Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Clockspring

I took these pics when I changed mine. I know its a little late but maybe they'll help.

I hads to pull a torx wrench apart to get the airbag cover off. There are 3 holes in the back of the wheel but only the center one has a bolt in it. You have to turn the wheel to get to it.

Pic of the torx

Pull the airbag cover

Thn unplug the airbag. Its the wire w/ the yellow sleeve there.


I didn't take anymore pics but after that it a snap. 1 bolt in the center of the wheel then it just slides off, you don't need a puller. Make sure your wheels are straight, I had to redo mine then just lift up & unplug the clockspring.
BTW these are just some supplemental pics to go w/ what Tony said, he gave the PC way to do it. I'm not going to post a bunch of warnings or whatever just use common sense & if you blow yourself up its your own fault!

Pic of the Clock spring

Thanks - not too late. I had to order the part since the only dealership around here that had it in stock wanted $66.86 for it. All of the others dealerships had it listed for $47.96, but not in stock.

TH says...

Airbag/clockspring...FYI...a few moths ago in a rural hospital emergency room, a tech was pronounced DOA.....He was working on a Ford car with an airbag (drivers side)...Waited 5 mins after power down before starting to remove the airbag.....with the bag off the wheel he disconnected the wire...The bag went off and slammed the back of his head against the body B pillar......DOA...reason...broken neck due to airbag impact.......Don't take any chances with these...they
will KILL you!

I wonder if the tech forgot to disconect BOTH the negative and positive terminals for the battery and did not put some insulators in between the cable and terminals to prevent accidental closing of the circuit.

From Ford CD Manual,

"1. WARNING: THE ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT NECESSARY FOR SYSTEM DEPLOYMENT IS POWERED DIRECTLY FROM THE BATTERY. TO AVOID ACCIDENTAL DEPLOYMENT AND POSSIBLE PERSONAL INJURY, THE POSITIVE BATTERY CABLE MUST BE DISCONNECTED PRIOR TO SERVICING OR REPLACING ANY SYSTEM COMPONENTS."

All's well that ends well. Disconnected the battery and waited a couple of hours. To remove the air bag, the two screws were T25 for my 97 Contour LX. After removing the 1 bolt in the center of the wheel. the wheel would not come off, it was stuck down by the clockspring. Pulled hard and it popped off with the clockspring opening up and shooting all over like a slinky. Used a body panel removal tool to pop the one yellow harness off the column. Put it all back together and no more flashing air bag light, and the horn works again so I can blast all of the idiots who like to cut people off. Thanks for all the help!