Heated steering wheel mod - success!

Yes I stitched it back together. They one I bought is from EAST DETAILING.

Yes I did see the post for the heated steering wheel retrofit. I also follow him, OLD RED, on Instagram. I would do his retrofit but I am assuming it would cost upward of $1000. Not worth the price in my own opinion.

 

So I was able to remove the factory steering wheel and install the new steering wheel. I did a mock up of the wiring where I plugged in the wires onto the pins without inserting yet into the connector (2nd pic). It all worked great with no issues when tested. The 2 wires went into the 2 connectors behind the airbag. I ran a power wire from an empty slot in the fuse block to the empty spot in the clockspring pin as previously posted. I also ran a ground to the 2nd empty slot in clockspring pin as also previously mentioned.

Now the hiccup I ran into. The 2 wires behind the airbag fit perfectly into the existing white connectors with no issue. I was under the impression that I could do the same for the black connector on the backside for the clockspring. Unfortunately the 2 wires do NOT fit into the black connector. If they fit this mod would have been a success.

Now I am looking for an extra black connector with pigtail harnesses already installed. Does anyone know the part number? If I get this, I can depin the extra connector and install them into existing connector and this mod will be done and finished. So this is where it's at for now...

 

Looks great. Hope you find the part and it finishes well.

 

Ah, but I believe under his FAQ he mentioned something about the clock spring in the non heated 4Runners not being adequately sized to handle the additional draw.. potentially a safety/hazard concern…

 

Yes totally understand the safety/hazard concern. I tested this on an extra battery and ran it for a few minutes to see if it would get super hot or not. The heat seemed to reach a certain point and maintained the temperature. Never getting to the point of extreme heat/burning. I am not too concerned to be honest as I only plan to run it for a few minutes at startup to knock off the chill during winter months. On top of that, it will be installed with a fuse inline to help regulate so I am covered that way. But I do understand the concern. But with any mod, there is always a degree of risk the modder is willing to assume and I am OK with it.

 

So I found a solution to my issue about the 2 wires going into the back of the clock spring! I found this male to female 12pin harness on AliExpress! It took a few weeks for shipping but showed up today. These fit perfectly for what I require it for. Only downside, which isn't a huge deal is they are longer than what I need. They mate perfectly with oem connector and actually clicks in place unlike other cheap overseas options. Here are a few shots of it. I will install this weekend so this mod can finally be done! All I need to do is splice into the harness wires that corresponds to the correct pins.

 

I was able to modify and add the harness. Happy to finally say that this mod has been done and is a success! In time for the first snowfall of the year here in Vancouver, Canada. Had it on for the 45min drive to work with no issues and no overheating. Just a nice constant heat for my hands that is not overly hot.

 

Nice follow up on this write up. Glad you got it back together and functioning.

Wanted to check and see if the switch LED was super bright at night or just right in its installed location?

 

Here is a shot of the harness - 2 wires separated. 1 is for 12V which comes in from the fusebox. The other wire is grounded to a bolt underneath the panel, right above the fusebox.

 

The light is noticeable against the drivers side door at night. I don't even notice it when turning as it is blocked by the steering wheel. I guess one can use a switch that is not illuminated if they don't want the ambient light or just not provide power to it's wire. I may switch to that in the future but for now I'm just happy to get it done and off my list LOL!

 

Grata job and amazing detail work. Enjoy it!

 

It doesn't say it's for 4Runners but other models use the same steering wheel. This is the link to the one I bought. Should work on your 4Runner as well!

https://www.eastdetailing.com/products/copy-of-2011-2014

 

Nice work - like where you located the switch. We got our first substantial snow here in mid-Missouri since I got my 4Runner. Love the heated steering wheel and wiper heater. The snow fell while I was at work yesterday (still snowing today)- so went out to head home and had to brush a bunch of wet/heavy snow off the windshield and windows. No gloves - left them in the pockets of another jacket. Felt great to fire up the heated steering wheel with freezing hands. And wiper heater kept the wipers from sticking/ice building up on them. Love this vehicle for winter driving.

 

Yes definitely glad I have it now as well! Sure beats driving with cold hands during this time of year!

 

Just throwing it out there for future reference. If you do this mod, or any steering wheel mod, there is a chance you may tweak your steering sensor, resulting in unwanted lights coming on in your dash cluster. The TRACTION and POWER STEERING lights came on for me thus disabling these functions. If this happens, you may need to replace the steering sensor, part number 89245-30110. Once I replaced this sensor the dash lights went away. I found an aftermarket option on EBay as the dealer does not sell separately (at least my local dealer). They told me it is sold with the clockspring (which I didn't need to replace).

 

Clearly says not to detach from the clock spring. And thats exactly what they tell you to do to install the cartrim home mod. Have a feeling a lot of people will mess it up.

 

True! There are a lot of people who upgrade their steering wheels as well to aftermarket, non-heated option. IE, carbon fiber type, etc etc. I wonder how many have messed up their sensors as well...

 

When just upgrading the wheel it's not as much of an issue since you pull the clock spring with the angle sensor attached to it. With this mod they send you a new clock spring that will require swapping the sensor over. But I believe that would be the same if going the OEM route. Unless an OEM clock spring comes with a new angle sensor

 

The OEM clockspring comes with a new steering angle sensor. One of many reasons to use an OEM part. This is part of the SRS airbag system as well as feeding data constantly to your ABS/traction control, and power steering systems.

There is a reason why Panasonic says “Do NOT detach from the spiral cable”.

Make of that what you will…

@Emmantik, just seeing this. Great job on the leather wrapped wheel! I’m thoroughly impressed.
The steering angle sensor uses weak magnets/magnetic fields to sense angles. Running a larger current through wires that are not shielded will produce a EMF that can mess with the sensor. I can’t say for sure, but that might be why your original one went wonky. Take that with a grain of salt though, as I haven’t run a direct experiment on the sensor.

However, Please consider going and getting an OEM clockspring with the proper circuits to handle the elements in that wheel. I don’t want to see you potentially get hurt in pursuit of a creature comfort.

 

I said this exact thing a few posts up. The draw on the non heated clockspring didn’t intend for a heating element addition.

@Old Red, which is the angle sensor? Is it the part with the green tape that’s posted above?

 

Second photo, post #46. It is clipped to the back of the clockspring assembly.

 

Just to confirm. I have the clock spring ordered based on the manual. That one will have the angle sensor already attached? If so I guess that makes sense why it's $400+.

Another concern is, based on the schematic from TIS. If looks like the thermistor and ECU to control the temperature is in the OEM wheel. @Old Red is that correct, or am I reading it wrong?

 

Yes, the steering angle sensor comes attached to the new OEM clock spring. That's why Toyota charges an arm and a leg for it. The heater controller for the OEM wheel is housed within the wheel behind the airbag.

 

Copy that. I ordered originally from BAM but they cancelled my order. Said they couldn't source the wheel and the switch. Ended up ordering from Toyota of Massapequa. We'll see if they can fulfill the order.

 

Thanks for the reply @Old Red and I understand the concern! I will definitely take your suggestion into consideration!

 

For anyone wondering, or on the fence about ordering from Cartrim.
I have the kit ordered and will post my thoughts on it when it comes in.
I don't plan on installing it, after everything that got put into the light. But I will hook it up to a power source just to test.

@Old Red confirmed above that when ordering the OEM clockspring for this mod it comes with the angle sensor.
Note of caution for anyone that did order this kit. I'm not 100% certain where they have the thermistor, or the ECU to control the temperature. (It could be in that box that can be seen in the image from the product page)
On the OEM wheel it appears to be built into the wheel itself, and the switch plays into as well.
There might be a fire hazard with the cartrim kit, as well as big chance of damaging your angle sensor when you swap it.
The OEM wheel shuts off after 30 min, or if it detects a short or goes over temp. I don't know if the same can be said about the cartrim kit.

 

thanks! I’m assuming you saw the car trim video? What baffles my mind in the video he says don’t move the sensors/angle sensor etc but yet you can see the person fiddle with it and move it all over the place and then re install it. What exactly is going on there and does that ruin the angle sensor/clock spring?

 

@TheSponge Yes, I have. I had numerous people send me links or ask if I had seen it. I am happy to share my thoughts publicly, if the community wants, or would like an honest bit of information regarding the product currently being "hyped up". There's a lot of things that were shown in both of the videos that range from "not accurate" to blatantly misrepresented. I don't want to get into a giant flame war about it, so until I hear from the community writ large here that they want to know, I'm just going to provide some educational info below.

Let's chat about how the clock spring and steering angle sensor work:

Clockspring: The OEM manufacturer for Toyota clocksprings and steering angle sensors is actually Panasonic. The clock spring is essentially a set of ribbon cables inside of a housing. They are oriented in such a way to allow the wheel to turn and still have operational switches and an airbag without eventually breaking wires from repetitive bending and stretching. The 4Runner clock spring is made in such a way that allows 5 full rotations of the clock spring (2.5-3) in either direction from center before the ribbon cables are stretched too tight and essentially break, rendering it useless (See photo below).



In this case, there are two or three classes of circuits inside (depending on heated vs non heated wheel setups). You have the circuits for the airbag, steering wheel switches, and for the 23MY the heated wheel. The 4Runner steering rack is a little under 3 turns lock to lock, so the OEM clock spring is more than sufficient if centered in travel upon installation. At the factory there is an orange break away tab that keeps the clock spring centered until the wheel is installed. If you go to remove the steering wheel you will hear talk of "don't move the clock spring". This is to keep it centered so that upon reinstallation, it is able to adequately rotate in sufficient revolutions to match the wheel and steering rack travel. The OEM clock spring even has two little logos printed on it to remind you of making sure things are centered before installation (See box in photo).

For example, let's say I center my steering wheel and remove it. I have ~2.5 turns to the left and right on the rack/wheel and clock spring. If I accidentally rotate the clock spring 1 revolution to the right and reinstall the wheel, I now have 3.5 turns to the left and 1.5 to the right. It may look centered, but it actually is not. If I then go and turn to the right, I run out of travel of the clock spring internal ribbon cables, and now I have traction control, power steering, MTS (if equipped), and the airbag light on. Opps, there goes a couple hundred bucks (In full transparency, I learned this lesson myself when I dug into my 4Runner and accidentally bumped my original clock spring without realizing it while doing some work years ago. Lesson learned on my end, and why in certain documentation I harp on this fact). This is why it is paramount to make alignment marks on the wheel, clock spring, and to center the rack before doing this kind of work.

The internal ribbon cables are delicate (This is an OEM clock spring assembly that is no longer functioning for demonstration purposes). Inside the non-heated OEM Toyota clock spring are two ribbon cables with two different types of circuits (See photo below). Each ribbon cable has 8 circuits within it; 2x larger traces for a single airbag connector for the steering wheel airbag, and 6x smaller traces for the various steering wheel switches. There is also internal splicing for grounds, common power, etc. but I won't get into that as it is not relevant to the discussion. In normal operation mode, only the smaller traces carry voltage. The larger airbag traces carry no power to them until the SRS ECU sends power in the event of an accident. These smaller traces are meant to handle milliamps (mA) for current at 12V for switches only. The larger traces are meant for the air bag charge to the ignitor when the airbag needs to deploy; these are a one-and-done trace. In other words, once a clock spring deploys an airbag, these traces and ribbon cables go to crap due to the high current that passes through these when the airbag deploys. This is why you NEVER USE A USED CLOCKSPRING as there is no guarantee that it will work correctly a second time. Using an aftermarket clock spring is just as dangerous, but that is a discussion for another time. Part of the danger of using an non-heated clock spring is that you have 1mm of insulation between 12V and the airbag ignitor circuit. Draw enough power through a small wire and you create heat, which in turn can create a short to ground or another wire/trace/circuit if insulation between the two is no longer present. I hope this explanation and associated photos are educational.



Steering Angle Sensor: This sensor is also made by Panasonic and is calibrated at the factory and installed into the clock spring during the manufacturing process. This sensor sends data to your power steering ECU, ECM, Main body ECU, Instrument Cluster, Crawl Control & MTS ECU switch*, and other systems. Needless to say it is very integrated into the data bus of your vehicle. Therefore, removing it from it's factory placement into the clock spring may cause issues. This sensor works by using small gears and shafts with magnets and magnetic field changes to calculate the angle of your wheels. It is not a shielded ECU due to the exposed magnets inside and what I assume are hall effect sensors that read the field changes, therefore it is susceptible to EMF interference. (I have yet to open up this sensor as I still have some need for a functioning one for the bench and testing still to do on another project before I completely sacrifice this in the name of modifications).

I Hope this helps demystify the clock spring and steering angle sensor. I try and spend the time to understand how and why certain parts are designed the way they are and why they are used in certain applications only. Hopefully what I have outlined here will lend some credence to why I say certain things regarding electronics on our 4Runners. This knowledge is born out of research, time, and lots of sacrificial parts so that when I say "probably not a good idea", it is to save others from injury, wasted time, or money spent on unnecessary or preventable repairs.

Please forgive any grammatical errors or typos on my end as I am posting this after a long day.

 

@Old Red If I swap the clockspring/angle sensor for the proper Toyota OEM one, would this be 'safer' in your eyes? Thoughts? I'm hoping to keep the steering wheel as it took a lot of time and effort to do but would also like to be safer as well. Your input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Wow! Thank you very informative and really explains what a clock spring is and its functions. Based on your post, I’ve made my mind NOT to order the heated wheel from CTH as the risk seem to outweigh the benefits. I’ll wait until some post feedback that ordered these.

So the CTH wheel comes with a new clockspring that we ‘asssume’ is rated for the added draw of the heated wheel and one is to transplant their angle sensor to this clock spring?