Clockspring

[CaptainComet]

Hi all,

Recently got my 98 Sport ... really nice vehicle, less than 60K miles. Only problem after taking care of old tires and shocks ... no horn nor cruise control.

A lot of posts that I have seen here seem to point to a bad clockspring, but they also seem to infer that if it goes bad, the steering wheel airbag will also be non-functional. In mine, the dash light for the airbag seems to be functioning normally... comes on for a few seconds with the other dash lights and then stays off.

Can you have a bad clockspring that just disables the horn and cruise but not the airbag?

Horn and cruise fuses are OK.

The horn is supposed to honk when double-clicking the remote to lock it, right? ... it doesn't on mine ... just flashes the lights.

 

[FORDSVTPARTS]

Hi all,

Recently got my 98 Sport ... really nice vehicle, less than 60K miles. Only problem after taking care of old tires and shocks ... no horn nor cruise control.

A lot of posts that I have seen here seem to point to a bad clockspring, but they also seem to infer that if it goes bad, the steering wheel airbag will also be non-functional. In mine, the dash light for the airbag seems to be functioning normally... comes on for a few seconds with the other dash lights and then stays off.

Can you have a bad clockspring that just disables the horn and cruise but not the airbag?

Horn and cruise fuses are OK.

The horn is supposed to honk when double-clicking the remote to lock it, right? ... it doesn't on mine ... just flashes the lights.

It's certainly possible for a clockspring to fail only on a couple circuits, it's really just a series of concentric rings with sliding contacts so if the rings or contacts get damaged then they could fail individually.

It does sound odd that this only occurred after doing tires and shocks but anything is possible.

I'm not sure that the horn chirp from the alarm setting would be affected by the clockspring though, that sounds odd as well but again, anything is possible.

 

[CaptainComet]

It does sound odd that this only occurred after doing tires and shocks but anything is possible.

Now that's funny .... now that I am reading what I wrote, I can see how you took it that this occurred as a result of changing tires and shocks. That was just extraneous detail ... sorry. The horn and cruise have not worked since I got it ... "Sporty" is really cherry and that was my only reason for mentioning the other items... they were scary-old.

This makes sense to me now that the clockspring could be bad but not all circuits, if it is concentric circles. Might be partially cracked or something like that.

I was just looking for any other possible cause, and I think I have ruled everything else out. I gueass I need to start shopping.

Thanks!

 

[coppe]

tighten the horn, vibrations tend to loosen it, so you might have just a couple of contacts faulty on the clockspring, but if the alarm isn´t honking the ground or some cable in the horn might be at fault, or check if the horn is even there, i´ve known people who had their horns stolen. Don´t know the location, but might be under the bumper or so.

 

[FORDSVTPARTS]

Now that's funny .... now that I am reading what I wrote, I can see how you took it that this occurred as a result of changing tires and shocks. That was just extraneous detail ... sorry. The horn and cruise have not worked since I got it ... "Sporty" is really cherry and that was my only reason for mentioning the other items... they were scary-old.

This makes sense to me now that the clockspring could be bad but not all circuits, if it is concentric circles. Might be partially cracked or something like that.

I was just looking for any other possible cause, and I think I have ruled everything else out. I gueass I need to start shopping.

Thanks!

LOL, No worries about the extraneous details

Let me know if you need a clockspring, we just came on board as a sponsor and we give major discounts on all OEM parts to forum members.

Clockspring w/o audio controls $71.00, retails for $92.00

Clockspring w/audio controls $87.00, retails for $113.00

Shipping is additional but we don't play games with shipping costs, it is what it is. I would have to order either of those in.

 

[Turdle]

The horn is hidden under the driver side fenderwell liner-tucked in under the battery, headlight area. Could have been bumped, --disconnected by tire shop, or blow out. Horn relay good?

 

[FORDSVTPARTS]

Don't forget about his cruise control issues, it's not just horns.

Could be completely unrelated issues but about the only place the two systems are intertwined is at the clockspring and steering column wiring.

 

[Madesimoni]

bad clockspring

LOL, No worries about the extraneous details

Let me know if you need a clockspring, we just came on board as a sponsor and we give major discounts on all OEM parts to forum members.

Clockspring w/o audio controls $71.00, retails for $92.00

Clockspring w/audio controls $87.00, retails for $113.00

Shipping is additional but we don't play games with shipping costs, it is what it is. I would have to order either of those in.

Hi, how are? I have a 97 Ford Explorer w/o audio controls, and my clockspring is failing too.-
I live in Argentinam, but I have an Adress in Florida, could you send it there? How much will that cost?
how can I get in touch with you?
Thank U.
Marco

 

[FORDSVTPARTS]

Hi, how are? I have a 97 Ford Explorer w/o audio controls, and my clockspring is failing too.-
I live in Argentinam, but I have an Adress in Florida, could you send it there? How much will that cost?
how can I get in touch with you?
Thank U.
Marco

Sorry, I'm not sure how I missed this.

I need a VIN or exact build date to quote this properly but just so you know we can certainly ship to Argentina.

 

[k-pendow]

The clockspring on this one is just wound wires no contacts to get dirty. Does this truck have the recall for the speed control deactivation switch , you may want to check. The switch can leak brake fluid into the harness and into the speed control module, and cause the fuse to blow which would disable the horn and cruise. Even if the fuse is still good it could still wipe this stuff out. I'd check on that recall asap, it could even cause a fire.

 

[CaptainComet]

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'll have them check it out.

 

[CaptainComet]

Hi all,

Just wanted to follow up here ... finally got it all sorted out.

My Sport did have the recall repair done prior to my getting it, so all good there.

I did manage to get a clockspring out of a similar '98 at the boneyard here. Brought it home and tested all the circuits ... all good.

After months of distractions, finally got a puller, yanked the steering wheel and removed my clockspring. Tested it on my bench ... all circuits good with this one too. So, I put mine back in because of the low mileage compared to the other one I got.

Looked into this further ... as best as I can tell, someone replaced a cruise control pad or both of them. Some fasteners in there were marked up a bit. In the course of installing these, they wadded up the wiring ribbon that it all attaches to, and it got crushed under the right horn contacts, stripping the insulation. I wrapped this in electrical tape, put it all back together ... what do you know ... the cruise control works! ... Still no horn.

I tested the wiring going to the horn and the relay clicks and there is 12 volts going there. I got the horns off of a Lincoln Mark VIII and installed them and viola, ... they work!

I am guessing that when the cruise wiring shorted out, it was the power lead and shorting through the horn contact. It probably honked the horns continuously until both horns burned up. I noticed that the horn fuse was in the box upside down from the others.

I can just imagine ... the owner pulled the horn fuse and still the horns blare on endlessly ...haunted Explorer ... LOL ... probably why they decided to trade it in under Cash for Clunkers, even with only 55K miles on the clock. Lucky Me ...

 

[Onetirefire]

I have a clockspring question as well. I was wondering if anyone knows if the clockspring out of a 2001 Explorer Sport will work for a 2002 explorer?