Keep steering and clock spring has me stumped

A

Assforkr

TJ Enthusiast
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Apr 3, 2018
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Location
Massachusetts, USA
At a standstill trying to diagnose two separate but likely connected issues.

Past few months I’ve been having the airbag light go on in the cluster during normal driving. Goes on, goes off intermittently. Figure it’s the clock spring so wrestle the steering wheel off and replace the clock spring. Put the airbag back on and note that the light is off.

Try going for a test drive and the steering wheel has no return to center and is very heavy. Almost like there’s no power steering. Check the PS pump level and have fluid. Try to drive off and airbag lights comes back on. Then off again and so on.

At this point I got no clue. It isn’t the passenger side switch, that light is fine. It shouldn’t be the clock spring since that’s new and “tested.” I don't think it's the alignment considering I didn't touch the suspension and it isn't the steering wheel bolt because that was not reefed upon. I even backed it out a touch.

Any clues?
 
I can’t imagine how the airbag issue would affect the behavior of your steering wheel. I’ve never messed with the steering wheel internals but I would suspect that something is too tight on the steering wheel or shaft and causing resistance.

No clue on the airbag light. Electrical issues are a dread. Maybe someone else will chime in.
 
I had an intermittent airbag lamp, more in cold weather than warm. I also changed the clock spring with no change in lamp behaviour.

It wasn't until I was able to borrow a Snap-On scanner that I found out my Airbag Control Module (ACM) was bad. The scanner reporting Internal Error 4.

No idea what that meant but I bought a replacement ACM off eBay and have had no issues since the swap.

See if you can get the airbag codes read, which cheaper OBD devices won't read.
 
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jonny jeep said:
I had an intermittent airbag lamp, more in cold weather than warm. I also changed the clock spring with no change in lamp behaviour.

It wasn't until I was able to borrow a Snap-On scanner that I found out my Airbag Control Module (ACM) was bad. The scanner reporting Internal Error 4.

No idea what that meant but I bought a replacement ACM off eBay and have had no issues since the swap.

See if you can get the airbag codes read, which cheaper OBD devices won't read.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm throwing a new steering pump into it as well as an OBD with SRS capabilities to see what changes that makes. If that doesn yield any results maybe I'll look at the upper steering shaft bearing in the column? No idea but at this point starting to hope that the airbag light and teh poor steering are not actually related. Anyone ever change a steering shaft bearing? Upper in the column inside the truck.
 
Mall'er said:
Did you install the correct clock spring?
Click to expand...

There seem to be only different kinds. One with a smaller center opening for a smaller steering shaft and one with a larger opening that fits a larger opening. After that the only difference is in whether it supports cruise control electrical.

I bought a CS that fits my steering shaft and I don’t have cruise. Is there another variety of spring that I need for an 02 TJ?
 
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