Help!!

[mr_tw]

I'm planning on changing the steering rack on my car (1990 Taurus) asap, and if anybody knows a good how to web page, or somthing like that, that would be awesome, also, I have herd there is an issue with the air bag spring or somthing like that, and that you have to restrain it or somthing, or else the air bag could deploy, so if anyone knows anything about that, it would be much appricated, thanks for your time!

[sahib]

You should disconnect the + terminal of the battery before doing any work on or around the steering wheel if it has an air bag. You should wait a 5 or 10 minutes before begining any work after the disconnect as there is a reserve power pack that needs to drain off before it is safe. I believe this reserve is under the dash but not sure where. You can find this and information on the rack and pinion replacement procedure in the Haynes or Chilton manuals. If you work on your own vehicle one of these is a good investment or get a CD service manual from E-bay for your vehicle.

[mr_tw]

so nobody has herd anything specificly sabout the airbag spring, apperently it can also become useless, and also if I do somthing to the spring and it is set to go off but has no power, then wouldent it just go off when I reconnected the battery?

[sahib]

Originally Posted by mr_tw

so nobody has herd anything specificly sabout the airbag spring, ?

There is no spring involved here. There is a small canister of sodium azide/copper oxide powder at the base of the air bag which when ignited will produce a nitrogen gas which inflates the air bag. This stuff is ignited via an electrical pulse from sensors locate in different parts of the vehicle, any one of which will trigger the bag to inflate. It should not go off when the battery is reconnected, but just in case it would, you wouldn't be in harms way. These things can be dangerous if you're not careful.