The steering wheel on my 2004 2.5L X-Type was seriously ugly - it would have been, when it was new (ugly colour and had no leather and no wood, just faux leather plastic), and now it was worn on top of that as well...
But I was very lucky that I stumbled across a listing on marketplace (facebook) for a steering wheel from a 2002 2.5L - and that looked just great: wood and real black leather, not worn.

So this really good steering wheel was from a pre-facelift X-Type, my own X-Type is from after the second facelift... - and I am wondering now, if the crappy cheap steering wheel was in the 2004 X-Type as a result of a so called "production-cost-saving-exercise", while the steering wheel in the earlier X-Type was proper wood, or if that was just a matter of the buyer having paid for the extra option of a proper steering wheel or not....

I swapped the steering wheel on the same day the wooden one arrived in the mail.

The first thing I did was PULLING THE FUSE FOR THE AIRBAGS (but later I ALSO DISCONNECTED THE BATTERY). In my 2004 X-Type the fuse for "Airbag module ignition supply" is fuse F53 of the passenger compartment fuse box. Note that before 2004 the X-Type had different fuse boxes.

Obviously the steering wheel contains an airbag. If you fiddle around there, the airbag can theoretically be activated by any kind of current (and that may include static electricity, thus be careful even with the battery disconnected). Not long ago I saw an episode of "Vera" (detective story), were crooks were stealing airbags from steering wheels. That crook ended up dead with a screwdriver thru the heart. The search for a "murderer" was short-lived, as Vera figured out that the airbag exploded and drove that screwdriver, which the crook held in the hand to steal the airbag, into the crook's heart by the airbag... - I hope I made that scary enough now...

So initially I just pulled F53, but then I thought maybe not all airbags are fed from that same fuse, and I reduced the risk even further by disconnecting the battery and then held the plus and minus cable together for a moment (to discharge capacitors).

When I unpacked the pre-facelift steering wheel, I looked at how it would have been fixed and figured that it would be quite easy to remove the one from the car... - but far from it: The steering wheel in my 2004 X-Type holds on to its airbag in a totally different way - totally different design. It was an absolute nightmare to remove it - I found a video on youtube, which helped in a limited way, because when it came to the critical part, he had his hand in front of the camera-lens, plus, he only mentioned that those special clips are at 9 and 3 o'clock, but then I read in a thread about that issue, that there are indeed THREE special clips: 3, 6, and 9 o'clock - but the thread was without pictures - so with those 2 sources together I managed finally to remove the airbag from the steering wheel...

This is the picture-book-story of how to swap a 2004 steering wheel (in short from here onwards: SW) for a pre-facelift SW:


I should start with showing the SW, after I removed it, It looked already better then when I bought it, as I painted some of the worn beige section in brown with seat-cover-paint. Here you can see, what you can't see, properly, when the SW is mounted: Look at the housing (top of picture): 4 round holes (that is where you need to painfully harvest 4 torx screws from) and 3 square holes: There are no screws in those square holes. Instead you need to poke into those square holes with a fairly big flathead screwdriver (mid sized). I poked in and turned it again and again at the 3, 6 and 9 o'clock positions - I turned it those 90° to from "flat" to "upright" to make it wider and to light that spring-wire off the hook.


The reason as to why it took so long was only clear after I saw the design (after the airbag came off): While you need a mid sized flathead, the length of such a screwdriver would be too long... Maybe it would be better to choose a small screwdriver, just so that you can lever it towards the centre of the steering wheel, which I can't do with the big screwdriver, because it gets caught on that aperture for the odometer (which is why you would turn the screwdriver those 90°).


Here you see that metal hook, which clips on to the spring-wire, which the screwdriver (the tip of the flathead screwdriver visible under the hook - I marked its outlines with yellow lines) needs to force outwards over the hook. The spring-wire is obviously not visible in the picture, as it is fixed to the airbag-unit, which has already been removed.


This is the "spring wire" on the backside of the airbag - that silver "frame"! At 3, 6, and 9 o'clock the spring need to be pushed outwards off the hook and the airbag will fall into your lap....Then move the yellow slides towards the cables, then press the 2 little clips (exposed after sliding the yellow part away) and pull the whole connector out - black connector first, then gray.


Here is a picture of the black connector on its way out.


After removing the T50 torx centre bolt, the SW can be pulled off. Your are facing the clock-spring now. Better leave that one alone and remember in which position you pulled the SW off. Note that I also removed here the upper and lower plastic cover behind the SW, just to clean them off (3 little torx to be removed from underneath, and then take those 2 halves apart carefully).


Those 2 halves are already back on. Next push the 2 airbag connectors thru their opening in the SW, and then push that little black 6 pin connector thru that same hole coming from the other direction and push it into its proper position. Mount the steering wheel in the same orientation, in which you removed the other one before...


Centre bolt back on. Tighten.


Next connect the airbag connectors again and push the yellow slider again away from the end with the cables to lock the connectors into position.


And this is the reward...

Pew! I still have to point out that the re-installation of the airbag into this wooden steering wheel was an absolute nightmare. So there are those 2 different designs - the one I removed is difficult to remove and (but easy to install - should be just a "clip-in), and the one I installed is difficult to install (but easy to remove...):

To install the wooden SW:
First push those 2 torx fixing screws back into their "waiting position", into those rubber holes, so that they are not in the way, when you position the SW.
Then understand that there are 2 locators (2 "pins" on the already mounted SW and 2 opposing holes on the airbag side).
Locate the airbag correctly and press it down into its correct position. While pressing, screw those 2 torx from the side of the SW into the airbag-unit. I had big problems with a longer torx key, which I normally use, because it did not allow me to guide the torx-screws precise enough (as the other end of the tool kept hitting the dash). Only when I went and took my shorter torx key, I finally managed to get those bolts in.

And there is actually a youtube video showing exactly this SW swap, which I did. I found this video only AFTER I had l nearly finished - I looked for a video telling me how to get those 2 bolts in... But he just said, that it is "just a simple case of doing the screws up"... - well... It is not! But apart from that, that's a good video about that topic: