Postby Brmadsenad » Wed Aug 12, 2020 9:40 am
A follow up to my earlier post.
I bought the Clock Spring from the e-bay link. My Pathy is a 2008 SE. Getting the exact right part is kind of a tricky deal, but this was the part for me. About $50.
I've actually done this before, as my steering wheel mounted buttons stopped working. Last time, I had almost no problems. Anyway. . . .
Removing the horn/air-bag assembly revealed that one of the Airbag wires had been damaged by the movement of the horn. Probably poor-routing when I installed it last time.
After diconnecting the cables, I remove the steering wheel, then two screws hold the Clock-Spring and Turn-Signal stalks to the steering column. Un-do the two screws and remove the whole assembly.
With the assembly out of the car, remove the turn signal/light stalks. They just snap into place with plastic tabs and slide right out.
Now remove the Steering Angle Sensor (SAS). It is mounted to the clock spring with three small screws.
Here is where I screwed up . . . I was very conscious of the need to have steering wheel centered and to make sure I didn't rotate the new clock spring from center before installing. I didn't adequately consider the need to keep the old clock spring and SAS centered.
Pretty sure at some point I turned the SAS one rotation and then installed it on new clock spring. Result is flashing SLIP and VDC lights. But the airbag light is all better!
If you read up about it, they require/recommend that you re-calibrate the SAS after doing anything with the alignment, suspension, or steering. Reports are that a dealership would charge you $100+ to do it. I'd bet an independent shop would be less. You need a scanner with SAS capabilities. Being stubborn, I've researched and bought a $150 scanner that should allow me to re-calibrate the SAS.
Should anybody on here want to rent it, I bet we could work something economical out. I'll report on re-calibration results tomorrow after the new Scanner Shows Up. . .
The "VDC Off" light is often illuminated after you disconnect the battery. Some posts suggest that if you drive straight slowly at that point the SAS will calibrate itself. I don't know if that is totally true. . . but either I didn't do that or didn't do it right. Other posts suggest you can get the SAS to re-enter "self-learn" mode by disconnecting battery and then driving straight and slow. That hasn't worked for me. Maybe I was eager to own a nicer scan tool, I dunno, but I ended up believing a proper SAS re calibration, as recommended by Nissan, was the way to go.