997 multifunction wheel swap / steering wheel removal by p0rsch3

5 minute read

997 multifunction wheel swap / steering wheel removal

Compliments of p0rsch3 @ www.6speedonline.com

Put the new multifunction CF wheel on today, it looks sweet! I will post pics later. For now, I wanted to capture the knowledge here for those who may want to do this. Thanks to the other forum members who shared their experience with me, made the job a snap!

1. park car with wheels straight and steering wheel straight.
2. remove key from ignition
3. disconnect battery neg. terminal, let sit for 10 mins.
4. Remove airbag: take a long 1/4" alan wrench or other similar sized thin object with a flat tip, and insert into the hole on the bottom rear of the steering wheel. use something almost the same size as the hole. You will push up firmly to remove the airbag. What you are doing is pushing up on an internal wire retainer clip, once you push on it hard enough put your fingernails under the top edge of the airbag and pull forward, it should start to pop out. Now pull forward on bottom edge. It should all pull straight out.
5. once the airbag is out, reach in and unplug the orange connector, it pulls straight forward. Now lay the airbag somewhere safe.
6. Remove steering wheel center bolt *special tool needed*. You will need a 12mm multi-point tool. It looks like a large Torx bit with about 12 or 13 smaller ridges (A torx has 5 larger ridges). This tool is used for a few different things on Audi / VW cars as well. I do not know the exact name of this tool, I borrowed it from my friend. Slap the bit onto a 1/2" long ratchet wrench and turn bolt counter clockwise to loosen / remove. If you lock the wheel in the process do not worry, it is ok.
7. Now that the bolt is off, use a thin marking pen to mark a few points on the steering wheel next to the shaft that you unscrewed the bolt from. This is just in case you need to put the old wheel back on or need a point of reference when putting on the new wheel.
8. Gently slide the old wheel forward and off. do not twist or rock, you do not want to disturb the clock spring that sits behind the wheel.
9. Sport wheel replacement is easy, just put new sport wheel on with same alignment- tighten bolt - plug in airbag and push in to lock it in place.
10. Now, reconnect battery. you will get a PSM failure light. No biggie, it goes away after driving off.

Note for multifunction wheel:

There has been HUGE speculation on whether the multifunction wheel is "plug n play" on 997 cars. Answer is, it depends!!

If your car did not originally come with a multifunction wheel, then your car does NOT have the required control module or wiring harness. Period.

Now, if you buy a used multifunction wheel from a forum member, more than likely the wheel has the control module and wiring harness installed with it (it sits inside the steering wheel under the airbag). In this cars, YES it is "plug n play". Just attach your standard wheel airbag to the harness on the multifunction wheel and put it back on as in step 9 above, and go to the dealer for programming (BH Porsche charges about $80).

If you bought the wheel new from Porsche, it DOES NOT have the control module or wire harness included, you must buy these separately!! You need part number 997-612-673-00 (wire loom) and part number 997-613-445-00 (control unit). Both of thse parts can be ordered in a week from a dealer. Sunset Porsche charges $62 for the loom and $118 for the control unit. both of these pieces mount inside the steering wheel, just ask them to email you the schematic from PET (illustration 403-05). Put this all on (it's very easy) and take to dealer for programming.

NOTE: PET calls for a different airbag part nuber for the multifunction wheel than the standard wheel. This is BS! My standard wheel airbag fit just fine. If there is a diff I cannot find it!