First off, let me say I blatantly stole the basic guide from Quik LS' post. So the credit goes to him.
I changed the clock spring on my 2002 LS last night. While it was pretty straight forward, I thought I'd add some additional details while the it's fresh in my mind. The cost for the clock spring was $130 from the dealer. No pics though as it was after dark and I was using a work light, so it was too dark for good pics.
REPLACING CLOCK SPRING - 2002 LS
Tools required:
Screwdrivers - phillips and one long and one short flat blade
Torx driver set
metric socket set
finger type gear puller
1. Disconnect the battery and let sit for 10mins.
2. To remove the airbag, start by popping out the two round plastic covers on each side of the steering wheel.
3. Remove the bolts securing the airbag, one under each plastic cover.
4. Gently pull airbag foward to expose the plug on the back. Slide down the yellow tab to unlock the connector and then push in the sides of the connector to release.
5. Remove the horn trigger plate by removing the four torx bolts. Each torx bolt has a spring under it, don't lose them.
6. Unplug the horn/radio buttons connector.
7. Remove the larg torx bolt from the center of the steering wheel.
8. Remove the steering wheel using a 2 finger gear puller or similar. Partially thread the torx bolt back in to press against it you don't have something else to avoid damaging the threads. (Note: I have a 'universal' type steering wheel removal tool and it doesn't fit as there were no threaded holes to attach it to.)
9. Remove the plastic steering column covers by first removing the phillips screws on the bottom side that hold the halves together. Then you can pop the two halves apart. I only needed to remove the bottom half to access the clock spring.
10. The clock spring is in two parts connected by wiring. The rotating part fits immediately behind the steering wheel while the flat box is located immediately under the steering column.
11. Remove the old clock spring rotating part. Disconnect the two connectors coming out of the clock spring box to the steering column. Use a small flat blade screwdriver to loosen the three clips holding the round part on the steering column. Look at the new clock spring for the position of the clips. The round part will slide off the steering column.
12. Remove the old clock spring flat box. Look at the new box and notice the locating pins on the top of the box. In order to remove it, you'll need to release the two clips on each side (long flat blade comes in handy here). Once the four clips are released, use the long flat blade to pry the box down away from the steering column to release the locating pins. There's not a lot of room at the front, but if you're careful you can get the pins to release and the box will slide out. Don't pull too hard as you still have the connectors on it. On my car, there was enough extra wire on the connectors to pull the box far enough out to disconnect them fairly easily. Don't let the connectors fall back into the dash if you don't want to go fishing.
13. If you don't have enough extra wire to get the connectors off from the front, you can drop the lower dash panel under the steering column. Removing the three plastic darts on the bottom and then the panel pops straight off the dash. There will be a hole behind the panel large enough to put your hand through to rach the clock spring connectors. Note that while I pulled the panel in order to get some more light to see by, I did have enough wire to do it from the front. So this step may not be required.
14. Once you've got the old one out, installing the new clock spring is done by reversing the steps above.
Total time for me was about an hour.
Duke
I changed the clock spring on my 2002 LS last night. While it was pretty straight forward, I thought I'd add some additional details while the it's fresh in my mind. The cost for the clock spring was $130 from the dealer. No pics though as it was after dark and I was using a work light, so it was too dark for good pics.
REPLACING CLOCK SPRING - 2002 LS
Tools required:
Screwdrivers - phillips and one long and one short flat blade
Torx driver set
metric socket set
finger type gear puller
1. Disconnect the battery and let sit for 10mins.
2. To remove the airbag, start by popping out the two round plastic covers on each side of the steering wheel.
3. Remove the bolts securing the airbag, one under each plastic cover.
4. Gently pull airbag foward to expose the plug on the back. Slide down the yellow tab to unlock the connector and then push in the sides of the connector to release.
5. Remove the horn trigger plate by removing the four torx bolts. Each torx bolt has a spring under it, don't lose them.
6. Unplug the horn/radio buttons connector.
7. Remove the larg torx bolt from the center of the steering wheel.
8. Remove the steering wheel using a 2 finger gear puller or similar. Partially thread the torx bolt back in to press against it you don't have something else to avoid damaging the threads. (Note: I have a 'universal' type steering wheel removal tool and it doesn't fit as there were no threaded holes to attach it to.)
9. Remove the plastic steering column covers by first removing the phillips screws on the bottom side that hold the halves together. Then you can pop the two halves apart. I only needed to remove the bottom half to access the clock spring.
10. The clock spring is in two parts connected by wiring. The rotating part fits immediately behind the steering wheel while the flat box is located immediately under the steering column.
11. Remove the old clock spring rotating part. Disconnect the two connectors coming out of the clock spring box to the steering column. Use a small flat blade screwdriver to loosen the three clips holding the round part on the steering column. Look at the new clock spring for the position of the clips. The round part will slide off the steering column.
12. Remove the old clock spring flat box. Look at the new box and notice the locating pins on the top of the box. In order to remove it, you'll need to release the two clips on each side (long flat blade comes in handy here). Once the four clips are released, use the long flat blade to pry the box down away from the steering column to release the locating pins. There's not a lot of room at the front, but if you're careful you can get the pins to release and the box will slide out. Don't pull too hard as you still have the connectors on it. On my car, there was enough extra wire on the connectors to pull the box far enough out to disconnect them fairly easily. Don't let the connectors fall back into the dash if you don't want to go fishing.
13. If you don't have enough extra wire to get the connectors off from the front, you can drop the lower dash panel under the steering column. Removing the three plastic darts on the bottom and then the panel pops straight off the dash. There will be a hole behind the panel large enough to put your hand through to rach the clock spring connectors. Note that while I pulled the panel in order to get some more light to see by, I did have enough wire to do it from the front. So this step may not be required.
14. Once you've got the old one out, installing the new clock spring is done by reversing the steps above.
Total time for me was about an hour.
Duke
