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steering wheel hard to turn after steering gear change

deepimpact

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My steering gear of my mustang 2016 V6 was changed with a used steering gear, and now the steering is 50% harder to turn, especially when the vehicle is standing or moving very slow. What could be the reason? There is no oil or something, because it's an electric power steering. May be the new build in steering gear must be programmed, or something like that? do you have any clue what the reason could be?
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deepimpact

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thank you very much,

but my "problem" seems to be unique. I could not find anything helpful in any forum yet.
I did some things to localize the problem, but I don't have any clear answer till now.

I tried following things, but it did not worked:
- changed battery
- changed alternator (mechanic told me it could be the alternator, which wasn't working fine, according to him. the replaced new alternator is working the same)

The fact that there is no DTC in the PSCM (or somehwere else) makes it more harder to find the reason.

What did succeed ( even for a short time ) was a reconfiguration of my steering gear at ford (via FSDR). I wondered how "normal" the steering was feeling again, just like before. I used the car for 1 week with this good condition, but when I came back from holiday after 3 weeks, the steering gear was hard like before. I was at ford again, but now the reconfiguration did not had a positive effect on the steering gear.

Conclusion: I don't have any idea or clue, what it could be or what I could do for testing or finding the real problem. Maybe it's the renewed steering gear itself which is "more" harder by its nature - (but then: why did it work like charm after my first ford reconfiguration of steering gear? -> I don't have any idea...)

The very expansive solution would be to change the steering gear with a good used one. But even then the same behavior could still exist...
 
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Lime1GT

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Something to consider is what vehicle the used steering gear was taken from. Rockauto lists 5 different steering gears and they all seem to depend on wheel size. If that's the case their steering turn to turn and steering feel may all be different.
 

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Something to consider is what vehicle the used steering gear was taken from. Rockauto lists 5 different steering gears and they all seem to depend on wheel size. If that's the case their steering turn to turn and steering feel may all be different.
Not only wheel size is a factor, but the As Built module codes for programming the EPAS rack is different based on S550 model. Based on info posted on this site about the EPAS units, the programming isn’t something that can be modified via Forscan and has to be done at a Dealership - so hardware and software has to be specific to the car it’s going into.
 

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deepimpact

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Something to consider is what vehicle the used steering gear was taken from. Rockauto lists 5 different steering gears and they all seem to depend on wheel size. If that's the case their steering turn to turn and steering feel may all be different.
What I am asking myself is, what difference there is, depending on wheel size.
1) Is the technical system / build / housing / form difference? (I don't think so)
2) Is it a programming/software difference?
3) The rack is the same, but shipped with only different tie rods?

In my mustang door is standing 17' but the car has 18' wheels on it.
 
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deepimpact

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Something to consider is what vehicle the used steering gear was taken from. Rockauto lists 5 different steering gears and they all seem to depend on wheel size. If that's the case their steering turn to turn and steering feel may all be different.
I have the feeling, that either something with the renewed steering gear is not working well or constantly well, because I am thinking, if the steering gear would be the wrong one, it would constantly not work properly. But in my case it did work like a charm for a week. My mechanic (who build in the renewed steering gear) told me, that my alternator is producing weird voltage. I changed it with a used one, but nothing changed. And even if it would have something to do with the voltage, I think the PSCM would have any DTC. But it does not have any dtc.

Concerning the "hardness" I am telling here. It's not that hard, that someone would notice. But I am noticing it :crackup:. I know the steering can get hard, when I am driving fast etc. But my steering is hard/feeling unnatural hard the whole time. I feel a unnatural resistance in the steering. It's very hard to describe that feeling, but maybe you will comprehend it. I would exclude any mechanical faults, because sometimes I turn off the car and turn back again (after an hour) (without doing anything else) and voila! the steering feels much lighter/or worse. It must be something different. Sometimes, but really somtimes, it feels "normal" and "free" and "loose" again, without this resistance feeling, for some seconds or minutes but then it turns back to the hardness I'm complaining here.

I see three options:

1) The renewed steering gear does not work (electrically) well.
2) The renewed steering gear is not supposed to be used with my car model.
3) There is some fault with voltage towards the pscm, so it gets harder/less hard, randomly/faulty/differently.


Some technical questions, maybe you have an answer for:

1) does the pscm hardness depend directly to the voltage the car supplies, independ of DTCs?

Because what I read is: the pscm has 3 modes:
- working
- working reduced (when e.g. pscm (like low/hight voltage) dtc is occurs)
- working without support. (when e.g. pscm (like low/hight voltage) dtc is occurs)
 
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Lime1GT

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deepimpact

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A side question:

Where is the pscm control unit located in the car? Inside the steering gear unit, or inside the car?
 

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The PSCM is internal to the steering rack.
 

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deepimpact

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Thx. Another side question: is the steering rack the only part that decides over hardness of the steering? when setting up the steering feel comfort, normal, sport: does only the steering gear rack handle that command or are there any other components that have impact on hardness/stiffness.

The reason why I ask is, because I noticed: whenever I drive from asphalt to earth/sand ground, the steering feeling is very easy, and without the hardness. At one time this feeling stayed for some days, even driving on asphalt.

So I think if there is any possible adjustment in the suspension of the car, that can have effect on hardness of the ground it touches.

But however I still think it must be steering rack itself, which is not working properly.
Sometimes when I start the car in the morning, in comfort mode, the steering is feeling so unnaturaly hard, like i'm driving 140 km/h - unbelievable.

Thx
 
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deepimpact

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Assume it is the harness. Wouldn't there be any DTC error? I have no dtc errors.
 
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deepimpact

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i did change the rack with a used one.
at the beginning the steering wheel was very easy to turn. I would evey say, it was too easy, barely no resistance. There were no stiffness/resistance at all. But while driving (for hours-days) the steering got stiffer, and stiffer - and now it is stiff like before on the other rack -.-.

I recognized the following behavior: Everytime the car was on a lifting platform, the steering got less stiff/lighter/just as I want/ for some hours, or even days. I don't know what this could be the reason.

I have no more ideas, and there is nothing left, I did not check or do:

- changed battery
- changed alternator
- changed rack
- made alignment
 
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sk47

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I recognized the following behavior: Everytime the car was on a lifting platform, the steering got less stiff/lighter/just as I want/ for some hours, or even days. I don't know what this could be the reason.
Hello; First let me ask a question. When on the lift is anything done with the steering components or is this just something which occurs any time the car in up for other reasons?

In the meantime a WAG. - Some 12 to 13 years ago a friend bought a used 2001 Toyota MR-2. It was the first electric power steering unit I had worked on. I went with him for the test drive and he had me drive it. The steering was heavy but still very precise. ( He still claims the ride, with me driving, up and down Fonde Mt. outside of Middlesboro KY is faster than he has since pushed the car. ) After he bought the car I found the power assist was not working so it was in effect a manual steering box.
I traced the fault to a junction with bad connections. I rigged the junction and got the system powered up. The power steering was much lighter. ( I personally did like it better with the power unit off and suggested a switch to a manual rack and pinion, but he wanted the power assist.) Turned out the junction was over a $100 from Toyota and he would not pay. The "rigged" repair was still working a couple of years ago, so I guess I did OK.
My point, depending on your answer to my first question, is there may be a faulty connection or three somewhere in the power steering. Example might be an 1989 Ford F-150 pickup I owned for 12 years. It started needing a new alternator too often. I had replaced three or four before discovering it was the factory wire harness that was the problem. Down inside that harness the wires were corrupted. A new harness fixed the problem and ended the alternator problem.
 
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deepimpact

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Hello; First let me ask a question. When on the lift is anything done with the steering components or is this just something which occurs any time the car in up for other reasons?

In the meantime a WAG. - Some 12 to 13 years ago a friend bought a used 2001 Toyota MR-2. It was the first electric power steering unit I had worked on. I went with him for the test drive and he had me drive it. The steering was heavy but still very precise. ( He still claims the ride, with me driving, up and down Fonde Mt. outside of Middlesboro KY is faster than he has since pushed the car. ) After he bought the car I found the power assist was not working so it was in effect a manual steering box.
I traced the fault to a junction with bad connections. I rigged the junction and got the system powered up. The power steering was much lighter. ( I personally did like it better with the power unit off and suggested a switch to a manual rack and pinion, but he wanted the power assist.) Turned out the junction was over a $100 from Toyota and he would not pay. The "rigged" repair was still working a couple of years ago, so I guess I did OK.
My point, depending on your answer to my first question, is there may be a faulty connection or three somewhere in the power steering. Example might be an 1989 Ford F-150 pickup I owned for 12 years. It started needing a new alternator too often. I had replaced three or four before discovering it was the factory wire harness that was the problem. Down inside that harness the wires were corrupted. A new harness fixed the problem and ended the alternator problem.
Since I have this issue with the steering gear stiffness, whenever the car was lifted up (indepedend of if they did something at the front area or not) , after it was lifted down, the steering was lightweight, just 'normal'. Every time. It got stiffer again withjn some hours /days. The difference was extreme, when the steering rack was replaced again, the car must be lifted up several hours I think. When I just started and drove The car, the steering was very lightweight, I would even say too lightweight. But got stiffer again after a day, and now has exactly the same stiffness like before.

I'm clueless. I have no more idea what could be the reason.
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