406 Coupe steering wheel connection broken

R

rix

Member
Tadpole
Joined
Jun 5, 2018
Messages
20
Location
Melbourne
Hi all,

I managed to stuff up one of the steering wheel connectors to the airbag module on my 406 Coupe. I was removing the steering wheel to get the leather recovered.

Anyway the small orange connector wires broke and I’m wondering was it’s function is? Airbag or horn? How do I go about repairing it? Can I solder it back in? Do I need an auto electrician to do it? Can it be tested if it works once repaired? I’d hate for it to be faulty and it activates the airbag spontaneously or something else.

Hope someone can help. I can’t upload images from mobile as it says they are too large so I will try and reduce on my computer tonight.
 
IMG_7718.jpeg
 
From my understanding, yellow (orange?) is common for airbag plug colour.

To me, it looks very likely it's airbag.

I think if carefully soldered, it shouldn't change the wire resistance so should be ok.

Obviously be out of the car when reconnecting the battery.

Please note that this is my opinion only...I'm not an auto electrician so best seek advice from them.
 
If you do solder it, you'd need to be sure that you are very competent.
 
Get someone competent electronic tech to resolder these back on. May need to strip the plastic on the ribbon cable back a bit with some heat.
Test with airbag cushion back in place to ensure no airbag errors before pushing the cushion back in. Also use some adhesive to hold the ribbon in place if you need to trim.

Should be able to be repaired without replacing the clock spring.

Make sure your seats are protected while soldering inside the car, would hate other damage to occur 🙈
 
Just a generic comment. The airbag system tests itself ever time you turn the key on and if it detects any abnormality it will turn the system off and set the light. So when refitting it, when finished just switch the key on from outside the car and see if the light goes out after a second or so.

I have soldered up some airbag cables and they were OK. Really just a good professional electronics repair job required. No magic !

A warning about having the steering wheel off, or the steering rack disconnected from the column or the joints. Do not move any parts or you risk loosing the correct position to reassemble it. Then you are at risk of the clockspring not being in the same position as before. Then when you go to full lock you may exceed clockspring end free travel and pull the wires off the clock spring system.
Be careful and mark every part.
jaahn
 
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