Clock Spring Replacement Did Not Fix Airbag Light and Horn Problem, Why??? (1 Viewer)

[CruisnPremo]

Hello Fellow Cruisers,

I purchased my 2006 LC over the Summer and have driven it over 8000 miles. The Horn did not work and the Airbag Light is ON constantly when I purchased the LC. Cruise control does work and the Radio Mode / Volume does function properly. In reading some older treads on this forum and watching youtube 100 series videos, the majority of the folks associated the problems with a bad Clock Spring. I did purchased a new (damn expensive) OEM Clock Spring from the Toyota Dealership and installed it over the weekend.

Unfortunately, this did not resolve the two issues! The Horn still does not work and the Airbag Light is still ON. I have double checked "all" of the fuses and there is no broken fuses. The 10A Horn Fuse is still good. Is it possible that I could have received a lemon OEM Clock Spring from the Toyota Dealer? I did stop by the Toyota Dealer and they wanted to charge me $200 for 1hr to perform diagnostic to figure out why. They did not want say whether the new OEM Clock Spring is bad before performing this diagnostic.

I would like to hear your thoughts and recommendations before proceeding with that route, thanks!

 

[Goose17]

Are you 100% sure that you installed it properly and that they sold you the correct part? No fun to take it apart again, but that's where I would start.
Looks like that's the part# for the '06.

 

[cruiserbrett]

Agreed. There are some FSM steps to ensure you don’t reinstall improperly.

If you have a bad clock spring DO NOT simply remove wheel and replace. You need to check that a few things are met before deciding where steering wheel center *actually* is. Doing this wrong to replace a bad clock spring will nearly guarantee that you ruin the expensive new replacement.

I imagine the QC on a safety component(it deploys airbag) is decently rigorous, and while not every part is QC tested, I doubt you had a bad original clock spring that randomly got replaced by a bad new OEM clock spring.

Any chance you had the steering rack or any part of the column replaced or worked on recently.

 

[CruisnPremo]

Many Thanks Goose17 and Brett for your response. Much Appreciated!

Yes, I did purchase the correct Clock Spring for the 06 LC. The Toyota Parts Guy is pretty good at getting me the correct parts as I've ordered multiple parts previously and they all fit correctly. See attached pics.

Agreed Brett, I would certainly hope that Toyota performed rigorous testing to ensure that such a critical and expensive part was QC'd properly before releasing for customers.

The OEM Part does come an instructional sheet detailing steps to properly alignment the steering wheel before disassembly and installment. I don't have the FSM, but I did follow the exact steps that Chris Fix (Toyota Prius) and other folks (2002 LC & 2011 LC & 2006 Tundra) on Youtube took with the same symptoms of Airbag Light ON and No Horn or No Cruise Control. These are the steps taken.

1) Align Steering Column and wheel straight. Mark Steering column with tape.
2) Disconnect Battery and wait 15mins.
3) Remove Airbag after disconnecting the Red & Black airbag cables and the Horn ground wire. Placed Airbag right side up so that it does not become a Rocket in case accidental deployment.
4) I inspected the 4 coil springs underneath the airbag and they all lock clean, no rust or corrosion.
5) Mark the Steering Wheel Nut to ensure proper alignment and torque during re-installation. Disconnect the Black Instrument Cable from the Clock Spring (CS). Remove Nut & Steering Wheel.
6) Original CS was dusty but no obvious damage on the outside. I have not open the Original CS yet. May do so later next week after discussion with Toyota Dealer.
7) Removed Original CS after disconnecting the 2 Cables (Black and Yellow) and removing the 4 screws.
8) Installed New CS ensuring Center alignment. Attached the 2 cables and screw in the 4 screws.
9) After putting the two cover panels together, I removed the White snap ring of the OEM CS to allow for the steering wheel to be installed and torqued.
10) Installed Instrument Cable to New CS.
11) Installed Airbag by attaching Red & Black cables plus the grounding cable.
12) Attach battery and started the Truck.

Upon discovering that the Horn still did not work and the Airbag Light was still ON, I actually repeated the entire process again to confirm that the new CS will aligned properly in the center with the Yellow tab visible in the CS window.

Lastly, I don't know if the previous owner had the steering rack or column worked on. When I bought it 4 mons ago, she supposedly provided all of her receipts and I did not see any work performed on the steering column or rack. However, that doesn't proved that it was not done as she may not have given me everything.

I scheduled an appt with the Toyota Dealer next week to run diagnostics to see what code pops up and to see if it was a bad OEM CS. We shall see. Thanks again!

 

[Goose17]

I would try a hard reset of the battery if the vehicle is new to you and you just replaced the clock spring. Disconnect positive and negative for 30 minutes and then touch positive and negative together for 30 minutes using a zip tie. Just make sure when they're touching that they're also not touching a battery post. I would remove the battery to be safe. They're a bunch of online videos on this, if you're not familiar.
It might just save you going to the dealership.

 

[Goose17]

Clock spring replaced but airbag light still on and horn doesn’t work.

Hi there, I bought this Tacoma 2014 base cap 2DR with deployed wheel airbag and bad passenger and driver seatbelt. I replaced the seatbelts and...

www.tacomaworld.com

Have you seen this? Same issues as you, but on a Tacoma. Read the whole thread, it might help.

 

[Malleus]

The 2006 service manual, and the EWD, is in the Resources section. I seriously doubt Chris Fix has any idea how to troubleshoot a CANBus network.

 

[CruisnPremo]

The 2006 service manual, and the EWD, is in the Resources section. I seriously doubt Chris Fix has any idea how to troubleshoot a CANBus network.

Thanks Malleus for your reply and pointing me to the Resource Section. I will go over there shortly!

When you come across a head scratcher like this issue, you will gather as much information as possible to narrow down the source of the problem and try to resolve it yourself. Hence why I'm reaching out the 100 Series Community and the watching as many relevant videos as needed to pin point the problem. Not all videos may be identical to the issue at hand, but it does provide good advice that can be applied.

Best Regards

 

[CruisnPremo]

Clock spring replaced but airbag light still on and horn doesn’t work.

Hi there, I bought this Tacoma 2014 base cap 2DR with deployed wheel airbag and bad passenger and driver seatbelt. I replaced the seatbelts and...

www.tacomaworld.com

Have you seen this? Same issues as you, but on a Tacoma. Read the whole thread, it might help.

Great, thanks Goose17! I'll check it out. All the Best!

 

[CruisnPremo]

I would try a hard reset of the battery if the vehicle is new to you and you just replaced the clock spring. Disconnect positive and negative for 30 minutes and then touch positive and negative together for 30 minutes using a zip tie. Just make sure when they're touching that they're also not touching a battery post. I would remove the battery to be safe. They're a bunch of online videos on this, if you're not familiar.
It might just save you going to the dealership.

Thanks Goose17 for this advice! Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to view the videos but will do so after my diagnostic appt with Toyota tomorrow morning. I hope they can pinpoint the exact problem or problems so that I can fix it myself.

I'll keep the community posted on the outcome and solution.

Best Regards

 

[fjc-man]

Were fault codes checked before the CS was replaced?

 

[CruisnPremo]

Hello Cruisers,

Here's an update from Monday's Toyota Dealer diagnostic. They ran a health check and found DTC B0101 Open in Squib Circuit. Spiral cable may be broken or replaced by aftermarket part not OEM.

This confirmed my suspicion that Toyota sent a defective CS! I informed the Service Advisor that I purchased a genuine OEM CS from their Parts Department and gave him a copy of the invoice. He informed me that he would get back to me. I took my Cruiser and left.

This morning the Service and Parts Managers from the Toyota Dealer called and informed me that they will not replace the defective CS with a new CS under their Parts Warranty plan "unless" I agreed to letting them install the new part themselves. In addition, they will inspect the current CS to ensure that it was installed correctly by me. If it was found that I installed it incorrectly, I will have to cover the cost of the new CS plus the installation labor. I informed them that it may be bias of them and will be advantageous for them to do the inspection without myself present or an independent observer, just like it took them 1hr to perform a health check, something that could be done in 15mins.

After some back and forth discussion, they agreed to refund the Diagnostic Charge but refuses to refund the CS cost or provide a replacement CS. The Parts Manager informed me that if I insist on performing the task myself, he could offer a new CS at 20% off. Very interesting that they are willing to give something back but not admit that the CS was defective from Toyota and provide a full refund!

I have filed a dispute with my creditcard company to fight for my refund! I have also read a google review of a similar situation (different component) with this Toyota Dealer. We shall see how my CC co handle this situation.

Your thoughts, comments, and advice are most welcome!

 

[CruisnPremo]

Were fault codes checked before the CS was replaced?

Hi FJC-Man, love your collection of FJ40s! I kick my butt everyday for letting go my 76 FJ40 and my 87 FJ60..ahhh!!!!

Unfortunately, I did not have a OBD2 Reader to confirm any fault codes prior to the CS replacement. Yes, in hindsight, I should have done that first.

Your expertise and advice are welcome. Best Regards.

 

[Goose17]

Interesting. How much did you pay for the OEM CS?
If it was me, I would do a hard battery reset and then try to install myself one more time, I don't trust dealerships, or go to a trusted independent Toyota mechanic. There could be something stored in your computers that is throwing it off. Make sure you're not forgetting to the horn ground wire.

 

[CruisnPremo]

Interesting. How much did you pay for the OEM CS?
If it was me, I would do a hard battery reset and then try to install myself one more time, I don't trust dealerships, or go to a trusted independent Toyota mechanic. There could be something stored in your computers that is throwing it off. Make sure you're not forgetting to the horn ground wire.

Hi Goose,

The dealer charged me $421 plus tax! Yes, I agree with you, I don't trust dealers one bit! Legalized Scam Artists they are! Just look at how they are trying to scam me again to let them perform the installation. If I did agree, I'm certain I will be out another $421 + Labor $200 bc they will "find" fault in my installation of the OEM CS.

What I'm going to do is buy a new CS from NAPA or O'Reilly's and see if that resolve the issues. If it does, then I have more evidence to show that the genuine Toyota OEM CS was s*** from the start. I will also perform a hard battery reset that you recommend before installing the new NAPA/O'Reilly CS.

Yes, the Horn Grounding wire was connected, I double checked. I'm also going to do some Horn Testing before installing the new CS.

Do you know of any other brands (besides NAPA/O'Reilly) that I should consider?

 

[Goose17]

$421, that's criminal. During the 25% off sale they were $181.63 out the door. That's less expensive than quality AM.
The cheapest AM on RockAuto is $8.43. That's probably not safe.
I would think it would be hard to get a dud OEM CS, but I guess anything is possible.