Car steering wheel controls.

[Pirate Lady]

My up down volume on steering wheel is intermittent. Was thinking of squirting a little WD40 behind the buttons. Good or bad idea?

 

[Gofirstclass]

My uneducated guess would be no. The WD would go where you want it but then would run down the column and get into places where you don't want it to go.

 

[Pirate Lady]

Ya, figured that, thought maybe it might loosen up switches.

 

[Shenanigans77]

 

[Pirate Lady]

will try that. thx

 

[paulswagelock]

Likely a broken clock spring.

 

[Nater Potater]

Try Rock Auto for a replacement clock spring. The only real scary part about replacing them is dealing with the airbag. Anytime I'm pulling one of those out of the steering wheel, I wear my heavy leather jacket and motorcycle helmet. Sometimes, you can reach in through the driver's open window and disable them while outside of the car.

 

[blaster]

Can’t you just disconnect the battery to disable the airbag? I’m always super careful when I take one out too but I thought power was required to actuate the airbag.

 

[Nater Potater]

Can’t you just disconnect the battery to disable the airbag?

Nope. The smarties in the design room felt that there was too much chance of losing battery power in an accident, so the air bags have their own power source; usually a capacitor. All it has to do is supply enough juice to fire the propellant.

 

[Bill Curtis]

The common wisdom and all tech manuals state to disconnect battery and AT LEAST 2 FULL minutes so that the SIR system will drain down all voltage left in it.

Always gone with that and haven't tripped one off yet.

 

[Skybolt]

Just my 2 cents on this, but the air bag is very expensive to replace should something happen. I might be inclined to have the dealer or trusted shop do this repair given your stance on other mechanical things. I can guarantee the cleaner will not work for that.

 

[Pirate Lady]

Thanks for replies. I ain’t touching it, will use the volume knob on dash.

 

[Fill Ess]

Years ago this happened on my wife's POS Accord when it was fairly new.

One by one the things on the wheel stopped working (volume, cruise, etc).

I replaced the piece that goes between the steering wheel and the column -- forget what it's called -- but that fixed everything.

Luckily the airbag was a separate piece. Not gotta lie ..... I made sure to be below the wheel when I took all that apart

 

[Nater Potater]

I replaced the piece that goes between the steering wheel and the column -- forget what it's called -- but that fixed everything.

That's the "clock spring" referred to earlier.

...dealer or trusted shop...

That's kinda all-exclusive, isn't it?

 

[Skybolt]

That's the "clock spring" referred to earlier.
That's kinda all-exclusive, isn't it?

Yeah to a point I guess. It's just someone that doesn't like working on the boat engine should be just as cautious with the air bag and pulling the wheel. The dealer or shop blows the air bag it's on them. And just to be clear, nothing against you @Pirate Lady, changing the clock spring can be a real PITA.

 

[Pirate Lady]

Don’t worry, I ain’t changing shat. Beyond my pay grade. I have no idea what the clock has to do with volume control on radio.

 

[Nick 55]

Before you play crash test dummy (joking of course) many vehicles have multiplexed steering wheel controls because of the sheer volume of wires needed to have discrete wiring for each switch. So a multiplexed switch pack would usually have 4-5 wires in the column, 2-3 for switch illumination and power, and 2 datalink. I’d start by figuring out what you have by looking online at pictures of switches in your specific vehicle. You likely just have a bad switch.

Secondly, most “modern” vehicles less than 15 years old have some sort of sleep mode for the airbag system. Many are key off and away from the vehicle (for those with keyless push button start) for X minutes, leave a door open, etc. If the car is waken up by someone with a proximity key or using a remote then you can induce faults even if the car was asleep if that happens. Most brands have enough of a forum presence now to find out how to do a steering wheel removal which isn’t even completely necessary to replace switches. Good luck. Respect the system and follow procedures and they are safe to work on, fool around, and they aren't.

 

[Tripsdad]

I have an extended warranty on my 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland and I am having the dealer replace the clock spring. The directional stalk has a lot of play and just like @Pirate Lady’s problem with the volume control. It’s going to cost me the $100 deductible but they told me the part alone is $600 plus.