Clock spring issue after installing steering wheel

CARSONE350Z

MEMBER
2003 NISSAN 350Z
6 CYL
2WD
MANUAL
120 MILES

I was installing a new steering wheel in my car and after I got it on I went for a drive and the horn went off and would not stop until it blew a fuse I suppose. So I assumed I had a short so I taped all the connections and places where anything could touch. Put it back together and now the horn blows the horn fuse after a couple seconds of the horn being pressed. After that the VDC off and slip lights came on the dash and won’t turn off and the abs locked the front tires for a split second as I was turning sharply. Not only that now the airbag light is flashing and it was not before because I have resistors that plug into the connections to get rid of the light. Even tho now the light is now on the dash and blinking. This new steering wheel is a NRG quick release and has no airbag. Any help would be greatly appreciated I don’t understand how the clock spring would have gotten messed up but it’s the only thing I can think of to cause all these issues suddenly after the steering wheel install.

5 Replies

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

In short, yes this could be a clock spring issue. The fact that you installed a quick release steering wheel, I imagine it did not have hook up for the airbag in the steering wheel due to it not having one now? We need to start with checking for codes and going from there.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/checking-a-service-engine-soon-or-check-engine-light-on-or-flashing

Depending on what the actual codes are we will see what is actually causing the light to come on. Once we know these we will confirm what we are saying or go in a different direction.

Let us know and we can go from there. Thanks

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Wednesday, May 6th, 2020 AT 9:40 AM

CARSONE350Z

MEMBER
3 POSTS

Okay, so I put everything think back to normal with the OEM steering wheel and airbag. Then scanned it and got two very similar codes.

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Thursday, May 7th, 2020 AT 10:28 AM

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

So the clock-spring is the most likely cause of these codes so I suspect your initial thoughts were correct.

Take a look at the attached info about these codes.

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Thursday, May 7th, 2020 AT 7:18 PM

CARSONE350Z

MEMBER
3 POSTS

Okay, so I did more messing around and I figured out that my clock spring was turned 360 degrees off from being centered and I found the center put it all back together and the lights were all gone and no problems with the airbag. The only thing is the horn still blows a fuse after a while. So I’m wondering if when the horn went off like crazy for a little bit it melted something together in there allowing it to produce more amps there for blowing the fuse? What do you think or any other ideas?

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Thursday, May 7th, 2020 AT 8:03 PM

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Yes. That theory could be true but we need to test it. Let's start with finding out which fuse is the one that keeps blowing. You said it was when you turn the key on so I assume it was fuse 80 because fuse 73 is hot all the time.

If this is the case let's unhook the components on this circuit one at a time and replace the fuse each time until it does not blow any longer.

Basically you want to unhook the horns and the horn relay and other connectors one at a time and turn the key on until the fuse doesn't blow any more. We need to narrow down the circuit to try and find the issue.

Let me know if you have questions.

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