2016 Explorer Steering Gear Seal(?)

[Kodeten]

Hello everyone! First time poster, looking for a bit of help identifying a part.

My wife has noticed a clunk both heard and felt in her steering wheel while turning the wheels at low speed. We isolated it to the front passenger wheel. First I found a torn boot on the sway bar link and replaced that, but the clunk returned today. I dug into the rack & pinion and discovered this:

It appears to be what remains of a seal for the steering gear, my best assumption is the clunk we're hearing is the threads of the screw catching these metal washers and pulling past them while turning the wheels. That said, after digging around and calling the local auto parts stores and dealers, I can't seem to get a straight answer (or purchase a seal kit), so my question is, any ideas what this part is, if it's a seal, is it replaceable, and if not, is the rack busted and in need of complete replacement? The boot is still intact, the steering is otherwise fine other than the clunk, no water or dirt came out when removing the boot and other than the bit of superficial rust you see on the inner tie rod end everything is clean.

I'm in Hawaii so it's proving difficult to order a new steering gear unless I want to go through the dealer and the price tag for that is absurdly high for a .25 cent seal failing.

Your insight is appreciated. Thanks folks!

 

[peterk9]

Hello everyone! First time poster, looking for a bit of help identifying a part.

My wife has noticed a clunk both heard and felt in her steering wheel while turning the wheels at low speed. We isolated it to the front passenger wheel. First I found a torn boot on the sway bar link and replaced that, but the clunk returned today.

Your insight is appreciated. Thanks folks!

Welcome to the Forum.
Hopefully someone familiar with the components will be able to help.

Peter

 

[Digitalgp]

There isn't much as far as components to these steering systems. Basically you have the tie rods, the boots & then the electronic steering rack. As it looks from Ford you are likely looking at a full steering rack replacement.

I did however come across this on ebay, idk the legitimacy of it or what the install would entail, but maybe it will provide you with some kind of lead POWER STEERING RACK AND PINION SEAL KIT FITS FORD EXPLORER 2016-2019 | eBay

 

[mguy13sport]

Jack it up and shake down test the front end. The factory tie rods are weak (the rears even have a recall). If the inner tie rod is toast which looks like it may be you can replace it. I had bad outer tie rods in the front and could not notice it while driving. I got some beefy ones off Rockauto and upgraded to Steeda rear suspension

 

[Shawn_Kelly]

Welcome to the Forum.
Hopefully someone familiar with the components will be able to help.

Peter

Hello everyone! First time poster, looking for a bit of help identifying a part.

My wife has noticed a clunk both heard and felt in her steering wheel while turning the wheels at low speed. We isolated it to the front passenger wheel. First I found a torn boot on the sway bar link and replaced that, but the clunk returned today. I dug into the rack & pinion and discovered this:

View attachment 340506

It appears to be what remains of a seal for the steering gear, my best assumption is the clunk we're hearing is the threads of the screw catching these metal washers and pulling past them while turning the wheels. That said, after digging around and calling the local auto parts stores and dealers, I can't seem to get a straight answer (or purchase a seal kit), so my question is, any ideas what this part is, if it's a seal, is it replaceable, and if not, is the rack busted and in need of complete replacement? The boot is still intact, the steering is otherwise fine other than the clunk, no water or dirt came out when removing the boot and other than the bit of superficial rust you see on the inner tie rod end everything is clean.

I'm in Hawaii so it's proving difficult to order a new steering gear unless I want to go through the dealer and the price tag for that is absurdly high for a .25 cent seal failing.

Your insight is appreciated. Thanks folks!

Hi! This has just happened to me in our 16 Explorer Sport. I noticed a clunk in my front passenger side that would happen when I turned the wheel to back out of the driveway. Intermittent-- so much so I'd say "Did you hear that?" and passengers would be like - hear what? Then it started happening more frequently. Then took it on the highway and the cruise control would not turn on! But then since I'm used to driving with the cruise control, I'd absently go to turn it on and it would work. Turning it off? Nope. I had to stop the forward motion by tapping on the brake.

Got the notice for some fan recall (sorry guys, I'm like 1% as tech savvy as you all are) so took It in and said - hey can you look at that clunk? It may be nothing. Also check the cruise control.

Took them 2 days to "isolate the problem". Thought it was a strut. The strut was perfectly fine. They said the steering module was bad, and the steering module assembly needed to be ordered. They also replaced the steering gear saying it was bad. But once they replaced that, the cruise control works fine now.

I don't know if this all helps you, but they said the parts alone for the steering module assembly was $1700 and needed to be approved by the warranty company. I thought I'd share what we were experiencing....


Shawn