Help identifying EPS belt size

[thevladeffect]

Hello,

I'm having trouble identifying the size of the power steering electric motor belt for my 2015 EB.

The shop I've sent the steering rack to went through a supplier based on the model of the car and the VIN number and the belt they got doesn't fit. I tried google-ing for it to no avail.

Here is the box taken apart and the scratched off belt:

And here is the belt they got which appears to be too thin and too long short:

Any idea how I could find out the original belt's size and find a replacement for it?

Thanks!

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[Cobra Jet]

Interesting - didn’t know the EPAS unit had a rubber belt inside. Why wouldn’t they have designed that unit with all metal gears, instead of building it with a wear item like a rubber belt?

 

[thevladeffect]

Cheaper to produce I guess. Which is why EPS replaced hydraulic power steering in the first place imo. Also gears are more readily available than rubber belts so it's harder to fix which makes it more likely that you'd buy a new one in case of failure.

Rubber belts of proprietary sizes are also a huge scam, I had a very hard time replacing a ripped one on an electric skateboard since I didn't want to pay the motor manufacturer 23x markup on what I'd find on AliExpress (since those are the only options, nobody other than the manufacturer is legally producing proprietary sizes).

 

[Cobra Jet]

Try reaching out to Levittown Ford on here - they are a sponsored Vendor and many members have had great success with their customer service, parts locator and pricing.

If you do find the info, definitely post updates because this may be a service item for future owners of used S550’s.

How was it determined the belt was the issue, did your steering stop or become harder to use?

How many miles are on your 2015?

 

[thevladeffect]

Try reaching out to Levittown Ford on here - they are a sponsored Vendor and many members have had great success with their customer service, parts locator and pricing.

If you do find the info, definitely post updates because this may be a service item for future owners of used S550’s.

How was it determined the belt was the issue, did your steering stop or become harder to use?

How many miles are on your 2015?

I will try reaching out to them. I'll post any new info I have.

The belt was not the issue, it's what I'm assuming to be the result of the issue. The power steering started to cut out intermittently (like every other 1 second) which resulted in pretty "violent" turns on the way home from where it started manifesting. I'm assuming this is where the bad wear on the belt happened (or at least where it got worse).

Seeing as this was an electronics issue and due to the fact that the battery was more than 4 years old I opted for buying a new battery. The issue seemed to be fixed post battery swap for about 10 minutes, then the power steering turned completely off never to come back again.

Read DTC and the EPS ICU is the one code that couldn't be cleared. Also, when backing up, no assisting lines would show up. I figured it's most likely the EPS. I took it off the car and sent it to a specialized EPS repair service and they agreed. Once they replaced fried components on the ICU and ran diagnostics to see it's working again they also wanted to replace the damaged belt, which brings us here.

I believe this is an unusual approach to fixing EPS issues since from what I gather the whole unit is replaced in case of failure and not a lot of places can fix it.

The car has around 36k miles.

 

[thevladeffect]

I have a somewhat helpful update for future readers: the shop found a belt that matches, the belt for the Ford Focus RS EPS. I don't know the size/type of the belt and couldn't get much out of the shop since they're on the other side of the country and the phone call started to sound like an interrogation. I will try to update with more info when I get the rack back.

Interesting thought though, do the Mustang and Focus RS have the same EPS racks? I might have widened my spare part catalog for future issues regarding EPS (not that there will be any ).

 

[Cobra Jet]

I’ve researched further you as well (and hopefully it helps with future S550 EPS concerns).

According to a direct response I received from:
http://www.powersteeringseals.com/

”Thank you for asking about an EPS belt for your 2015 Mustang. That belt is the same as the 2010-2014 Ford F150's. I've just not gotten it up on the web site yet. If you order that one, I do have it in stock and can ship it right away.”

Reach out to and contact Scott @ powersteeringseals.com (located in the US in OK)
918-928-7971
[email protected]


—————


Now I have also come across 2 other websites, which both appear to be overseas Corps that sell EPS parts and belts. Their belt reference part number is “HEE4171RM”.

https://www.atg-components.com/catalog/product/steering-rack-belt-HEE4171RM

And

https://www.motorherz.us/product/HEE4171RM
Looking at the description from Motorherz part, it does reference the F150 also.

—

I don’t see and have not heard of any correlation between the S550 Mustang EPS belt being the same used on a Ford Focus and vise versa. So I’d would let your shop know the newly discovered info, because you want the correct size on there and nothing smaller or larger.

———
I did reach out to DAYCO, because their website says they also have EPS belts, but have not received any responses.

Your absolute best bet at this point is Scott@powersteeringseals for getting THE CORRECT part.

 

[thevladeffect]

That's a lot of valuable information right there, you really make me question if I know how to use the internet since I never found anything close to this.

I reached out to the shop. The belt they have is HEE4171RM like the one you found. It appears their supplier is very poorly informed regarding rare cars (which the Mustang, Focus RS and F150 all are in Romania). They actually ordered several belts to try before they found a match.

I remember when replacing the belt on my electric longboard I was able to easily get my hands on belts with both one fewer and one extra tooth, both of which obviously did not fit. I think it's pretty difficult to get the wrong part.

Thanks for the help!

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