Hi all,

I swapped on a late 90's W202 steering wheel into my '87 and have a minor problem. The SRS light comes on when the wheel is in a certain position only, when turned about 30-45 degrees to the right. Before or after that position it's off, but at that ONE spot, it comes on! Very annoying. Now before you start typing replies... yes, I have a NEW contact ring in the steering wheel!! So then I pulled the wheel, scuffed the new ring with fine sandpaper & wiped with brake cleaner, and also scuffed the 4 brushes poking out of the steering column. That helped for a day or three but now I'm back to the same problem.

It doesn't light up driving down the road (since you don't normally turn the wheel far enough to get to the "problem" area), but in parking lots & driveways it's irritating to watch the SRS light blink as the wheel hits that certain spot. Any ideas here? I hate to spend ~$50 for a new brush assembly and not have that cure the problem. The contact ring looks perfect, doesn't appear to have any defects....


Help!

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no bites, just pullin' this back to the top of the heap for another round...

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Can you test the wiring inside the steering wheel? What if a wire is broken inside the insulation and when pulled in a certain direction, ie turned a certain way, it breaks contact?

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Dean Albrecht
"Lead, follow, or better yet, get out of the way!"E500 owners motto

The wiring is all part of the contact ring... the connection goes from the brush assembly on the column, through the slip rings, and the wire comes from the ring ass'y direct to the airbag... and that wire + ring is the new piece! Hence my frustration.

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gsxr,

Your SRS problem sounds exactly like mine. First intermittent flashing. Then flashing coincident with posititon of the steering wheel. Eventually it will stay on all the time. I was reluctant to change the horn slip ring because according to the service records of the PO, this had been done only about 20k miles ago and it was an $80 part. The slip ring APPEARED to be good. I tried cleaning it, new horn contacts ($5), new SRS contact ($35, and a lotta time time to replace), but still the light came on. I finally replaced the ring and that solved the problem.

glenmore

Now THAT would be annoying! On a brand new part, too. I guess I'll have to start swapping parts from my other car, which has a similar steering wheel upgrade. Doesn't make sense though...

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