Maddogs Airbag Clock Spring (Spiral Cable) Replacement

Maddogs Airbag Clock Spring (Spiral Cable) Replacement

Postby dute on Sun, 11 Nov 2012 10:05 +0000

The clock spring is an encased spiral cable behind the steering wheel that provides a circuit to the airbag whilst allowing you to turn your steering wheel from lock to lock. The clock spring can break due to harsh treatment such as the steering wheel turning sharply when 4WDing. If it breaks the red airbag light will display on your instrument panel. It is advised that you take your vehicle to have the ECU read to determine the cause of the warning light display. I was told by Toyota that while the light is on my airbag will not deploy in an accident. So after having your ECU codes read you find that it is a faulty clock spring, you might like to read on.....................

If your Hilux is out of warranty and your Toyota dealer won't help you with a free replacement here are a couple of options.
A.) Pay your dealer $500 - $700 for the part plus 1 hour labour to have it replaced.
B.) Purchase the part and install it yourself.

I went with option B after reading that NewHilux member paul735 replaced it himself. I purchase a Clock Spring from Thailand via ebay for $160 delivered. It took less than a week to arrive at my door. It was easy to install. Thanks to Paul for the tips. Look in this ebay store for clockspring to suit your year model. There are currently two different clocksprings listed. One for '06-'09 models and one '10 models.
:arrow: http://stores.ebay.com.au/Japaneses-Air ... 4340.l2563

Below is the procedure I used.

New Clock Spring
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1. Straighten the front wheels.
2. Disconnect battery.
3. Loosen torque screw on each side of steering wheel and remove steering pad. Be careful not to pull the pad out to hard or far as there are wires attached to the back.
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4. Hold the steering pad and use a flathead screwdriver to disconnect the airbag wire connector.
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5. Disconnect the horn wire from steering pad and connector from clock spring.
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6. Remove steering wheel set nut. If the nut and shaft don't already have match marks on them it's a good idea to mark them before you loosen the nut.
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7. Remove the steering wheel by giving it a good old yank.
8. Remove 3 screws from steering column cover (2 at end and 1 underneath) and remove cover.
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9. Disconnect 2 wiring connectors from clock spring and remove clock sring by unclipping 3 claw clips around circumference. Sorry no photot before I removed it.
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10. Get new clock spring and install the 2 wiring connectors. You can't get this wrong because they are different sizes.
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11. Clip clock spring in place.
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12. Unlock clock spring by snapping orange handle off.
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13. The clock spring can turn 5 rotations. 2.5 rotations each way from the centre. To find the centre slowly rotate clockspring anticlockwise until it stops. Now rotate the clock spring clockwise 2.5 times until the two markers line up on the bottom. You now have the centre. Do not rotate the clockspring using the airbag wire harness.
14. Replace steering column covers.
15. Align steering wheel and shaft.
16. Install steering wheel set nut.
17. Install steering pad, including connecting horn wire connector to clock spring, horn wire to steering pad and airbag wire to steering pad.
18. Tighten torque screws on each side of steering wheel.
19. Reconnect battery and the job is done.

When you start your Hilux the airbag light should be off. 8-) :D
I started the hilux after the install with my head and body clear of the airbag deployment zone just incase it went off. :lol:
I'm going to pull the old clock spring apart to see if I can detect the breakage. If I find it I'll post a picture. In the meantime Billy will look after it for me.
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I hope this helps some of you out. It saved me over $500.

Cheers

Joel
FCCW

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