Steering wheel failure/clock spring
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 277
Likes: 276
Steering wheel failure/clock spring
I'm in Anchorage, I have a '20 992 C4s, had it about 15 months and have 13,000 happy trouble free miles. Until now.
On the first of June, I took my car to a detail shop, got it back all clean and shiny. Right after I picked it up, I noticed an airbag sensor on the dash so I drove over to the Porsche dealer and talked to their most experienced mech. He said it was probably a wire under the seat, sometimes become jostled when the seat gets run all the way forward and all the way back. That made sense and there was an oil change due so I made an appt to get that done and figured he'd look at the sensor at that time. Closest appt was June 15, no big deal, it's just a light on the dash, right? I can keep driving it.
I went out for a drive that night, gorgeous night but then I noticed some other things were wrong. Very wrong. Paddle shifters wouldn't work, sport **** inop, steering wheel not talking to the car. Then, I started to slow down to turn around and the car stayed in 4th, wouldn't downshift. I was all the way down to 12 mph and the car was still in 4th. Crap, I'm going to stall this thing and not be able to restart it because I won't be able to get it into neutral.
It finally shifted, I got the car home. Once in the garage, I shut it off a few times but no change. Took it to the dealer and told them I was afraid to drive it. They, of course, were booked but said they'd try to squeeze it in. Finally looked at it last Friday, the 11th and the mech said, yes, the wheel is not talking to the ECUs. Mentioned the 'clock spring' might be bad, the connection where the wheel stays in contact with the column as the wheel rotates.
That diagnosis was confirmed yesterday and apparently, that part cannot be changed, needs an entire new wheel. I was told it was ordered by fast order and should be here in one to two days. Today is Tuesday, hope it is here tomorrow so I can have the car back by the weekend, I've already missed two weekends and some great driving weather. I have a '19 Macan S but it ain't the same.
Is this common, anybody ever heard of this? Thankfully, this is under warranty but any ideas what this would cost?
I heard of a guy with an older 911 who changed wheels because he wanted the newer style paddles and it seems to me that was $6K and I doubt they have gone down.
On the first of June, I took my car to a detail shop, got it back all clean and shiny. Right after I picked it up, I noticed an airbag sensor on the dash so I drove over to the Porsche dealer and talked to their most experienced mech. He said it was probably a wire under the seat, sometimes become jostled when the seat gets run all the way forward and all the way back. That made sense and there was an oil change due so I made an appt to get that done and figured he'd look at the sensor at that time. Closest appt was June 15, no big deal, it's just a light on the dash, right? I can keep driving it.
I went out for a drive that night, gorgeous night but then I noticed some other things were wrong. Very wrong. Paddle shifters wouldn't work, sport **** inop, steering wheel not talking to the car. Then, I started to slow down to turn around and the car stayed in 4th, wouldn't downshift. I was all the way down to 12 mph and the car was still in 4th. Crap, I'm going to stall this thing and not be able to restart it because I won't be able to get it into neutral.
It finally shifted, I got the car home. Once in the garage, I shut it off a few times but no change. Took it to the dealer and told them I was afraid to drive it. They, of course, were booked but said they'd try to squeeze it in. Finally looked at it last Friday, the 11th and the mech said, yes, the wheel is not talking to the ECUs. Mentioned the 'clock spring' might be bad, the connection where the wheel stays in contact with the column as the wheel rotates.
That diagnosis was confirmed yesterday and apparently, that part cannot be changed, needs an entire new wheel. I was told it was ordered by fast order and should be here in one to two days. Today is Tuesday, hope it is here tomorrow so I can have the car back by the weekend, I've already missed two weekends and some great driving weather. I have a '19 Macan S but it ain't the same.
Is this common, anybody ever heard of this? Thankfully, this is under warranty but any ideas what this would cost?
I heard of a guy with an older 911 who changed wheels because he wanted the newer style paddles and it seems to me that was $6K and I doubt they have gone down.
Last edited by Jim Wilke; Jun 15, 2021 at 01:55 PM.
Three Wheelin'
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 1,613
Likes: 1,078
From: Southern California
Interesting. When I purchase my 2nd 992 (first one was a buy back) and was leaving the dealer lot. My PDK paddles didn't work! It took them 2hrs to get mine to work. They said a wire in the steering column was disconnected.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 277
Likes: 276
Upon further review, car apparently does NOT need a new wheel. Service rep told me yesterday it needed a new steering column. I assumed that meant steering wheel because I knew they weren't going to change the whole column. Turns out, he didn't read the whole description. The car needs a steering coumn SWITCH which they should have tomorrow. Car should be done by tomorrow night.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 277
Likes: 276
Epilogue: Took 10 days to get the car back, needed a switch from Germany. Turns out, the detail shop I used got carried away with some cleaner and the steering column switch arced and shorted. All good now.
Nordschleife Master
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 8,278
Likes: 6,949
From: Southern California and Nevada
