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⏱️ 700HP Facelift converted C63 S Coupe with Drexler 3.06 plated LSD
💔 Broke the clockspring when removing steering wheel. Car has gone mad
So here I was fiddling around and decided to try something with my old steering wheel and was in a rush last night and accidentally pulled out the clockspring. The taped wires unwound, so I tried to wind it back again but now when I turn on the car I get every "Malfunction" known to man. It's like everything has gone nuts.
Also, my AMG Ride Control suspension is stuck in "ultra stiff" mode
No idea what I did, the car drives but the suspension is mega stiff.
Going to limp it to the workshop in Sydney tomorrow but does anyone know what I have done? I didn't know that the clockspring could cause so many malfunctions appearing and keeping the suspension STIFF.
This is the part the I pulled off
Photo of my car below next to an old mattress (prefacelift 2017 model).
So here I was fiddling around and decided to try something with my old steering wheel and was in a rush last night and accidentally pulled out the clockspring. The taped wires unwound, so I tried to wind it back again but now when I turn on the car I get every "Malfunction" known to man. It's like everything has gone nuts.
Also, my AMG Ride Control suspension is stuck in "ultra stiff" mode
No idea what I did, the car drives but the suspension is mega stiff.
Going to limp it to the workshop in Sydney tomorrow but does anyone know what I have done? I didn't know that the clockspring could cause so many malfunctions appearing and keeping the suspension STIFF.
This is the part the I pulled off
Photo of my car below next to an old mattress (prefacelift 2017 model).
did you disconnect the battery when u were doing all this ??
⏱️ 700HP Facelift converted C63 S Coupe with Drexler 3.06 plated LSD
Originally Posted by FLC63s
did you disconnect the battery when u were doing all this ??
I certainly did! Just rushed and pulled a bit too hard on the steering wheel this time and yanked out the clockspring which broke it 🥴
Just baffles me how all of a sudden now i've got so many "malfunctions" on the dash now such as suspension, rear diff, front parking sensor, ABS and traction control all triggered from it. Must be a sensor in the steering column/clockspring itself that's been tripped or broken you think?
I certainly did! Just rushed and pulled a bit too hard on the steering wheel this time and yanked out the clockspring which broke it 🥴
Just baffles me how all of a sudden now i've got so many "malfunctions" on the dash now such as suspension, rear diff, front parking sensor, ABS and traction control all triggered from it. Must be a sensor in the steering column/clockspring itself that's been tripped or broken you think?
well i assume you put it back together correctly ....
if you still getting all the errors after a code clear (xentry or equal) then you def pinched/kinked a wire.
i took mine off when i replaced steering wheel as it cable was setting off “low voltage” errors for airbags.
i am not clear (from your post) in what you were doing , you say old steering wheel etc, can you give a bit more info or details, this way i can refrain from guessing
⏱️ 700HP Facelift converted C63 S Coupe with Drexler 3.06 plated LSD
Originally Posted by FLC63s
well i assume you put it back together correctly ....
if you still getting all the errors after a code clear (xentry or equal) then you def pinched/kinked a wire.
i took mine off when i replaced steering wheel as it cable was setting off “low voltage” errors for airbags.
i am not clear (from your post) in what you were doing , you say old steering wheel etc, can you give a bit more info or details, this way i can refrain from guessing
Sure thing man, thanks for the helping hand.
Unplugged battery, took the steering wheel off and as the steering wheel came off, I had yet to unplug the brown plug from steering wheel that leads to the plug on the clockspring (clear plastic socket) tugged on the whole piece and the entire clockspring face (transparent clear face) popped off.
The pink flat wiring inside the clockspring unwound and came out. So I attempted to wind all the flat pink wire back like before but forgot how to center the clockspring.
Installed the steering wheel again and then all the dash lights came on as well as on screen "malfunction" pictures in the center of the gauges like "differential inoperative, front parking sensor, suspension, ABS, ESP and a few others.
Drove the car and the suspension was locked with the red light illuminated on the suspension button in the center console. Ride was stiff as sh*t like I had lowered the car or something. Very bouncy but drivable!
Have you experienced anything like that before? Be careful of that clockspring man. Apparently once you unwind the cables in it, you need a new unit. Flimsy little thing it is bro!
Sorry to hear that, I assume that could happen anytime you replace your steering wheel? Considering to update mine but this kind of makes me worry.
updating etc is easy and painless, as long as you just take time, as he stated, he was rushing and pulled the wheel “way” off without disconnecting the attached cable.
taking the airbag/ steering wheel off is easy as heck, although you need to pay mind when pulling off as there is a connecting plug/wire for all functions you need to unclip.
updating etc is easy and painless, as long as you just take time, as he stated, he was rushing and pulled the wheel “way” off without disconnecting the attached cable.
taking the airbag/ steering wheel off is easy as heck, although you need to pay mind when pulling off as there is a connecting plug/wire for all functions you need to unclip.
Thanks (dont want to steal the thread) - but have to ask, is there somewhere a step by step with pics? I am always afraid to set off the airbag or do just that - brake a wire clip etc.
I don't know where exactly in the column the steering angle sensor is, but if I had to make a guess I'd say you broke it, dislocated it, disconnected it or something. The steering angle sensor is a main input to all those systems that are now malfunctioning.
Thanks (dont want to steal the thread) - but have to ask, is there somewhere a step by step with pics? I am always afraid to set off the airbag or do just that - brake a wire clip etc.
i got you bro will send u link tomorrow when i get to office.
I don't know where exactly in the column the steering angle sensor is, but if I had to make a guess I'd say you broke it, dislocated it, disconnected it or something. The steering angle sensor is a main input to all those systems that are now malfunctioning.
always can count on Swiss i didnt know the name of that widget, but thats prob it or the like.
he prob disconnected / it dislocated it. ( fingers crossed )
I don't know where exactly in the column the steering angle sensor is, but if I had to make a guess I'd say you broke it, dislocated it, disconnected it or something. The steering angle sensor is a main input to all those systems that are now malfunctioning.
Exactly this. My steering angle sensor broke in my old 335i and it made the instrument cluster light up like a Christmas tree. I would imagine it got damage while you were messing with the steering wheel and that's the source of the issues.
Without a steering angle sensor many systems shut down.
If you can check it with Xentry or similar, you can watch the data value and see if it's reporting and just wrong, maybe you have it too far off center, there is a definite place it needs to be. Or it's broken and you need a new clock spring. On the bright side, it shouldn't be terribly expensive and I think it comes separate but I'm not sure on that platform, last one I had to replace was a 164 that exploded when I was taking the wheel off and every time I re-wound it, it would skip internally and move one whole rotation, couldn't make it right, had to replace.
⏱️ 700HP Facelift converted C63 S Coupe with Drexler 3.06 plated LSD
Originally Posted by FLC63s
always can count on Swiss
Originally Posted by tobeit
Thanks (dont want to steal the thread) - but have to ask, is there somewhere a step by step with pics? I am always afraid to set off the airbag or do just that - brake a wire clip etc.
Yup it was my fault because I was fooling around and rushing. This never happens when changing our steering wheels so don't worry. I've taken the steering wheel on and off at least 8 times now (tried different steering wheels over the past six months), but this time my confidence got to me and I ended up wrecking the clockspring 😓
All because I didn't unplug the brown plug that connects to the clockspring from the steering wheel contact plate and I tugged on the whole steering wheel, and that's when it broke off.
Thanks for all the helpful and funny replies fellas, managed to get the car to the shop, and now I wait for the bill. Will post again on what exactly was replaced and how much it cost in case anyone else goes nuts 😅
It's incredible how just one part can cause so much issues.
Locked suspension in bouncy mode
No ABS
No ESP
Floppy steering
Gears only shift up to 5th gear in Comfort mode
No brake "HOLD" feature
No parking sensors lol
Last edited by Jimmy_c63s; Feb 28, 2021 at 08:13 PM.
Yup it was my fault because I was fooling around and rushing. This never happens when changing our steering wheels so don't worry. I've taken the steering wheel on and off at least 8 times now (tried different steering wheels over the past six months), but this time my confidence got to me and I ended up wrecking the clockspring 😓
All because I didn't unplug the brown plug that connects to the clockspring from the steering wheel contact plate and I tugged on the whole steering wheel, and that's when it broke off.
Thanks for all the helpful and funny replies fellas, managed to get the car to the shop, and now I wait for the bill. Will post again on what exactly was replaced and how much it cost in case anyone else goes nuts 😅
It's incredible how just one part can cause so much issues.
Locked suspension in bouncy mode
No ABS
No ESP
Floppy steering
Gears only shift up to 5th gear in Comfort mode
No brake "HOLD" feature
No parking sensors lol
Yeah, the steering angle sensor is actually one of the most important sensors in modern cars. ESP would not be possible w/o it and all the other systems heavily rely on it. The suspension uses it to know how much to stiffen up the outside dampers depending on how aggressive you turn in etc. It's such an essential and crucial sensor that there are actually three sensors for redundancy and diagnosis, because a faulty read from it could have very bad consequences.
Last edited by superswiss; Feb 28, 2021 at 08:36 PM.
2000 c230 kompressor special edition, 2012 E550 coupe (sold), 2017 C63 sedan (sold), 2018 C63S Coupe
Perhaps a stupid question, but have you tried to reset/recalibrate the steering angle sensor? On older models it was as simple as going from lock to lock a few times while parked. Doing this on my mom's w209 cabrio plus a key cycle solves an annoying recurring "ESP unavailable" warning. Sometimes you have to drive a few minutes for the warning to fully clear. Not sure of the procedure on 205s (if there is one).
⏱️ 700HP Facelift converted C63 S Coupe with Drexler 3.06 plated LSD
Originally Posted by superswiss
Yeah, the steering angle sensor is actually one of the most important sensors in modern cars.
Thanks Swiss, I had no idea. Geeze cars have come a long way. Seems like every ten years they become more smarter than us. Scary!
Originally Posted by crazy00c230k
Perhaps a stupid question, but have you tried to reset/recalibrate the steering angle sensor?
Now that you mention it, I was actually planning to try and rebuild it myself and re calibrate it, but whilst the battery was disconnected I closed shut the boot. Wtf.
Lucky the doors were unlocked so had to ask the Mrs to try crawl through the back seat ski latch thing and reach the seat pulldown levers to unlatch the back seats so I could do a macguyver and crawl back into the boot to reconnect the battery again. Things just weren't going my way! So I said f*ck it, better let the pros handle it from here.
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💔 Broke the clockspring when removing steering wheel. Car has gone mad
