Taking apart the steering wheel

[lombard]

All right, don't ask how it happened, but a quarter got wedged between the horn button and one of the spokes of my steering wheel. In my efforts to dislodge it, it got pushed all the way inside the wheel houseing. Now it's just rattling around in there.Anybody know of a good tutorial for taking the wheel apart? With a live airbag in there, I don't want to just start digging around trying to take it apart to retrieve the quarter.

[ragingfish]

quote:All right, don't ask how it happened, but a quarter got wedged between the horn button and one of the spokes of my steering wheel. In my efforts to dislodge it, it got pushed all the way inside the wheel houseing. Now it's just rattling around in there.Anybody know of a good tutorial for taking the wheel apart? With a live airbag in there, I don't want to just start digging around trying to take it apart to retrieve the quarter.Agreed. And you need to get that out, because if the airbag does go off, that quarter can become as deadly as a bullet...I'd advise letting the dealer do it...because if something does happen adn teh airbag deploys...it's their abutt, and they have to pay to fix it, not you...

[drunkenmaxx]

can't say i can figure out a way to accidently get a quarter in the steering wheelthen again, you said don't ask, so i won't

[joatmon]

It would be easy enough to push in between the horn button and the rest of the wheel, and then get it in so far it fell in all the way. Sometimes I stick money in places while waiting in line for a toll booth or drive-thru window. If you do decide to attempt to remove it yourself, there arae a number of steps to disable the airbags, there's some fuse or relay to pull behind the left dash storge area (on the back side of the dash fuse block) disconnect the battery, and maybe some more steps. I won't have the time to look it all up in the service manual for a couple of days.You would definitely want to do everything required to ensure tht you don't blow the airbag. Not sure what a deler would charge or how technically challenging the task is or what you're capable of, but ragingfish had a good point that if you pay a dealer to do it and the airbag fires, it's their problem

[ragingfish]

The driver air bag module in the Vibe lists at $664.50

[drunkenmaxx]

(stuttering) but but but there are two coin holders in the vibe - one is right by the steering wheel!

[dmitri]

lol just dont get in any accidents...btw, if your gonna do it yourself and take apart the column, underneath it is a yellow wire. Whatever you do, dont mess with it because it can deploy the airbags.

[Devlop]

Where the quarter is wedged at, all you need to do is take the bag out. I looked at me steering wheel and it looks like all you need to do is take out the two torx bolts that are in the bottom of the wheel. They look like a T30 size torx. The bolts are gold color and if you turn the steering wheel around 180 deg, they are very easily accessible. DISCONNECT THE BATTERY FIRST BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING!!! This will keep from setting any codes and you won't have to worry about the bag blowin. I have taken bags out before, but not from a vibe. So I'm not completely positive on the way the bag comes out, but 95% sure. Good luck.

[lombard]

Well, I decided to tackle it myself. I noticed the same torx bolts. Unhooked the battery and proceded to pull the bolts. Those dang things are in there tight. All I have for running torx bolts is a cheapo ratcheting driver with interchangeable bits. The hex connection between the driver and the bit stripped before the torx bolts even started to turn. I guess I'll have to go buy a new set of drivers.

[scherry2]

quote: I guess I'll have to go buy a new set of drivers. get good ones looking at it, yea you have to remove those torx bolts first. it should lift right of after that. when you do get the 1/4 out crank on those torx bolts when you tighten them up I don't know what the torque is but it should be pretty high seeings as it has to hold in an accident.

[ragingfish]

Scherry has a good point about the bolts. They might be torqued. I think it's best you let the dealer handle it...

[joatmon]

The bolts should be torqued to 8.8 N-m, or 78 lb-in