3-2 airbag warning clockspring

[tireman]

2001 LS V6 81K, Just had the blinking aigbag warning light 2-3 then on. Checked the wiring under the drivers seat, all ok. Bought the new clockspring $133 dealer price tax included. Changed out clockspring 2.5 hours with breaks and hunting down tools. You need sockets 8mm, torx bits 20 & 50. Puller with two arms for positioning at 12 & 6. A couple of screw drivers, one long thin flat blade for popping clip ends. one phillips head. the difficult part was removing the covering upper and lower on the steering column, the upper has j clips that the lower hangs on. start at the front corners popping the hangers the back one come off quickly. you do not have to remove any dash covering. there is just enough room to get the connectors off underneath the steering column. everything is clipped on no screws, do not remove plastic clip on the front of the new clockspring as it hold the spring in place. remove it last before putting the steering wheel back on. All working fine now. Not the easiest job because of working in tight quarters.

 

[ksbga]

I applaud your patience Tireman.

 

[Osaín]

Thanks for the heads up. That's my next job. I was concerned about the airbag deploying. Did you disconnect the battery to avoid this?

 

[LS4me]

2001 LS V6 81K, Just had the blinking aigbag warning light 2-3 then on. Checked the wiring under the drivers seat, all ok. Bought the new clockspring $133 dealer price tax included. Changed out clockspring 2.5 hours with breaks and hunting down tools. You need sockets 8mm, torx bits 20 & 50. Puller with two arms for positioning at 12 & 6. A couple of screw drivers, one long thin flat blade for popping clip ends. one phillips head. the difficult part was removing the covering upper and lower on the steering column, the upper has j clips that the lower hangs on. start at the front corners popping the hangers the back one come off quickly. you do not have to remove any dash covering. there is just enough room to get the connectors off underneath the steering column. everything is clipped on no screws, do not remove plastic clip on the front of the new clockspring as it hold the spring in place. remove it last before putting the steering wheel back on. All working fine now. Not the easiest job because of working in tight quarters.

Slowpoke :N :N I did mine in under an hour and that was with a break whilst I visited with a neighbor.

Overall, pretty easy job, wasn't it?

 

[LS4me]

Thanks for the heads up. That's my next job. I was concerned about the airbag deploying. Did you disconnect the battery to avoid this?

Yes, disconnect the battery for at least 10 minutes (the book says 1 minute, but with a charged airbag why not be safe) for the airbag circuitry to discharge.

 

[scjmc]

I did mine a few weeks ago but STILL get a 36 code sometimes. It was on ALL the time before I changed it our though. It took about an hour to an hour and a half.

 

[LS4me]

I did mine a few weeks ago but STILL get a 36 code sometimes. It was on ALL the time before I changed it our though. It took about an hour to an hour and a half.

Then I would bet it's the plug under the seat.

 

[scjmc]

I think it is under the seat also. I have already had to splice the two wires. I was going to solder them this weekend.

 

[tbirdnlincoln]

Still more airbag light issues

'02, 88,000 miles: I was mentally prepared to replace my clockspring based on all of the info that I've read on LVC: 3-2 flashing, and then constant air bag light, steering wheel radio controls sometimes working strangely, etc. I got a quote from Torrie, and planned on getting it & putting it in as soon as I got some extended warranty work ( rear wheel bearing, coil) done at the dealer. I knew that the warranty company wouldn't cover restraint issues, but they diagnosed it anyway as needing a kit for under the passenger seat to fix the connector. They claimed that this was indicated by the code and verified by the light going off and the resistance going down (from 25Ohms to 3 Ohms) when they manipulated the connecter under the seat. They told me that this is included in a TSB, which prescribes a kit to repair the problem. The charge for this would be $225.00.

Now I am confused. Can I fix this myself and is the kit available to purchase from FLM parts? How difficult is this? Is it possible based on my symptoms that they are right about the connector, but that the clock spring still has issues? Does anyone have a link for this TSB? Thanks.

 

[lseguy]

2001 LS V6 81K, Just had the blinking aigbag warning light 2-3 then on. Checked the wiring under the drivers seat, all ok. Bought the new clockspring $133 dealer price tax included. Changed out clockspring 2.5 hours with breaks and hunting down tools. You need sockets 8mm, torx bits 20 & 50. Puller with two arms for positioning at 12 & 6. A couple of screw drivers, one long thin flat blade for popping clip ends. one phillips head. the difficult part was removing the covering upper and lower on the steering column, the upper has j clips that the lower hangs on. start at the front corners popping the hangers the back one come off quickly. you do not have to remove any dash covering. there is just enough room to get the connectors off underneath the steering column. everything is clipped on no screws, do not remove plastic clip on the front of the new clockspring as it hold the spring in place. remove it last before putting the steering wheel back on. All working fine now. Not the easiest job because of working in tight quarters.

Shortly after installing my PAC-SW1 steering wheel interface unit for my new AVIC-D3 headunit, I noticed that my steering wheel buttons were erratic. A month later, the cruise control buttons were also eratic acting. Cancel not working was quite scary at first. 3 months later, the 3-2 airbag light.

Clockspring did the trick. I'll add a couple of tips:

The clockspring itself is simply clicks into place. If you study the replacement one, you will see the 3 attachment points. Flathead pops up the clips on the old one allowing you to pull back/off.

For the undercolumn module, I popped the four hang clips to allow the module to drop down some. There are also 2 vertical plastic stubs that are ontop of the module that go upwards into 2 holes in the aluminum mounting area under behind the column, I pushed downwards on the old module firmly, then pushed hard towards the passenger side. This freed up the module enough to give me enough slack in the 3 plugs to easily access them/unplug them.

Fairly simply job that fixed all 3 of my issues: wacky audio controls, cruise control buttons, and the airbag light.