The fact that the Airbag warning light comes on together with a horn problem leads me to believe that the Clock Spring may be faulty.
This is a flat nylon belt that has copper tracks on it that provide data from the steering wheel boss to the electrics such as Horn On, Steering Boss Airbag Activation, cruise control, radio operation etc.
The 2006/7 KJ with ESP also has a track to determine the exact angle of the steering wheel.
These Clock Springs get brittle with age and cause hairline cracks in the copper tracks....may be a permanent crack or may only open up when the steering wheel moves to a certain position.
I had two Airbag problems on my 2002 Export CRD.
On my RHD KJ the Clock Spring connecting cable goes down the column and connects to a small five-wire connector just behind the panel that you tend to bump your knees on. This small connector had a bad pin on it...I would fix the male/female pin and the Air Bag light would stay OFF for a while then come back again.
I got tired of this so cut the male and female plugs off and connected the wires straight through. An interesting thing about this small connector is that inside the plug is a small spring-loaded flat metal plate that shorts out the pins going up to the steering boss....this is to stop Back-EMF from running up the cable and energizing the Air Bag!
I was informed by an owner of a RHD KJ that this short section of cable does not exist on the RHD KJs!
After fixing this problem...years later I started getting the Air Bag light coming ON again....this only happened when turning the Steering Wheel in one direction and steadily got worse so it was obviously the Clock Spring failing!
If you work on the steering boss area ie. intend removing the plastic cover with the horn and other controls on it....or if you intend replacing the Clock Spring... you
must first disconnect the battery leads and tape the Red and Black leads together for 30 minutes to discharge any capacitance within the system which may set off the Air Bags!
Then remove the plastic cover on the Boss...4 bolts 10mm if I remember correctly. Disconnect all plugs there..Horn, Air Bag etc.
I believe that to replace the Clock Spring you need to remove the steering wheel...I am too lazy to look it up!
I had to remove the whole steering column one time to replace the small bearing at the top of the column...Dealers did not have it....so I may be a bit confused...look it up in the 2002 Jeep KJ Service Manual Link given!
Remove the bolt holding the steering wheel in place....13mm I think. Mark the exact position of the steering wheel to the splined shaft with a sharp tool so that you can get the steering wheel lined up properly again.
Using a small two lever bearing puller...place a large nut over the exposed female thread and use the puller to lift the steering wheel off...the large nut protects the female thread from damage.
Tape the Clock spring in place so that it does not unwind if you intend using it again so that you get it back into its original position....the Clock Spring is pre-wound about 2 turns so that you can turn the wheel both ways without snapping the Clock Spring.
There is a clear plastic window on the Clock Spring assembly through which you should see a Flag that tells you the Clock Spring is in the correct position...the Jeep KJ tells you the procedure!
The new Clock Spring assemblies from the Dealers comes with all the possibly needed copper tracks ie. for Cruise Control, Radio Controls etc. and ESP even if you do not need them!
The new assembly from the dealer comes with a white plastic shipping plug holding the spring in its correct position...after you have fitted it in place and the Steering Wheel is bolted back in place you pull out this White Shipping plug!
When all connectors have been re-plugged and the Steering Boss is Back in place re-connect the battery...make sure no person is sitting in the Driver's Seat!
If I recall correctly the air bag light stays ON for a few days until the Jeep is happy that all is well.
