Steering Rack replacement

[PaulC5]

If you go to a Citroen dealer and ask for a price for a steering rack with the car vin you should get the right part number. Then it will be up to the car owner to decide if they want to spend money on a different rack or to scrap the car when it fails the MOT. Even now it is not up to MOT standard so you could argue if it should be being used and the insurance might not pay out in a claim.

[Myles97]

Thanks, just emailed Citroen. See what they say.

Got a company to play around with Diagbox again tomorrow again so any update, will post here.

[wurlycorner]

Edit: Looking at the attached images there is different software reference numbers to that of the rack fitted to the car.

Old: 96 670 397 80
New: 96 717 322 80

Where are you seeing the reference numbers?

[Myles97]

Contacted Citroen, their methodology isn't really great. They need the part number itself from the steering rack as there are various steering racks. (I surely would have thought that this could be found via the VIN number/Car Reg to say.. oh yeah, this particular typeof rack was put on this particular vehicle but I guess not) So if a supposed rack wasn't original and someone was to diagnose and resolve this issue then how would they know which rack to buy or how would citroen know which one to put on the car?

Long story short, they wanted £2457 inc VAT pending they have the the correct info regarding the type/part number off the steering rack. i.e 6 digit starting with 4001** or 10digit number starting with 16*** *****

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And with the Diagbox, surely if a module was off a different DS3 and still works aside from another module/ECU complaining about it. I would have thought, the software could be downloaded from the servers and put onto the new rack that would communicate to the car properly, otherwise whats the point in telecoding and the need to connect to the server via a token in general.

I know its a long stretch asking this but If anyone could assist with the ability to download the software version of their steering rack for the same model (2015, DS3 1.6HDi) and send it to me. I can then get this put on the car via Diagbox (Supposedly)

[Myles97]

Edit: Looking at the attached images there is different software reference numbers to that of the rack fitted to the car.

Old: 96 670 397 80
New: 96 717 322 80

Where are you seeing the reference numbers?

In one of the screenshots I added, it says the 'reference of the software or of the calibration', taking a look on eBay at DS3 steering racks, they are on a sticker (each rack varies). When mentioned to Citroen, these mean nothing to them (or at least the parts department)

The item listing on eBay for the new rack which is on the car shows (96 717 322 80) whereas the one in diagbox shows (96 670 397 80) so Im unsure whether they're related or not and thats why its complaining... who knows.

[wurlycorner]

Contacted Citroen, their methodology isn't really great. They need the part number itself from the steering rack as there are various steering racks. (I surely would have thought that this could be found via the VIN number/Car Reg to say.. oh yeah, this particular typeof rack was put on this particular vehicle but I guess not)

I'm afraid that's utter nonsense from whoever you spoke to.
They can look up by VIN and tell you what part number was fitted.
Was this in a dealer that you spoke to someone?

You could ring the Stellantis and You (stupid name!) Parts Hub and ask them over the phone and they should so it for you. (I suggest you say you want price and availability and then when they tell you the answer, say you need to think on it and could they give you the part number for if you ring back to order it).
020 8057 6666

[Myles97]

Emailed Citroen again as well as the parts place you recommended. Got a bit late to call them as of now.

We've tried with Diagbox to reflash the power steering ECU and ABS ECU with no real success. Just seems to be a communication issue even though everything is connected, yet power steering works flawless.

Plan is to find the original part number (hopefully by Citroen), purchase a replacement rack again, try it at the top of the car before wasting time pulling the other out.

[wurlycorner]

Plan is to find the original part number (hopefully by Citroen), purchase a replacement rack again, try it at the top of the car before wasting time pulling the other out.

Sounds like a good plan.

[Myles97]

Citroen parts advisor are not helping at all. After ringing with them, they literally keep telling me that they're unable to do anything about finding what rack was on the car despite what information I give them.

Stellantis & You (stupid name!) say the same thing, there are 12 different part numbers so they require the marking of the old unit. Which is long gone.

The VIN: VF7**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff]

If anyone knows someone or can contact Citroen on our behalf then you'd be a life saver. Failing that, we'll just have to order another rack but hand picked from a DS3 2015 which has similar features.

[PaulC5]

Rather than phoning it may be better to visit a Citroen dealer and they can show you on the screen all the possible options. If there are 12 different ones against your vin then it also makes it difficult/impossible to get the right one elsewhere.

[wurlycorner]

That is ridiculous. I’ve never heard of that situation before - that their parts system can’t identify the specific rack that was fitted to the car of the multiple different types that were possible across the whole model range.

[wurlycorner]

Rather than phoning it may be better to visit a Citroen dealer and they can show you on the screen all the possible options. If there are 12 different ones against your vin then it also makes it difficult/impossible to get the right one elsewhere.

They won’t have any different info than ringing Stellantis & You parts line.
(Plus tbf, no Citroen dealer near me has a ‘parts department’ anymore, only a service department that won’t look up parts and tells you to ring the central number instead, anyway!)

[PaulC5]

Our local dealer Pentagon Lincoln has a parts dept (desk) in the showroom as well as a service dept (desk) with separate people looking after both. I thought this was the normal way of things since it is all I have ever come across. Their site also has other brands but the Citroen parts dept is shared with Vauxhall and Peugeot and is in the Vauxhall showroom. They stopped selling Citroen a while back and that showroom is now BYD cars but the Peugeot part looks after Citroen servicing, etc. The various brands have service desks in their own showrooms and the brands may well be run as separate businesses.

Why I suggested visiting a dealer it overcomes the possibility the phone line people may not be too bothered about helping and will not be able to let you look at the parts screen.

[wurlycorner]

Our local dealer Pentagon Lincoln has a parts dept (desk) in the showroom as well as a service dept (desk) with separate people looking after both. I thought this was the normal way of things since it is all I have ever come across.

It's certainly how things used to be done, but it's not how the bigger chains are going now (unfortunately).

Why I suggested visiting a dealer it overcomes the possibility the phone line people may not be too bothered about helping and will not be able to let you look at the parts screen.

In fairness to the Stellantis & You west london hub, I've always found them very helpful on the phone. If the part is NFP they straight away say they can't get any stock 'but here's the part number in case that helps you find the equivalent somewhere else' and if they can't suss out what part I'm talking about over the phone, they email over the drawings and wait on the phone while they arrive, I open them and tell them 'oh yeah, it's number x on there' or 'nope it's not on the that diagram, must be on another' (cue repeat the exercise with other diagrams until we find it...).

[Myles97]

I'd like to say thanks for all support in trying to resolve this issue.

Another rack was purchased online with regards to a similar DS3. I can only assume that the previous rack purchased which resulted in the creation of this error had a knackered ECU which is the likely cause of why it wasn't communicating with the car. ('ESP/ASR Faulty') Upon purchase of the second rack, it was tested on top of the engine bay before being swapped out. All went well and car no longer has fault. This didn't require any programming thankfully. Now in for an MOT and alignment.

All the companies I spoke to about this were no help and Citroen suggested bringing it to look at which would be £150 p/h