I've got an '02 Stilo 1.6, with an airbag warning.
I took it to an independent garage with all the diagnostic kit, he reset the warning, but it comes back every time the wheel is turned to the right, (to about '2o'clock') which is weird!?!?

The guy reckoned it must be something to do with the connection behind the wheel, so I've taken the wheel off, but the more I look at it the more unlikely it seems, surely the clock spring is a continuous connection, it's not like there's a bad contact or anything?!

Any ideas?

At the moment I've paid £50 for he error to be cleared, I've still got the error, and need to fix it ASAP before I go and pick up the wife in the car later! (Luckily the guy said he'd clear it again for free when I've fixed the problem!)

Replacement clock spring is needed. Does your horn also stop working when the wheel is in the possition that the airbag fault occours.

Clock spring in Sisters 2004 Panda went. Not the cheapest of things to replace

By luck I do have a NEW Stilo indicator stalk system and clock spring for a Stilo without Auto lights.

I'd do a continuity test on the clock spring to check its deffo i though. Clock spring on a friends Escort went funny. Came out the side of steering shroud. He ignored it then driving along one day, turned a corner and BANG. Airbag pointlessly deployed

Jon.

Thanks for the reply M E P!
I just had the wheel off the Stilo, on my desk and just could not for the life of me get the wheel airbag unplugged from the clockspring! Got perilously close to breaking bits, and after a hell of a lot of levering and bending plastic with a screwdriver, gave up and reassembled the whole thing back into the car!

Checked all under-seat connections while I was at it. Airbag warning still present.

I read after searching on here that the warnings on a Stilo correct themselves. Is this true??

So unfortunately couldn't test the clockspring with a circuit tester as I wanted!

Any advice on getting the bloody plug off??!

How much would your brand new clockspring be? They aren't cheap are they? (Just phoned Fiat!) TBH I'm thinking of second hand.

:doh:

Me bad, let start with the obvious. Yes Stilo's do self reset fault lights for airbags luckily.

How old it your car battery?

Check the operating condition as a low voltage will cause this problem. Had same on my Stilo last week when battery went flat (it needs changing). After a good charge airbag faults gone.

Its because of the resistance levels in the airbag systems at different voltages

The airbag connectors have locking clips that must be released before they can be disconnected.

Inside the housing is just a long length of ribbon cable wound up like a clock spring. If you decide to seperate the 2 halves of the clock spring, don't turn them whilst they are seperated. They need to be refitted in the same positions relative to each other and without the ribbon cable wound tighter or looser.

Dave.

OK, Thanks I didn't undo the airbag ends of the cables (was scared to!), I struggled instead with the end where it meets the clockspring, I'm now thinking maybe that bit doesn't come apart!!

I'm gonna try charging the bettery for a while, it's worth a go, it's the easiest thing to try first!

Otherwise I'll take the steering wheel back off and try to test the clockspring again

Ben B said:

I'm thinking of second hand.

Click to expand...

Trouble with using a secondhand one is, you can't be sure that it hasn't been turned whilst removed from the car. New ones are supplied locked with a red plastic snap-off key to hold them together correctly until fitted. You can probably see the remains of the snapped of part on your current one.

Dave.

Ben B said:

I struggled instead with the end where it meets the clockspring, I'm now thinking maybe that bit doesn't come apart!!

Click to expand...

Correct.

Dave.

Davren said:

Trouble with using a secondhand one is, you can't be sure that it hasn't been turned whilst removed from the car. New ones are supplied locked with a red plastic snap-off key to hold them together correctly until fitted. You can probably see the remains of the snapped of part on your current one.

Dave.

Click to expand...

:yeahthat:

The red bit needs to be intact.

I get that, but... there's a clever mechanism that stops it from turning more than half a turn when it's not being held down by the steering wheel. Plus, on my old bravo I managed to get the clockspring unraveled all over my car, and it still worked fine again!

I tested the suspect one just now with a circuit tester, and the signal does go sketchy as it's turned. So IR it must be at fault.

Did you say you had a new one for sale M E P? How much for?

grrr, now I'm testing the connections again I can't seem to find the fault! Makes me think the reading I was getting earlier was just down to the fiddleyness of holding the pin of my multimeter against the pins in the clockspring

Thought I'd update that this is now fixed!

I changed the clockspring for a 2nd hand one (£15 ebay) then got the guy to rescan it. He said that the fault from the driver's airbag had cleared, but the driver's seatbelt tensioner had changed to passenger side tensioner!! So he figured that both sides' seat connectors weren't too solid. So he cut and soldered both sets of seat plug wiring, and the errors have been gone ever since!

Glad to hear that youve managed to get it sorted and that the £15 clock spring seems to be holding up

Jon.