Need module calibration after electronic steering rack replaced on 2016 Ford Escape?

[ls973800]

My son's 2016 Escape Titanium 2.0 FWD with 150000 miles had the steering wheel lock up just as he parked the car. No amount of force could budge the wheel and it was towed to a shop. The electric steering rack was replaced along with the module and an alignment was done with great results. The car goes straight with no pulling but the steering wheel is a bit off center.

The alignment place said they could not straighten the wheel because the module (steering angle) has to be calibrated by a Ford dealership since they don't have the proper tool or scanner to do the work.

Since the car steers straight with no pulling and the numbers obtained from the alignment are well within specs, should he get the calibration done or just drive it as is?

The rack replacement ended up being $1413.00 and the four wheel alignment $89.00.

 

[atikovi]

The alignment place said they could not straighten the wheel because the module (steering angle) has to be calibrated by a Ford dealership since they don't have the proper tool or scanner to do the work.

Even my Autel scan tool does steering angle resets. Got to question what kind of shop doesn't have a decent tool for that, especially one that does alignments.

 

[bdcardinal]

I'm pretty sure some alignment racks have a DLC and can do the reset while doing the alignment.

 

[Timmastertech]

My son's 2016 Escape Titanium 2.0 FWD with 150000 miles had the steering wheel lock up just as he parked the car. No amount of force could budge the wheel and it was towed to a shop. The electric steering rack was replaced along with the module and an alignment was done with great results. The car goes straight with no pulling but the steering wheel is a bit off center.

The alignment place said they could not straighten the wheel because the module (steering angle) has to be calibrated by a Ford dealership since they don't have the proper tool or scanner to do the work.

Since the car steers straight with no pulling and the numbers obtained from the alignment are well within specs, should he get the calibration done or just drive it as is?

The rack replacement ended up being $1413.00 and the four wheel alignment $89.00.

There is more than just a steering angle reset that has to be done after that rack is replaced. The Programmable Module Installation procedure must be done with IDS/FJDS to initialize and program the replacement power steering control module.

 

[ls973800]

The alignment shop said he had tried doing the calibration with his equipment but it would not perform what was needed because it would not connect. He said either the module was not installed correctly (yet the steering works fine) or it must use a different device other than what he had tried. I will check with a local Ford dealership this coming week.

The rack was replaced at one place where he had told me Ford might have to do a calibration. He is a one man shop and doesn't have an alignment rack or equipment. The car was then aligned at a second shop and the owner also mentioned the calibration and that he could not do it with his equipment but he did align the wheels which were off specs.

 

[cb_13]

Do you still have the old rack? If it needs programmed it’s way faster if they have the old one to pull the programming out of instead of manually inputting the as built data.

 

[mattd]

As Tim said you must initialize the new rack with the IDS under programmable module installation. Sometimes you have to start with as built data.

 

[ls973800]

Do you still have the old rack? If it needs programmed it’s way faster if they have the old one to pull the programming out of instead of manually inputting the as built data.

I'll check with the shop that did the install, thanks.