According to the dealership that I took my car to, your supposed to program the power steering control module when you put it in your car .......... supposedly it needs to be programmed for your car ........ is this even remotely true????

 

yeah it would have to be "introduced" to the other can bus modules on the network. dealer - or other mechanic with dealer tools- woul dhave to do that.

 

Is that true for the rack as well?

 

To answer my own question, no. I replaced my steering rack and everything worked fine without taking it to the dealer for programming.

 

The real question OSducky is...............do you really need one?
I curious as to why you think you may need it?
I assume you've cleaned the connectors real good? Do a search if you haven't.
I know some have even had to hard wire them.

 

How difficult was it ? did you swap the module unit also ?

 

Not very difficult at all since I had a mechanic do it. I only had the rack replaced - didn't have to mess with the module.

Seriously, it didn't look too hard. I would have done it, but I don't really have a place to do it here and my tools are 1500 miles away. The labor charge for changing it was about $250. (That didn't include the alignment.) It looks like there are 4 or 6 bolts holding the rack to the car plus the tie rods.

One more thing. I bought my new steering rack through Mazdaspeed. That saved me about $500 over buying from the dealer.

 

No warranty though .....

 

hate to accept if no warranty !!!