update. Nothing that I tried would update it. I was going to return the car if it wouldn’t update (I had a 30 mday return guarantee).I tried for a solid week and then found this blog. It worked the first time. It updated Sync wirh Andriod Auto and everything fully updated. You saved me from having to return the car and find another one.

48. I bought my F150 in 2019 and created this post. Hard to believe it is still helping people. Glad it helped!

49. Thanks Nick!!! Your gift keeps giving. I just updated to build 20204 using your method.

50. Pat,

    Good to hear! Yes, this post is coming up to two years old and I continue to get hits every day from all over the world via search engines and Reddit Ford forums. It certainly surprises me but I guess there are still APIM modules out there to upgrade.

    Maybe Ford will give me a free vehicle for helping? — Nah that’s not happening.

    Nick

51. I wonder if it would work if all four modified sections were unremarked such that each section would be installed one-at-a-time thus preventing the out-of-space error? This would streamline the update so you wouldn’t have to do four separate updates.

52. I believe I tried this. It didn’t work. Because the install actually finishing releases the replaced files providing space for the next install? It has been a while. Give it a try and let me know what happens.

    Doing 4 installs really didn’t bother me after having already done about 50 that didn’t work. 🙂

    Nick

53. Nick, you are a wizard, this exact technique worked just as anticipated.
    As a early-in-his-career IT professional, you encouraged me to dig a little deeper when issues arise.

    I own a C-max, so while the batch looked different, the same principles applied and separate install are what ultimately did the trick.

    Thanks again!

54. Good to hear it worked for you. After over 2 years, I am surprised Ford hasn’t picked up on this yet.

    Keep questioning, digging, learning, and solving puzzles and you will do fine.

    Nick

55. Thank You!

    Thank you for having taken the time to share this solution. I had tried many times with several “Master Resets” to update a 2016 Flex via the Ford instructions. This worked perfectly.

56. Nick,

    Thank you for your guidance on this. I am not a tech guy by any means but I am working desperately to update my truck from SYNC 3 V1.0 build 15139 to V3.0 build 20204. My truck has been running for an hour and a half and it still says its updating the software. I modified the file to show the below:

    ; SYNC3 Consumer Assembly Upgrade – Release 3.0.25 – Only for My16 NonNav/NonEU assemblies.

    [SYNCGen3.0_3.0.20204_PRODUCT]
    Item1 = HB5T-14G386-THB
    Open1 = SyncMyRide\HB5T-14G386-THB.tar.gz
    Item2 = HB5T-14G386-TBC
    Open2 = SyncMyRide\HB5T-14G386-TBC.tar.gz
    Item3 = GB5T-14G386-SC
    Open3 = SyncMyRide\GB5T-14G386-SC.tar.gz
    Item4 = JR3T-14G391-BF
    Open4 = SyncMyRide\JR3T-14G391-BF.tar.gz
    Options = AutoInstall
    ;[SYNCGen3.0_ALL]
    ;Item1 = JR3T-14G381-AX
    ;Open1 = SyncMyRide\JR3T-14G381-AX.tar.gz
    ;Options = AutoInstall
    ;[SYNCGen3.0_ALL]
    ;Item1 = JR3T-14G423-BB
    ;Open1 = SyncMyRide\JR3T-14G423-BB.tar.gz
    ;Options = AutoInstall
    ;[SYNCGen3.0_ALL]
    ;Item1 = GB5T-14G386-AC
    ;Open1 = SyncMyRide\GB5T-14G386-AC.tar.gz
    ;Options = Delay,Include,Transaction

    I let the program run for over an hour and a half and never got a prompt saying the update for the first portion was complete so i shut my truck off and removed the USB. I did notice however that there is no version number for the Gracenote as you mentioned. I’m thinking of trying to run the second half of the files to see if they go through but I’m not hopeful based on my lack of prompt showing the first batch was successful.

    Any insight or guidance you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Also happy to discuss offline if you are willing.

    Thank you again for your helpfulness and willingness to assist.

57. Tyler,

    I can’t say exactly why you are seeing different behavior. The normal issue wehen things don’t work is the file locations due to MAC extraction but that normally gives you some kind of “bad the file” message.

    I do see that yours is release 3.0.25. You are skipping the interum version I upgraded to — 3.0.21. This post is about upgrading from the initial version to Build 19205 release 3.0.21. I did this two and a half years ago. This has since all been updated by Ford.

    I did later upgrade again to 3.0.25 build 20204. I had to run it twice to get it to work but I did not need to do any LST file changes. So, you are in uncharted territory for my experiance to directly offer help.

    I assume you tried to run the update from Ford as is? Maybe just run it again? Maybe run the first portion twice? If you then proceed and do the next three updates, it may just work, or you may really have a broken APIM.

    Let us know what happens if you proceed?

    Nick

58. Nick,

    Thank you for your response. The ford “tech” support gives me a different answer everytime and really are not helpful. Their recent statement was that I NEED to use a 8GB drive vs 32GB. I plan to separate the first portion of the install into its separate components to see if I can get it to work and give me a success prompt. I got a success prompt when I ran the send set of data in three portions and it generated the XML file but my software info is still reading as version 1.0. I will see if this helps and advise you of any successes I have.

    -Tyler

59. Tyler,

    The size of the Jump (USB) drive is irrelevant other than it needs to be large enough to to hold the files. Funny because they told me the opposite. They said I needed a BIGGER drive. The format is relevant. It must be exFAT or it won’t work.

    I don’t think you need to break the first part up but you may need to run it more than once. You are going directly from the original version to the now current version so my experience is not directly applicable.

    Let us know what you find.

    Nick

60. Nick,

    Your guidance worked perfectly for me. My system was a bit more difficult for some reason but separating both the first and second portion of the lst file did the trick and I know have SYNC 3.0 Build 20204! When played individually, each file from the first batch of the lst forced a restart of my system within 2 minutes. The first file of the second batch within the lst was what took the longest (in my case above it was the AX file). It was updating so long I assumed it was going to fail and after 15 minutes I removed the thumb drive and turned my truck off. When I restarted my truck, the system still said it was updating software which I found strange. I finished driving, turned ot off again and did not drive it for several hours. When I started it up in the afternoon I noticed the display looked slightly different and sure enough I now had SYNC 3.0. The last two files of the lst ran super fast, uploaded the XML and I was done!
    Without your guidance and training, I would have never accomplished this and probably would have ended up paying over 200 to get it updated by the dealership. I owe you Nick and again am extremely grateful for your help and guidance.

61. Tyler,

    Super!! Good information for others. Thanks for sharing.

    Nick

62. Really appreciate Nick for this so helpful post!! Shared my experience here as well. I encountered “Installation Failed” Error Code: PKG_ERR03, after installing the first file of the second batch. The solution is just to format your thumb drive and re-copy them to your drive.

63. Haven’t ever seen that error. Sounds like a dodgy jump drive. Thanks for the contribution.

    Nick

64. Thanks man 🙂
    Dividing autoinstall.lst into 3 segments worked perfectly for me
    for:
    SYNC3 Consumer Assembly Upgrade – Release 3.0.25 – Only for My16 NonNav/NonEU assemblies.

    It was the fix I needed for ERROR:
    Bad Installation File
    One or more of the files being installed on your system did not install successfully.

    I have completed the install and uploaded the results successfully.

65. Good to hear.

    Nick

66. Thanks for the post, was very helpful!

    I wanted to add, if users are like me and trying to update their older Ford SYNC systems in order to use Android Auto or Apple Car Play, they may also have to update the USB hub on the vehicle.

    For my application a 2016 Ford Mustang GT required to update the USB hub (located in center console) in order for AA/Carplay to start working after updating the SYNC version.

    For my application this is the Ford Part Number:
    HU5Z19A387C

    For other vehicles it may require a slightly different part (usually a different letter on the end).

    Hope this helps other folks trying to accomplish the same thing.

67. Hi Nick,
    Thank you for the in depth article. I followed your steps but after when trying to install the first part I got the message that the installation has run out of space again. Any advice? Thanks

68. Reread the post. You have likely not done exactly what it says.