Thanks so much for the lovely birthday wishes @Shaz51 🙌🏻🥰🌺 much appreciated!
Yes, it’s one of those obscure little parts in a motor vehicle that is never popular until it fails and results in airbag faults 🙂
Its a bit fiddly to fix: disconnection of battery (which can cause faults in and of itself in the computer, if you don’t follow the correct procedure) to prevent inadvertently shorting the bare wires behind the steering wheel from the broken clock spring and having an airbag pop while you’re up close trying to disconnect the steering wheel (removing the kit around the column first to access the bolts behind, and ensuring the wheels are pointing straight ahead), then disconnecting the steering wheel from the broken clock spring, then disconnecting the clips and screws from the steering angle sensor (carefully - this will need to be replaced onto the new clock spring), then installing the new clock spring with care not to dislodge the mounting clip (which keeps the wires in place - this is so you don’t have too much wind out when turning one way or the other, which would snap the new clock spring), pop the steering wheel back on, hook up the battery, check the airbag fuse to ensure it’s a complete circuit (testing current with multimeter which checks installation), connect computer scan tool to clear the airbag fault (a major fault needs manual deletion using the scan tool), reprogram the new clock spring to the computer, then turn it over (start the engine) and check for faults on the scan tool. I stand outside the car at this point - just in case! Hehe.
That’s just how I would do it for my own car, and I’m relatively comfortable pulling it to bits since I’ve done majority of the repairs and maintenance on it for the last decade - but, keep in mind I’m no mechanic; I always recommend people to seek advice from a relevant qualified tradesperson before undertaking any mechanical/auto electrical work 🙂
With reference to your question, would you be wondering why a car has a clock spring? 🙂
If so, all cars with airbags have this; it’s the electrical interface between a rotating point on the top of a shaft, and the clock spring retains all the electrical wires neatly around the top of the steering shaft, to translate the signals smoothly with no snagging when the wheel is turned. No snags = safe steering 🙌🏻🙂
Anyways, that’s how I understand it to be (however I may be not 100% correct - I have no formal mechanical training).
With an old friend we pulled out the engine (he had the engine crane and stands, and tools) and I stripped down the engine, sent it for machining, and rebuilt it with new internal parts. I found it very therapeutic after a difficult time, and I got an excellent, meditative rebuild to boot ☺️
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