SAS - steering angle sensor fix: $0

[audiophool]

The '04 threw the 4x4 lamp a while back and I chased it down to a bad SAS.



Since we have three cars and two drivers, I decided to take the sensor off before buying a new one, and maybe take it apart to see what was wrong.



Well, the wipers on the triple-track potentiometer were completely borked.


So I cut apart several Bourns 3299 trimpots and harvested the wipers from them.


Then cut the remains of the old wipers from the SAS housing's springy tabs and clumsily soldered the new wipers in place. They're ugly in this picture, but I trimmed away some of the side ones and measured to be sure they tracked in the right spots.


The way this works is the sensor checks resistance between the tracks at 90 degrees apart. The center of the three tracks has contact to both wipers, and the inner and outer tracks connect to the outermost and innermost wipers. This gives a continuously variable resistance since the steering moves over 1200 degrees lock to lock.



A quick clean of the potentiometer surfaces with some control cleaner followed by a few drops of De-Oxit and I put it all back together and in the car.


Plugged in the Foxwell NT510 to see if it worked. Success: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzUi...ature=youtu.be


Drove it around a bunch today, and no 4x4 light. The repair was free since I had a box of the potentiometers kicking around. If you had to buy them, they're about a buck each.