Just left the dealer after paying my $118 diagnostic charge and they tell me that passenger side after cat O2 sensor is bad and the the rotary coupler needs replaced to fix the SRS system and light. $1200 to do both.

Definitely going to do the O2 sensor myself but wanted to get some thoughts on the rotary coupler. Has anyone done this repair? Easy? Hard? Should I just let the dealer do that since it deals with the airbag? I also think this might be referred to as a clock spring?

This is on a 98 Discovery.

Would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.

thanks

 

If you have never worked with air bags before I would suggest you not attempt it. It takes very little to cause that bag to fire and throw you into the cargo area.

 

Stegger,

As far as your SRS light, you might want to try the connector in the rear of the drivers seat first to make sure it is set properly. If you look under the drivers seat from the back seat, you will find a velcro pouch, in the pouch you will find a connector, clean it good and put some dielectric grease on it and put it back in the velcro patch. A lot of times, this will fix the problem.

Good luck

 

I would agree with disco Mike, however if you feel comfortable with electronics it is not too bad, I did mine (bought a used one from roverlandparts.com, think it was about $35) some torx screws behind the airbag removes it from the wheel, I first unplugged the yellow airbag harness (as well as the other ones going into the coupler) this way the airbag was not connected to anything, also if it blew up while disconnecting that plug it would not kill me. was a little nervous about unplugging and replugging in the bag itself but it went without problems. then a big bolt to remove the wheel (think it was a 17mm or something) and the coupler comes right
out. you will need to center the coupler but they explain how to do this in the rave manual, I thought over all it was pretty easy and it was my first time dealing with airbags. But most importantly you need to do what you feel comfortable with.

 

Just watch this video first to get the idea of how powerful an airbag is. Wait for the Ford airbag...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOWZGLue_B8

 

wow I remember stories about a best buy installer (back when I used to install for them) that shorted an airbag while installing an alarm, it broke his nose and messed up his shoulder really bad, he was very lucky he didn't die!