How-To: Steering wheel removal and clock spring replacement. Fix your broken horn!

Joester

Vendor
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Location
St. Louis
TDI
2002 Golf TDI
Alrighty, I've been fighting a broken horn, which turned out to be the clock spring. see the full details in this thread: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=288406

I replaced the clock srping and took minimal amounts of pictures, and i know that there are a few steering wheel removal tutorials out there, but maybe this one will make things a little more clear to somebody. I take alot of imformation from this site, so why not give a little? :rolleyes:

Tools you will need
-long skinny phillips screwdriver
-Long skinny flat-blade screwdriver (for the airbag release... i used a dental tool)
-T55 Torx
-T30 Torx
-various extentions
-needlenose pliers for those who are big-handed

First, remove the battery cables from the battery. Insert the key, turn it to on and then back off, but dont remove it. this will keep your steering wheel from locking. unlatch the steering column and pull it all the way out and all the way down, and lock it. get your wheels pointing straight ahead (this is important for later), and then turn your steering wheel 90 degrees one way. Now with your long flat blade screwdriver, dental tool or suitable equivalent, put it in the back of the steering wheel where you will see a hole. you want the screwdriver as far up in the hole as possible, you are trying to press down on a srping to unlatch the airbag.

here is a picture. The yellow circle is where the airbag stud clips in and the blue arrow is where you can see the tip of my dental tool coming throught he back and pressing down on that spring to release the airbag.


now that you got one side done, turn it 180 degrees BACK THOUGH CENTER. repeat the airbag release process and then disconnect the airbag from the steering wheel. there are 2 ground clip things and one airbag/horn harness thing. it is obvious how all of them come off.

now you have this.


Now turn the steering wheel back to center, wheels pointing straight forwards. Using a T55 Torx (or suitable triple square, which is the REAL tool for the job) loosen the center nut and pull off the steering wheel. Get out your T30 and long skinny phillips screwdriver and loosen the 4 philips and 3 Torx. In this picture, the yellow is the Torx bolts under the steering column and the blue is the phillips screws you need to take out.



loosen and remove the little rubber/plastic thing on the steering column release lever, and then you should be able to just pull off the top plastic shroud. the back of the top shroud just pulls straight back towards the back of the car and off of the gauge panel.


there are 4 little clip thingys that are also extremely obvious how they come off. heres a few pictures to explain

the 4 clips






then theres just 1 plug on the back of the clock spring. I had to take off a little "plug securer" plastic clip thing and transfer it to the new clock spring, and then reassemble. my new clock spring also had a little finger sized plastic loop that secured the clock spring at the center position until it was installed, which is why the steering wheel has to be straight the whole time. when reinstalling the steering wheel, you need to make sure its lined up as it was before, but have no fear, VW knows whats up, so they put alignment lines (circled in blue)


after you put the big T55 steering wheel bolt, take a punch and mark it somewhere obvious. the bolt can only be used 5 times and should be tightened to 37ft-lbs (50Nm).
any more questions just put em up, i was a little nervous doing this, but it was a piece of cake, and probably took me a little shorter than 1 hour.

a few closing thoughts
-O'rileys auto parts has a clock spring for $40 with a lifetime warranty. O'Rileys is NOT OEM! IDParts has it for $160, but it IS OEM. I see no difference in quality just looking at them from the outside, but i dont know about the inside quality, which is the important stuff. your call on this.

-BE CAREFUL! USE LOGIC! its not my fault if you get hurt, break your car, or have an airbag explode in your face. this procedure worked for me on my 2002 golf with a 4 spoke wheel. it might not work for you.
 
Last edited:

Simpsonmbm

Active member
Joined
Jul 16, 2010
Location
Buffalo ny
TDI
1999 Jetta gls tdi
Thanks Joester...I'm going to probably order a clockspring from Orileys and give it a shot. Doesn't look too scary to attempt.
 

nelyboy27

Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2011
Location
Bay Area CA
TDI
2003 Golf TDI (ALH)
Thanks

Thank you! Used this working on my turn signal clicking problem, and your guide was very helpful.
 

JB05

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Location
Il.USA
TDI
Golf,2005,anthracite blue
Does O'reilly's stock the clock spring or is it a special order item?
 

deadend9009

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2008
Location
Val-David, Qc
TDI
'03 Wagon
Turns out my horns were burt out. Check the actual horn operation with 12v applied directly on the horn connectors.
 

Joester

Vendor
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Location
St. Louis
TDI
2002 Golf TDI
Update to this. Its been over 2 years and my horn still works fine with the Auto-parts store clock spring instead of OEM.
 

gallaj01

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
Location
Madison, WI
TDI
2002 Jetta Wagon TDI GLS, 2001 Jetta TDI GLS, 2017 Golf AllTrack
Insert the key, turn it to on and then back off, but dont remove it. this will keep your steering wheel from locking.
Good to know! When I needed to remove steering wheel a couple years ago (to remove complete interior), did not know that this process would prevent steering wheel from locking. I did the less safe thing which was to not disconnect batter cable, unlatch one side, turn key on to unlock steering wheel, rotate wheel, do other side, then disconnect battery. This of course left me with an airbag code to clear.
 

kiva822

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2010
Location
Chico, CA
TDI
'03 Wagon
I know a few months old...but what was your no-horn symptom? Did you have power to the fuse? To the horns themselves? Did you not hear a 'click' when pressing the horn (relay)? just curious..
 

Joester

Vendor
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Location
St. Louis
TDI
2002 Golf TDI
i cant remember. I know that when i pressed the horn, voltage at the horns would not change (obviously), but this was like 3 years ago, so i dont remember much about it, sorry.

EDIT: 2 years and 4 months. O Riley clock spring still functioning just fine.
 

Bob702

Well-known member
Joined
May 13, 2011
Location
Las Vegas, NV
TDI
99.5 Jetta GLS ALH 5 Speed
Does anyone know the part # for the clock spring? I went to O'Rileys and they said $160. So I went online and found these 2, Dorman 525-701 Air Bag Clock Spring & Dorman 525-700 Air Bag Clock Spring. Neither one says that it's for my model but 525-701 is listed for a '99 Golf TDI so I would think that it would be the same. & that's the $40 one. Any thoughts?
 

AARodriguez Corp.

TDIClub Enthusiast, Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Nov 30, 2008
Location
South East USA
TDI
2009 JSW and Golf 2004 TDI
There is 2 different clock springs, if you have traction control you will need a much less common, and more expensive clock spring

I paid $10 at a u-pull-it junk yard for my common clock spring.


Thanks again Joester for making this How-to
 

Joester

Vendor
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Location
St. Louis
TDI
2002 Golf TDI
Yeah I just went to o'rileys and asked for a clock spring for my 2002 Golf. There might have been a more expensive option, so I would maybe ask if there's anything cheaper than the $160 option.

I dont have TCS on my car, I didnt even know that MK4s had TCS ever?
 

JB05

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Location
Il.USA
TDI
Golf,2005,anthracite blue
I may have a bad connection because my air bag light is ON again after replacing the clock spring bought used. My horn stll works and this happened after vacumming under the driver's seat. For now I deactivated the driver's front airbag with VCDS and no more light. When I replaced my clock spring I found it easier to disconnect the one yellow harness at air bag itself, but with the battery - disconnected. Also I had alot of difficulty removing the lower trim from under the steering column. I could not get it to slip over the ignition switch and the clock spring at the same time.
 

Joester

Vendor
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Location
St. Louis
TDI
2002 Golf TDI
There's a connection under the drivers seat for the airbag that you could have bumped I think. My car had an airbag light on when I bought it, and I think i remember wiggling some connections under there.
 

PDJetta

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 6, 2003
Location
Northern Virginia
TDI
'04 Jetta GLS TDI Pumpe Duce Platinum Grey w/ Leather
How do you deactivate the air bag to rid the AB light, using the VCDS? I did not think that was possible, being safety related.

--Nate
 

AARodriguez Corp.

TDIClub Enthusiast, Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Nov 30, 2008
Location
South East USA
TDI
2009 JSW and Golf 2004 TDI
My mistake, on the MK4 is was labeled ESP not TCS
Yeah I just went to o'rileys and asked for a clock spring for my 2002 Golf. There might have been a more expensive option, so I would maybe ask if there's anything cheaper than the $160 option.

I dont have TCS on my car, I didnt even know that MK4s had TCS ever?
 

drucifer

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2013
Location
fredericksburg virginia
TDI
2004 jetta sw tdi pd
junkyard run

What is the easiest way to remove steering wheel without keys and front wheels may or may not be on the ground. I'm not opposed to cutting things or breaking things to get it out just want to know how so I bring the right tools the first time.
 

Judson

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2001
Location
Cheyenne, WY
TDI
2001 Jetta
Bringing an old thread back to life, my horn is currently always on. It's been going on since I moved to a three-spoke steering wheel, but my clockspring may be funky.

I've searched and searched and no one seems to have the problem of the horn always being on. All of the threads are about the horn not working.

Anybody have any insights?

Thanks!

Jud.
 
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