Clock Spring (Air Bag Cable Reel) Needs Repair After Transmission Repair and Dolly Tow

Maintenance/Repairs
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I recently towed my Acura TL 2005 on a UHAUL dolly from Vegas to socal. It has 180,000 miles. I took it straight to a transmission mechanic to have my transmission replaced. After the transmission was replaced, I picked up the car, and the SRS light was on. I don’t remember it being on when I took it off of the dolly, but it’s possible I don’t remember.

Mechanic is saying that the clock spring needs to be replaced for $433. I’m wondering if this would have been something caused by the transmission mechanic, by normal wear and tear, or by towing the dolly?

Thanks

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It’s not unusual for a vehicle to require a replacement clock-spring at 180k.

Towing/transmission replacement had nothing to do with it.

Tester

8 Likes
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Thanks for the response. Just a coincidence then that the light came on after towing/tranny replacement?

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If the light came on after changing the oil, would you blame it on that?

One has nothing to do with the other.

Tester

3 Likes
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Sounds good. Thanks for the response. Really appreciate it.

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The subframe with steering gear assembly must be lowered/removed before the transmission can be removed. The technician may have neglected to lock the steering wheel before disconnecting the steering shaft.

If the steering wheel is turned in either direction and not in sync with the steering gear the clock spring can be damaged. It may be difficult to get a mechanic to admit to damaging the clock spring.

1 Like
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Thanks for the response. That’s the kind of thing I was afraid of but I don’t know the first thing. I know coincidences happen, but I’m pretty sure the light was off when I took it in.

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the clock spring is a common problem on acuras around your year. my son has a 2008 that had to be replaced with half your mileage. the part is expensive for what it is. if you check online you will see a lot of others who had to change it.

2 Likes
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“There are no accidents” was a good movie line once. Everything is just supposed to happen. I had a car which would break right after you fixed something. I stopped fixing things and nothing else broke. Daylight saving time just happened so maybe the clock spring felt like it needed attention. We all know what SRS means on an older car. Serve the remaining sentence. I’m actually sympathetic about the sentence costing so much. Sorry, your question brought out a lot of my thoughts.

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The clockspring isn’t actually a timepiece. :wink:

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Tester I like that LOL some vehicles have to have the frame cradle dropped to get the transmission out, which would entail disconnecting the steering rack. What would happen just a for instance if somebody would spin the steering wheel not meaning to break anything And mess the clock spring up. There also was a sensor in the front the guy that scanned it might have just said clock spring because he wanted to make money. You never know and yes they do go bad