smokethisgt

New F150 owner here, and new to the forums. Purchased my '12 FX4 with 79,000 miles a few months ago and have since put about 1500 miles on it. Last week when pulling into my driveway the service advancetrac light came on and blinkers stopped working. I've read tons of the same posts from folks with the same issues but my question comes to the quote I received from my dealership.

For one, there are no whining noises coming from under the hood or steering wheel. The truck drives normal even with the light on. Fuses appear to be ok. I had a friend of mine scan using his snap-on SolusEdge and it came back with U0140-00 & U0428. Decided to take to the dealership and they flashed the ABS module, but the light came right back on and recommended replacing the steering gear. They quoted me $2,337 for parts and labor. The steering gear is listed at $1670.82... Isn't that high? Summit racing has the same part number for $886...

Has anyone had the issue but not had the steering gears replaced? If so, how long did you drive it? Just looking for opinions or options at this point since I've only had the truck for a few months. Thanks!

montanaman

Welcome to the forum.

You are not alone, as lots of us have replaced them. My butt is still bleeding, because the
rack, labor, tie rod end and alignment was $1900.

You don't have to spend 2400 bucks though, buy a reconditioned rack, have a non-dealer mechanic
or yourself put it in, then take it in to get aligned.

Good luck !

Spiky

Brand new Motorcraft is $809 at Rock Auto.

smokethisgt

Thank you both for responding. I heard that it had to be reprogrammed prior to driving, via Ford. Is this true? Can any mechanic re-flash?

djfllmn

iTrader: (1)

yes it is true, and if they have ford IDS they can reprogram it

smokethisgt

So, over the weekend the light went off for 2 days straight. Now this morning it came back on while driving to work. I'm not so sure it's not a sensor issue somewhere....

montanaman

I drove mine for months and months, until it gradually got worse, until it was done.

FLXLT

The steering gear is part of the steering rack that is not serviceable. These are electronic steering racks, not the old pump driven ones and they are expensive. The quote you got is to replace the whole rack.