WTF is a Clock Spring....and can it be fixed??
Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2024 8:10 pm
So something a little different today - working on a car.
The controls on the steering wheel stopped working some time back - first it has the LHS cluster which controlled the audio....then the RHS gave up which is annoying because that's the cruise control.
Anyway - this is the candidate: 2008 ZG Mitsubishi Outlander
And this is the steering wheel with the console buttons (those are volume controls on the far left which have taken a beating over the years....)
Now you will notice that is an airbag on the steering wheel - which needs to come out - so safety first - undo the battery and let it sit for at least 5 minutes...
Then we are good to go. So the airbag is held in place to 2 torx screws on either side of the steering wheel
Once they are removed the airbag will pull straight out
And here is the connector on the back of the airbag unclipped - general rule of thumb with cars nowadays is anything to do with SRS will have yellow connectors. Horn is also unclipped in this pic (single black connector)
And then unscrew and unclip the controls (2 x phillips screws)
Steering wheel is fixed with a 17mm nut. At this point you are probably best to ensure the steering wheel is in the centre position for ease of re-assembly in the correct spot. Undo the nut (not all the way) and then tug on the wheel. They are slotted so they will come off fairly easily.
And THIS is the thing we are after - the SRS Clock Spring...
It's held in place with 2 phillips screws which are behind the steering column shroud (you'll notice I have already removed the connectors at the bottom of the spring in this shot)
Jeez - a bit of crap in there...
And thar she blows!
So I took it upstairs to have a deeper look...the two halves of the unit are lust held together with 3 press clips (you can see them on the retainer ring at the LHS of the pic)
And inside it's simply a flat wire arrangement coiled up so it can rotate about 7 turns lock to lock (the steering on the car is about 4 turns lock to lock)
Now I would like to say I had a win with this - but unfortunately the cable strip was broken about half way along the roll. This pretty much co-incides with where the steering wheel is at centre - which is where the cable is most of the time and is pretty much always bent at that point.
The cable is not a typical copper wire strip arrangement - it looks like a plastic strap impregnated with a conductor. You can't really do much with this except replace the wire strip - or ultimately - the whole unit. They are only about $80 but this car is going to be sold soon as we have a new XTrail in the fleet....so I probably won't bother.
So there you have it. Most cars with a central horn and / or steering wheel controls will have this kind of arrangement. And to be honest it was a lot simpler than I had thought it would be.
The controls on the steering wheel stopped working some time back - first it has the LHS cluster which controlled the audio....then the RHS gave up which is annoying because that's the cruise control.
Anyway - this is the candidate: 2008 ZG Mitsubishi Outlander
And this is the steering wheel with the console buttons (those are volume controls on the far left which have taken a beating over the years....)
Now you will notice that is an airbag on the steering wheel - which needs to come out - so safety first - undo the battery and let it sit for at least 5 minutes...
Then we are good to go. So the airbag is held in place to 2 torx screws on either side of the steering wheel
Once they are removed the airbag will pull straight out
And here is the connector on the back of the airbag unclipped - general rule of thumb with cars nowadays is anything to do with SRS will have yellow connectors. Horn is also unclipped in this pic (single black connector)
And then unscrew and unclip the controls (2 x phillips screws)
Steering wheel is fixed with a 17mm nut. At this point you are probably best to ensure the steering wheel is in the centre position for ease of re-assembly in the correct spot. Undo the nut (not all the way) and then tug on the wheel. They are slotted so they will come off fairly easily.
And THIS is the thing we are after - the SRS Clock Spring...
It's held in place with 2 phillips screws which are behind the steering column shroud (you'll notice I have already removed the connectors at the bottom of the spring in this shot)
Jeez - a bit of crap in there...
And thar she blows!
So I took it upstairs to have a deeper look...the two halves of the unit are lust held together with 3 press clips (you can see them on the retainer ring at the LHS of the pic)
And inside it's simply a flat wire arrangement coiled up so it can rotate about 7 turns lock to lock (the steering on the car is about 4 turns lock to lock)
Now I would like to say I had a win with this - but unfortunately the cable strip was broken about half way along the roll. This pretty much co-incides with where the steering wheel is at centre - which is where the cable is most of the time and is pretty much always bent at that point.
The cable is not a typical copper wire strip arrangement - it looks like a plastic strap impregnated with a conductor. You can't really do much with this except replace the wire strip - or ultimately - the whole unit. They are only about $80 but this car is going to be sold soon as we have a new XTrail in the fleet....so I probably won't bother.
So there you have it. Most cars with a central horn and / or steering wheel controls will have this kind of arrangement. And to be honest it was a lot simpler than I had thought it would be.
