I bought a replacement steering wheel for my 97 XK8 convertible. How do you remove it? Biggest worry is the air bag. Really do not want to cause a problem with that.

Also I had previously asked about the ABS system. Followed your advice and I do believe I have a defective wire to the sensor. I say so because it is intermittent and does seem to be effected by the steering. How do you get to the wire under the hood to replace it? I followed it from the sensor to the area under the brake whatever and I do not see how to get under there to access the plug without having to take a lot of things apart. Any suggestions?

By the way this forum is great! Seems like a great bunch of guys and loads of information. Really enjoying it here!!

 

One other question. Can I buy a harness off ebay? Several there for sale. How do you tell which one you need? A couple look right.

 

The back-up power supply to the Air Bag Module must be discharged before removal:

JTIS - XK8 Driver's Air Bag.pdf

Take careful note of how the harness is positioned before disconnecting so you can put it back exactly the same way.

JTIS - XK8 Steering Wheel.pdf

Slacken the steering wheel retaining bolt but don't remove it before loosening the wheel off the splines. The wheel can be a very tight fit and this precaution avoids expensive dental repair work!

There's no need to discard and replace the bolt as shown in JTIS. It can be re-used.

Graham

 

The wheel sensor connection on the left side is next to the windshield washer filler. Once you see that just look in the same location on the right side. The one on the right is a little hard to replace. Tie a string on it to help pull the new one through. You may even have to loosen the air box, can't remember.
I would hesitate to buy a replacement cable on ebay, better stay with an established supplier or dealer.

 

So all you have to do to make the air bag safe to remove is disconnect the battery cable and wait a minute or so for the system to discharge? Thanks Graham.

 

I always disconnect and leave for fifteen minutes before working on anything to do with the air bags. Longer than absolutely necessary but it's certain the backup capacitor has discharged in that time.

As an alternative, you can do a 'hard reset'. Remove the positive lead from the battery and hold it to the negative terminal for twenty seconds. This discharges the backup capacitors immediately but it does also clear all learned settings - window drop, radio code (is applicable), and fuel trims. It's a technique often used to deliberately reset engine management settings to default to fix some performance issues.

Graham

 

I will leave it off for the 15 minute plan. Still scared of the hard reset since I don't think I need it for anything else and I do not have any radio codes if I need them.

 

You will be very unlucky if your XK8 has a coded radio.

These were supposed to be fitted to UK vehicles only (as a deterrent against theft) but a very small number of US members report their radios needing a code after a battery disconnect.

In the unlikely event you do have a coded radio, the code will be lost as soon as the battery is disconnected.

Graham

 

OK! I had a Land Rover before and it had a coded radio. I had to enter it a time or two. Just assumed it would be so for the Jag. Anyway I have had the battery post off before to clean them and still have radio so I quess I am good then. Again, thankyou. Your help is greatly appreciated. I can work on old school mechanical stuff but these electronics are driving me nuts. Glad it appears my only real problem is this ABS issue.