Extra Port on Steering Rack

[beefypeeg]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum and I have a question.

I am in the process of replacing the steering rack in my 2008 Mazda 3, and noticed an "extra" port near the top of the valve housing on the new rack (capped off with a red plastic cap). The OEM rack has a similar indentation, but it is not an open port.

I only need the two ports on the opposite side of the rack--supply and return. I admittedly have no idea what this port is.

Here are the links to the images of the port in question:

OEM

REPLACEMENT

I contacted my local Mazda dealership's parts department, and they had no idea what it was. They were only more interested in selling me the remanufactured rack they offer (for $200 more than the rack I already have). The guy I spoke with did give me the OEM part numbers to have Advance Auto (where I bought the rack) cross
reference them with models in their system, but nothing came up when running a search.

The tech I spoke with at A1 Cardone initially thought it may have been an EVO sensor. That is something which, to my knowledge, does not exist on this particular model. He was going to pass the question along to a product development engineer and get back with me later on. Hopefully, he will have a solution...

Anyone here have any thoughts?

 

[beefypeeg]

So, I finally got the correct rack. Turns out I have an "odd ball" model, as the catalog part numbers from two different rebuilders yielded the same incorrect result. Since I wasn't getting anywhere with A1 Cardone's customer/technical service, I started calling around to other parts stores and was given a part number for another remanufacturer (Atlantic Automotive). I decided to contact the them directly to request a photograph of the actual part before placing the order. After speaking with a tech and a customer service rep, I was able to confirm this port was indeed for a sensor and was given the correct part number.

Since I prefer getting parts from Advance Auto (very nice/helpful people at that particular store), I called them up once more and they were rable to cross-reference the AAE part number to A1 Cardone's catalog and voila!

:cheer: