Clock spring - repairing

[sahhil_22]

I own a 2007 Toyota Vitz. On Thursday evening, its parking lights stopped working, since it was evening, so i planned to get them fixed on Saturday. Yesterday morning I went to my mechanic (a road side one because i thought it would only be a shot fuse issue).He checked the fuse boxes but every thing was fine, then he opened the driving wheel console and figured out that the metal connectors were a bit carbonized so he just cleaned it a bit, installed a relay and re assembled everything. Now here is where the subject story begins:
When he re assembled everything and i drove off, i took a u turn and on turning the wheel, i heard a "click" sound and to my surprise, the horn stopped working and the air bag light came on to which i called him and he diagnosed that his electrician didn't fit the CLOCK SPRING properly and the strip in it broke off. it was 10:30 in the morning and i there and then asked him that i'll get a new clock spring installed and latter we can decide who will bear the amount, listening to this, he said no i'll fix it myself and the fun began, from 10:30 till 18:30, he was unable to even fix the connections of the strip back to their place. frustrated, i picked up the demolished or damaged clock spring, went to my actual electrician and asked him to get a new piece for me. trust me, it was 1900 by then. the electrician smiled at me, asked me to sit down, have tea and wait for 15 minutes. he pulled out a roll of strips, opened my clock spring, solded the new strip in, made me wear a tie made out of the old strip, installed the clock spring back and asked me to check it, the horn was working and the airbag light went off. i asked him that this is not something that satisfies me, he plugged in the scanner and we checked every code related to SRS and everything was perfectly all right. now here is the perfect thing, he charged me only 1,000 PKR which i know are more than what he actually should have charged but i was happy to give him that money, because:
1. i was going to get it refunded from the mechanic who broke it
2. i was ready to spend 3,500 on a new clock spring while he saved me 2,500.

Now the reason behind writing the whole B'S above is, has anyone ever got his clock spring repaired ever? experiences?

[whiteangel]

If the clock spring wire strip is soldered back properly then it should last a long time. Check the link below, it refers to a similar problem as yours and a DIY repair.

GM Airbag Clock Spring Repair Rebuild Rewind

[rustam54]

Even if the the quality of work was outstanding, its not advisable to use a repaired clock spring on an SRS loaded vehicle. The clockspring is responsible to carry command from SRS module to airbag in case of collision.

Will you trust your life to a repaired/soldered strip???? What if a short circuit occurred and caused deployment ???

If you were to only use it in a vehicle with Audio controls/ Thumb shifters etc only, it would have been fine.

[tausifs]

I own a 2007 Toyota Vitz. On Thursday evening, its parking lights stopped working, since it was evening, so i planned to get them fixed on Saturday. Yesterday morning I went to my mechanic (a road side one because i thought it would only be a shot fuse issue).He checked the fuse boxes but every thing was fine, then he opened the driving wheel console and figured out that the metal connectors were a bit carbonized so he just cleaned it a bit, installed a relay and re assembled everything. Now here is where the subject story begins:
When he re assembled everything and i drove off, i took a u turn and on turning the wheel, i heard a "click" sound and to my surprise, the horn stopped working and the air bag light came on to which i called him and he diagnosed that his electrician didn't fit the CLOCK SPRING properly and the strip in it broke off. it was 10:30 in the morning and i there and then asked him that i'll get a new clock spring installed and latter we can decide who will bear the amount, listening to this, he said no i'll fix it myself and the fun began, from 10:30 till 18:30, he was unable to even fix the connections of the strip back to their place. frustrated, i picked up the demolished or damaged clock spring, went to my actual electrician and asked him to get a new piece for me. trust me, it was 1900 by then. the electrician smiled at me, asked me to sit down, have tea and wait for 15 minutes. he pulled out a roll of strips, opened my clock spring, solded the new strip in, made me wear a tie made out of the old strip, installed the clock spring back and asked me to check it, the horn was working and the airbag light went off. i asked him that this is not something that satisfies me, he plugged in the scanner and we checked every code related to SRS and everything was perfectly all right. now here is the perfect thing, he charged me only 1,000 PKR which i know are more than what he actually should have charged but i was happy to give him that money, because:
1. i was going to get it refunded from the mechanic who broke it
2. i was ready to spend 3,500 on a new clock spring while he saved me 2,500.

Now the reason behind writing the whole B'S above is, has anyone ever got his clock spring repaired ever? experiences?

Even if the the quality of work was outstanding, its not advisable to use a repaired clock spring on an SRS loaded vehicle. The clockspring is responsible to carry command from SRS module to airbag in case of collision.

Will you trust your life to a repaired/soldered strip???? What if a short circuit occurred and caused deployment ???

If you were to only use it in a vehicle with Audio controls/ Thumb shifters etc only, it would have been fine.

Now you'll get a new clock spring rs.3500 + the rs.1000 that you gave to your Electrition + the time you wasted frustratingly.................. Lolz.
Anyways as quoted by rustum......... You're life is worth much more than a rs. 3500 clock spring. Get a new one. Its there for a purpose. Never compromise on security. Best of luck.

[Ehsan4808]

I own a 2007 Toyota Vitz. On Thursday evening, its parking lights stopped working, since it was evening, so i planned to get them fixed on Saturday. Yesterday morning I went to my mechanic (a road side one because i thought it would only be a shot fuse issue).He checked the fuse boxes but every thing was fine, then he opened the driving wheel console and figured out that the metal connectors were a bit carbonized so he just cleaned it a bit, installed a relay and re assembled everything. Now here is where the subject story begins:
When he re assembled everything and i drove off, i took a u turn and on turning the wheel, i heard a "click" sound and to my surprise, the horn stopped working and the air bag light came on to which i called him and he diagnosed that his electrician didn't fit the CLOCK SPRING properly and the strip in it broke off. it was 10:30 in the morning and i there and then asked him that i'll get a new clock spring installed and latter we can decide who will bear the amount, listening to this, he said no i'll fix it myself and the fun began, from 10:30 till 18:30, he was unable to even fix the connections of the strip back to their place. frustrated, i picked up the demolished or damaged clock spring, went to my actual electrician and asked him to get a new piece for me. trust me, it was 1900 by then. the electrician smiled at me, asked me to sit down, have tea and wait for 15 minutes. he pulled out a roll of strips, opened my clock spring, solded the new strip in, made me wear a tie made out of the old strip, installed the clock spring back and asked me to check it, the horn was working and the airbag light went off. i asked him that this is not something that satisfies me, he plugged in the scanner and we checked every code related to SRS and everything was perfectly all right. now here is the perfect thing, he charged me only 1,000 PKR which i know are more than what he actually should have charged but i was happy to give him that money, because:
1. i was going to get it refunded from the mechanic who broke it
2. i was ready to spend 3,500 on a new clock spring while he saved me 2,500.

Now the reason behind writing the whole B'S above is, has anyone ever got his clock spring repaired ever? experiences?

Did the roadside mechanic Begged you , to please let him work to resolve your issue?? If yes! then its alrite to ask him for the amount incurred.. Otherwise , mistakes happen from everyone and you should not claim him the money.

[sahhil_22]

Did the roadside mechanic Begged you , to please let him work to resolve your issue?? If yes! then its alrite to ask him for the amount incurred.. Otherwise , mistakes happen from everyone and you should not claim him the money.

lolz.. to your surprise, yes i asked him k ye issue hay, malik k paas jaon ya toyota? he said "O shah gee rahnay dain, mai kaunsa yahan moong phalian kha raha hun, mai karta hun na", i said, "yameen bhai daykh lain, koi katta na khul jayay" and he was like, "sir wasta hay khuda ka, mai kaunsa computer kholnay laga hun"

[zunny]

alright bro heres my story.in 2010 i was in a similar situation when due to negligence of the electrician at one of honda's dealerships the chotta started playing with the clockspring. i returned back after an unsuccessful attempt to activate audio controls on civic'c 6 CD indash player. the drive back home was no problem. the next day when i dropped off the kids to school i had to do a 3 point turn and CLICKK the horn went dead and so was the airbag light dislplayed. long story short, opened it and found out it was just a strip cable present in electronic stuff. got it soldered by my Audio mechanic as once my Kenwood pre had the same problem and the guy just fine soldered the joints n it worked like a charm. thought why not to try the same. the guy charged me Rs 200 . i assembled it back together and VOILA!! horn Beep beep again! though the repair just costed me Rs 200 and the Oriel clockspring was priced at Rs 10,580/- only lolzz. still didnt dare attaching the airbag connectors due to the fact that the soldered joints can not guarantee not to short circuit. the strip inside is well greased and placed like a coil. it twists in both directions when the steering is turned. it has a great chance that it be broken again and if this short circuits your Airbag wires then it could be fatal aswell. if the car wasnt equipped with an Airbag n you just needed it for the horn then it wouldnt have mattered at all. as Vitz fortunately has an Airbag so its strongly suggested that you immediately replace the clockspring with a new one ASAP.
though it was a stback and a loss but it ultimately made me to understand the working of a clockspring which resulted in me being able to add audio controls to my civic with OEM stereo without the use of any swi adapter and later on managed to activate Cruise control !!

[mirzahaiderali1]

AOA Bro i have the same problem with my honda civic 2008 . can anyone tell me from where i can get it fixed??