95 plymouth acclaim clockspring air bag

[jsmith4806]

My son rearended another car, and although the damage was light, the airbag in his 1995 Acclaim deployed. We picked up the repair parts at the local U-pull-it, including a new clockspring and air bag module. Problem is, the car we got the airbag and clockspring from had the steering mechanism dismantled under the car, so no way to tell if the wheels were pointed straight ahead or not. It appears the new clockspring we picked up had had the center rotated 180 degrees (we noticed when we compared it to the original)I can rotate the center part back, but don't know which way to go, or if it will matter. Also concerned about centering the clockspring? There is some writing on both clocksprings about centering the wheel, but it refers to a service manual that I have no access to. Directions or ideas would REALLY help, as I don't want to place my son in danger. The sensors were undamaged, so not replaced, but the information I got said to replace the clockspring if replacing the airbag module.

Any way to test after installation (but before installing the airbag module) to ensure that every thing is installed correctly?

Thanks in advance! JWS

[Boogieman142]

Well, just center the wheel and then center the clockspring. If you cannot center it then just count the turns of the wheel from strait until the locks either way and make sure that the clockspring will turn a little more than that both ways and install it.