Changing Factory Airbag Steering Wheel

[RS4StagMan]

Hi guys,

I 've had my new (OEM Series 2 Stagea) woodgrain leather steering wheel sitting around for a while and wanted to install it to replace the factory non-woodgrain one.

I want to just replace the wheel and re-install the same airbag.

Is there a specific procedure for doing this so that I don't have the thing blow up in my face and so that I don't get any ECU/Airbag errors later?

Apart from obvious disconnecting battery and using steering wheel puller, what is the correct order for the procedure?

Thanks Tony

[Dahtone Racing]

with ignition off

undo bolts holding bag on and remove bag

undo steering wheel bolt and remove wheel

put new wheel on and replace bolt

plug bag in and bolt up

turn ignition on and should be sweet

[Chris Rogers]

add 1 step to that.

DISCONNECT THE BATTERY!!!!

they are fairly hard to destroy but stray currents will set the computer into fits..

[Dahtone Racing]

i do 5-6 sets of airbags a week for 4 years and have never disconnected the battery and never had an issue

[Xmetal]

i do 5-6 sets of airbags a week for 4 years and have never disconnected the battery and never had an issue

Yeah but for someone who's never done it before they should D/C the battery just in case they f*ck up and trigger the airbags.

I know if I stuffed up along the way i'd prefer to be standing infront of the car connecting the battery and having the airbag go off rather than the airbag go off in my face.

[RS4StagMan]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I will give this a go on the weekend...do I need to use a steering wheel puller or should the wheel just slip off after I take the centre bolt off?

[GoldZilla]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I will give this a go on the weekend...do I need to use a steering wheel puller or should the wheel just slip off after I take the centre bolt off?

I've heard and read that it's best to undo and loosen the centre bolt, but don't totally remove it. That way, if you need to use a bit of force to remove the wheel, it won't smack you in the face when it finally comes off.

[darrinspencer]

Beware once you remove the wheel and go to replace with new wheel, the "clock spring" as it is referred to is in the right place. It is the bit with the yellow sticker on it. There are 2 arrows to line up and a locating pin that plugs into the back of the steering wheel. The yellow sticker tells you how to line it up.

Sometime you need a puller, other time it comes off without too much effort. If you do not have a puller, loosen the nut so that it is off enough to protect the end of the steering shaft, load up the wheel with your knee's, and hit the nut with a hammer and a peice of wood to protect the shaft. It should pop off. If not, use a puller.

[Dahtone Racing]

i forgot one step make sure the wheels are in the straight ahead position

[RS4StagMan]

Thanks to all who responded.

I did this on the weekened and all worked out fine.

I didn't need a steering wheel puller...the wheel just came off after I removed the centre bolt.

I had to get a special T30 size anti-tamper socket though to get the anti-tamper screws off the airbag module....$8 from Repco. The anti-tamper screws are similar to torx screws but a little different....so you need another tool.

Apart from this all went well and yes I did disconnect the battery as well just to be sure!

[DaveB]

Hey guys, how do you get the horn cover off??? I'm planning to pull the wheel off tomorrow and I had a bit of a look but I can't work out how to get the horn cover off so that I can get to the centre bolt...

[PuppaDuck]

T30 at $8 from Repco you say ?

Thanks for that.

Cha-ching !

[PuppaDuck]

T30 at $8 from Repco you say ?

Thanks for that.

Cha-ching !

[petrolfix]

T30 at $8 from Repco you say ?

Thanks for that.

Cha-ching !

mine was t50 so i bought the whole set $30 @ repco

[DaveB]

OK, I may have answered my own question... looked on Yahoo! Jap auctions and looks like airbag is actually an intrinsic part of the horn assembly, and that the special screws under the side of the wheel hold it in? Appears that the horn cover does not come off from the front! (ie, you don't just pull it off - glad I didn't try now!)

Here's what I think happens...

We begin with one woodgrain ( ) wheel:

Locate removable plastic panels on sides & base; side panels are sort-of triangular in shape and look like:

Bottom one is larger and rectangular. Remove these carefully, I used an old plastic credit-card style card.

Here is the bottom panel removed:

Gotta disconnect some wires in there, preferably before you remove the wheel and after you disconnect the battery.

I have circled what I believe is the airbag wire; until I confirm this beware I could be wrong! I just disconnected them all; I will post more pics once I have more time in the garage to get wheel all the way off.

When you have removed the side panels, you should be greeted with a T30 secure bolt head under each one. These take the secure style T30 not the regular kind (not the raised bit in the middle which prevents a regular T30 driver from fitting).

Here is the front & rear of a removed airbag/horn assembly:

This is where I think that the T30 bolts screw into the horn assembly - note the captive nuts in the middle pic (circled):

Please anybody feel free to correct me if I'm wrong so far... or tell me what a loser I am for going to this much detail on what is apparently a really rather trivial job that many previous people have accomplished without troubles already This is the first time I've attacked an airbag wheel, and I had a (phone, erk) camera handy so thought I'd take some photos... I really wanted to do this right since this will be an 'exchange' wheel hehe, and I thought I could perhaps show some other people a bit of a 'how-to'.

Edited April 3, 2008 by DaveB

[mike40sydney]

OK, I may have answered my own question... looked on Yahoo! Jap auctions and looks like airbag is actually an intrinsic part of the horn assembly, and that the special screws under the side of the wheel hold it in? Appears that the horn cover does not come off from the front! (ie, you don't just pull it off - glad I didn't try now!)

Here's what I think happens...

We begin with one woodgrain ( ) wheel:

Locate removable plastic panels on sides & base; side panels are sort-of triangular in shape and look like:

Bottom one is larger and rectangular. Remove these carefully, I used an old plastic credit-card style card.

Here is the bottom panel removed:

Gotta disconnect some wires in there, preferably before you remove the wheel and after you disconnect the battery.

I have circled what I believe is the airbag wire; until I confirm this beware I could be wrong! I just disconnected them all; I will post more pics once I have more time in the garage to get wheel all the way off.

When you have removed the side panels, you should be greeted with a T30 secure bolt head under each one. These take the secure style T30 not the regular kind (not the raised bit in the middle which prevents a regular T30 driver from fitting).

Here is the front & rear of a removed airbag/horn assembly:

This is where I think that the T30 bolts screw into the horn assembly - note the captive nuts in the middle pic (circled):

Please anybody feel free to correct me if I'm wrong so far... or tell me what a loser I am for going to this much detail on what is apparently a really rather trivial job that many previous people have accomplished without troubles already This is the first time I've attacked an airbag wheel, and I had a (phone, erk) camera handy so thought I'd take some photos... I really wanted to do this right since this will be an 'exchange' wheel hehe, and I thought I could perhaps show some other people a bit of a 'how-to'.

well done little buddy i know one bloke that will apreciate all the help he can get lol

[DaveB]

well done little buddy i know one bloke that will apreciate all the help he can get lol

No worries Mike, bein' careful not to scratch it for ya

btw I see what you mean now about the way you have the cruise controls mounted on the removable side panels, I can just keep mine.

I'll update this 'tute' as I go along... should be able to finish it tonight.

DaveB

[DaveB]

No worries Mike, bein' careful not to scratch it for ya

btw I see what you mean now about the way you have the cruise controls mounted on the removable side panels, I can just keep mine.

I'll update this 'tute' as I go along... should be able to finish it tonight.

DaveB

Well finished removing wheel and verified that this is indeed the case:

proceed at your own risk etc. etc., however all you should need to do is...

disconnect battery, point wheels straight ahead and line steering wheel up straight

carefully pry the large rectangular panel off the bottom of the wheel (preferably with something non-metallic to avoid scratching your wheel)

and undo the two large white connectors in there.

Then carefully pry off the two triangular panels on the sides of the wheel pictured here:

and undo the torx security screws you see there - one in each side

you may at least need a socket bar, mine were lock-tite'd pretty well and took a fair bit of force and careful bracing of the horn module to undo. Then the horn module comes out, and - hey presto - it is the airbag module, they are one and the same

You're then faced with 19mm bolt

and with a decent sized breaker bar it doesn't require much effort to undo (indeed, most effort is spent holding wheel to prevent it turning and breaking your steering lock or something nasty like that; I used my knees)

and hey presto, wheel comes off

When you re-install the wheel, install it on the locating dowel on the 'clock spring' module underneath, wires down:

and make sure you line up these marks on the wheel itself and steering shaft, to the top:

...there you go

hth

Edited April 9, 2008 by DaveB

[d1_drifter]

Rather than start a whole new thread, I did a search and this came up...

I have a stupidly annoying rattle that comes from my horn/airbag cover whilst driving. The only way to stop it is to hold the cover with your hand to stop the vibrations. I was wanting to remove the cover and line the inside edge of the cover with dynamat to stop the vibrations and not imped how the airbag engages.

Turns out from the above you just cant take the cover off. Does anyone have any bright ideas on stopping the rattle?

Cheers!

Tim

[fmlycar]

I just had my wheel off to inspect clock spring. Got it all back together and reset srs light, but now my indicators don't self cancel. What have I done wrong to cause this? All marks were lined up as far as I could tell. I never removed the clock spring, I just checked it's wiring and position.

Any help is appreciated