S80: Electrical Steering wheel retro-fit

[jerryt]

Can anyone tell me if I can fit a later steering wheel(The one with the chrome insert) to my earlier mk2 S80? I know I need the air-bag but also need to know if I can transfer the controls for the RTI over to the new steering wheel? Many thanks

[Arnold Layne]

Yes it's possible, in fact relatively straightforward. Lot's of people have done it, I personally have done it twice! First time was a 2009 steering wheel, and then I saw an R Design steering wheel and airbag on ebay, so I bought that one and sold my 2009 one. Incidentally, the R-Design one looks good, but it's not comfortable especially on long journeys.

Make certain to get a steering wheel with the RTI controls and phone controls if your car has the bluetooth phone, and ideally get one with it's airbag. There are numerous Volvo breakers on ebay who will sell a steering wheel with the airbag, keep searching until you find one.

It's really easy to remove your old airbag, and steering wheel. Here's a useful youtube tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R91a3TiTzkk

and this one is useful to see how to remove the airbag and old steering wheel, even though he's replacing it with a similar model:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=w8HV0gD7mwo&t=474s

This one is useful as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nxj4S2Guqs&t=57s


You need to remove the white plastic plate from the back of your donor airbag, to reveal the yellow & brown female plug sockets, which you plug your cables from the steering column into.

The green plug from your donor steering wheel plugs into the black female connector on your steering column, and the white plug from your steering wheel is for the horn, and plugs into the yellow female connector on the back of your donor airbag (which has the sprung steel metal connectors for the horn contacts on it).

To answer your original question, yes, all the steering wheel controls work seamlessly, even the RTI functions. There is complete compatibilty between the 2007 to 2009 series and 2009 to 2014 series steering wheels, of the older type, with RTI controls (not Sensus, which has the scroll wheel).

In the videos they state it, but I'll repeat it - you will need to turn your steering wheel to 90 degrees to access the hole at the back so you can instert a thing strong screwdriver, to release the airbag, and then turn the engine on so you can turn the steering wheel the other way to get to the other hole. After you've released your airbag, DON'T UNPLUG IT YET. Disconnect your car's battery and wait about 10 minutes in case the airbag has stored any residual power, before disconnecting it.

Inside the old (and new) steering wheel you'll see a small screw, screwed into the inside. That's for your steering angle position sensor. Unscrew it from the inside of the steering wheel, and screw it into the hole you can see through your steering wheel, into the clock spring on your steering column. You will keep it there while replacing the steering wheel. It's purpose is to hold the steering wheel position in place while the actual wheel itself is off. When you've put the new steering wheel is on, and you've tightened the bolt, remember to unscrew and remove the screw which holds the steering angle sensor in place, and you can screw it into the inside of your new steering wheel. (You'll probably find one there already).

Connect your cables up, put the airbag in and reconnect your battery (and enjoy teaching your windows their endstops again!)

There are plenty of helpful videos on youtube, and if you're on Facebook, here's a useful thread:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1904...3617653665022/