Dealership wants to replace Steering column Clockspring

[Eyelise]

The left side steering column buttons and horn stopped working. The control module is apparently not communicating and located internal to the clockspring. $350 in labor and 650 in parts. Anyone have this issue and replace it themselves?

 

[aszumilo]

I replaced one on an 06 Sebring. Horn and cruise didn't work, well, horn kept going off. Got the clockspring from the Pic A Part yard. If you get a used one, make sure it is the exact same one as you have. Center the steering wheel and tape it so it doesn't rotate before removing it. If it rotates it could screw it up. Install is pretty simple on that car. Disconnect the battery for about 20 minutes, so, the capacitors discharge. 4 screws hold the air bag on, from the back. Again, center the wheel before removing the old one, then it's a couple of screws and connectors. Not a hard job.

Never did one on a Ram, so, not sure if there is much difference, but, I am sure there are some Youtube videos out there.

 

[star_deceiver]

Be sure it’s the clockspring and not a bad internal connection or partially unplugged connector behind the airbag. You need only a medium length flat head screwdriver to pop the 3 tabs to remove the airbag.

 

[jcarden10]

As star_deceiver said, make sure it's the clockspring. I dealt with this same issue, thought it was the clockspring, replaced it, but it didn't fix it. Ended up being two bad wires in the connector that plugs all of the steering wheel wiring into the clockspring.

Check out this youtube video. It shows the exact problem and should be linked to the timestamp where they show the issue.
https://youtu.be/qYVXyiW8oLY?si=ogLJQLctxUQHQ9tz&t=1467

 

[62Blazer]

In regards to making sure it's the clock spring....that is the responsibility of the place doing the work. If they say that is the problem, they replace it, and the issue is still there you shouldn't have to pay for the work.

 

[Rado]

The left side steering column buttons and horn stopped working. The control module is apparently not communicating and located internal to the clockspring. $350 in labor and 650 in parts. Anyone have this issue and replace it themselves?

Had it done last year on my 2015 SLT ! Same issue you have !

About the same price maybe a few $$ more !
When I dropped off I said could it be clock spring , Saw many post on here about it !?
First tech said no and changed a relay, not fixed
Next tech change the wire harness still not fixed
third tech changed clock spring and it worked :O

 

[jcarden10]

In regards to making sure it's the clock spring....that is the responsibility of the place doing the work. If they say that is the problem, they replace it, and the issue is still there you shouldn't have to pay for the work.

100% agree, but OP asked if anyone had this issue and replaced it themselves, so since it sounds like he wants to try and fix it himself just trying to help him save $350 by just throwing parts at it like I did.

A little more context...after I put the new clockspring in, the buttons, horn, and backlights would only work when the wheel was turned 90+ degrees left or right, so I put the old one back in since that was a new problem and thought maybe I had received a bad clockspring. But that also means I disconnected/reconnected that connector twice and still never noticed that the wires were broke. It wasn't until I put the old one back in and did more research that I found out those wires could break. Unless you intentionally try to pull the wires out of the connector, you'd likely never notice that the wires are broken.

 

[HarryS]

All signals go through the right side button assembly, including the horn. The right side button assy turn the signals into LIN, and then send that to the clock spring assy, which then converts the signal to canbus, and sends that to the BCM. You can get a right side switch assy for relatively cheap and give it a try.