My '01 has been mine since new. She only has 40K on her, but my list of annoying troubles grows. Right now my airbag light illuminates and the gong sounds whenever I turn the wheel off center. It used to only happen on left turn, but now I notice it on rights as well. After I center the wheel, the light goes off until the next turn, I know there was a recall on the '00 for a broken clockspring mechanism but I don't know of anything on the '01.

Anyone with ideas??

thanks,

Paul

 

I'm not sure about the recall, but this probably is a bad clock spring. It isn't hard to replace at all. Maybe check with your Dodge dealer to see if your truck is in the recall.

Jimmy

 

Thanks for the input. I guess the clockspring is the way to go.

 

The other day, after having the truck worked on by my mechanic (dash removal to access the danged heater doors that weren't working properly!!) I noticed that the airbag chime was playing its tune again only this time almost every time I moved the wheel. Given that the clockspring was replaced only about 18 months ago should I be looking for something else or just resign myself to the clockspring getting screwed up when the wheel was likely disassembled for the dash removal.

 

It could possibly be a short in the airbag itself.Have it scanned by someone who can read airbag codes.

 

Paul - I had the same issue - I was seriously pi$$ed at the dealer for trying to pass its shoddy work off on me.

What happens is the airbag wire harness is too short & when they drop the column it will pull the airbag wire out of the connector & up into the conduit so no one can see the wire is disconnected. It took the dealer all day to figure out what they screwed up on my truck.

They need to put a new end on the wire & re-insert it into the plug.

Its pretty easy to mess this up, but very hard to find. I got lucky in I didn't leave the dealer with the truck as I noticed immediately they had messed it up.

I'd take it back to them - but good luck getting them to admit they did it.

 

Good advice. I changed the clockspring myself so as soon as I get a chance I'll open the wheel up and give a look. It actually makes sense since the chime is almost constant where when the clockspring was bad last year, the chime only occurred when I turned the wheel off center in one direction IIRC. Now it seems to chime 85% of the time when I turn the wheel in any direction.

 

I succeeded in removing everything and found that one of the pins on one of the plugs was bent back so it may have been a cause of trouble. I straightened it out, put everything back together and now the chime is far less frequent and the light isn't on anywhere near as often, but it still illuminates. I did try the horn and it worked, but I forgot to check to see if the light was on or off at the time. I haven't had much time to do much else. With the end of daylight savings time it's dark by the time I get home and the darkness ruins my motivation!

We'll keep plugging at it!

 

On the continuing adventure of my clockspring issue I have done more deducing. While driving the truck on a long road trip this weekend I noticed that at a certain position of the wheel the chime and light are off, but if I turn the wheel ever so slightly it will bong away until I find that spot again. I had been told about a spot at the base of the console/dash where a wire was pulled on another truck but I've determined that the problem is in the clockspring connections. When the light goes on and the bell rings, the speed control and the horn still work, so the problem is obviously a broken/intermittent wire/connection. I guess I need to open things up again and really give it a good look see.