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

[Joester]

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?

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.

[Simpsonmbm]

Thanks Joester...I'm going to probably order a clockspring from Orileys and give it a shot. Doesn't look too scary to attempt.

[eb2143]

If you end up having trouble releasing the bag, check out the video in this thread:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread...97#post3043397

[nelyboy27]

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

[Newzboys]

Joester you are my hero! I have 3 cars with broken horns, can't wait to fix them.

[Joester]

1.25 years later my horn is still working. O'rileys clock spring appears to be as good as any!

[JB05]

Does O'reilly's stock the clock spring or is it a special order item?

[deadend9009]

Turns out my horns were burt out. Check the actual horn operation with 12v applied directly on the horn connectors.

[Joester]

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]

Originally Posted by Joester

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]

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]

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]

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?

[Newzboys]

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]

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?