That Airbag Light Question Again

[smudger]

Hi all new member here well i got a mk1 2.3 ghia a couple months back had more problems than i care to think. Should of walked away from the deal.

 

Well most jobs are done apart from the airbag light

 

so vag comm said resistance too high now too low and it would be a fault with the clock spring (i poressume), but too high no power! 

 

so off comes the cowling and what meets my surprise yep airbag is not connected so here is my problem there is no plug anywere to be found near the ignition barrel to re connect airbag,

all i can see is 2 wires that are taped up looks like maybe someone cut the plug off so could someoine polease confirm these are the correct wires for the airbag

 

 

picture of the chopped wires and airbag plug

 

if someone could confirm these are the correct wires

 

ty

 

[BrianH]

Certainly the same as mine - you should have a yellow connector on the back of the slip ring to go onto it - look for something like the one on the connector on ebay item 181053499999 (I've got the airbag light issue which is hopefully down to a broken slip ring as its listed as an intermittent connection - I've got the slip ring but haven't got round to fitting it yet).

[smudger]

hmm strange the white plug is on the slip ring wires, the plug thats missing is from the car wiring harness, dnt want to do a quick repair and fire the airbags off if these are not the correct wires

[BrianH]

Does yours have anything besides the airbag and the horn on the wheel (stereo controls etc?) If so it may be a different connector/slip ring you require. Mine is an aspen 2.0l so doesn't have any of the extras.

Photo of mine attached - i think you are right the car harness wires seem to be missing but yours also seem to be different to mine. The connector to the harness joins the two feeds to the indicator and wiper stalks underneath on mine.

 

Possibly also worth a look at http://www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/ford/index.php?/topic/13785-trip-computer/&do=findComment&comment=112375 from the faq section as its got some info.

[BrianH]

Looking now the colours don't quite match so hard to say for sure. It could be that they have changed the wire colour though. It would be worth checking where they join the loom if its as described above it may be a good place to start.

[smudger]

yours is an exact match from steering wheel and i see you hasve a yellow plug with red and yellow wire which is what im missing and yes i have radiuo controls and cruise control stalks, maybe i should investigate furthur down incase privious owner tucked it away

[smudger]

well car due for an mot in 2 weeks and i suppose i will have to do a diy repair job on the airbag system could some one tell me if it matters which way round the wires go to connect the air bag system as i can gather its my yellow plug thats been cut off 

[viperclive]

Don't panic about the mot as it will not fail on air bag light, it's still an advisory and not a failure, just had mine done, check all dust covers though, drop links, bottom swivels as they are now testable, if the components are ok you can buy replacement dust covers, just a little hard work but saves tons on labour!

[smudger]

cheers viperdave i did do a bit of looking around how to add a custom steering wheel and this got me thinking in looking deeper into it and from what i can gather a 1v 2 ohms resister on the wires fools the ecu to say everything is fine so any fault with the steering wheel airbag will disappear so i have ordered one and see if it works as tbh i don't really fancy doing a botch job on the airbag for it to go bang whilst driving :)

[viperclive]

Good luck there, if you get a new custom steering wheel fitted keep me posted never thought of doing that! I intend to hang on to my gal for many years, done Lpg conversion on her so very cheap to run.

[smudger]

well the resistor didnt work, but i should of used my head as it would only knock a light off for resistance too low, and spoke to mot station and they said they will fail it if it doesnt go out so looks like the airbag light in dash clocks is getting wired to the oil light in dash clocks so should come on on first click and go off after a few secs i know this is wrong but at least it will get throught the mot till i can fix it

[viperclive]

I can assure you air bag light is not a fail, yet, only advisory, mine passed last Monday with air bag light on, my brother owns garage/mot station up north and is a good source for info for when I put my girl in for mot down here in Gosport.

[viperclive]

I would also change MOT stations and find one that dosnt feed crap to customers to try to get work, I bet they would have loved to put your air bag problem right and charged a fortune!!!

[seatkid]

Airbag light indicating failure will be part of the MOT test as from 20th March 2013 - next week!

 

 

 

Annex A: List of New Testable Components

 

For Class 4, 5 & 7 vehicles

 

Headlamp levelling and cleaning devices when fitted for HID or LED headlamps

 

Main beam ‘tell-tale’

 

Battery (including batteries for electric or hybrid vehicles)

 

Electrical wiring and connectors

 

Trailer electrical socket security and damage

 

Operation of 13-pin trailer electrical sockets using an approved trailer socket tester

 

Operation of the steering lock (where fitted) including a malfunction warning in respect of an

electronic steering lock

 

Electronic power steering malfunction indicator lamp

 

Electronic parking brake control and malfunction indicator lamp

 

Electronic Stability Control (ESC) components, including the switch (if fitted) and

malfunction warning

 

Brake fluid warning lamp illuminated or inoperative

 

Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS)

 

SRS components including airbags, seat belt pre-tensioners, seat belt load limiters and

SRS malfunction warning lamp

 

Engine mountings

 

Speedometer

 

Indirect vision devices (where they replace obligatory mirrors)

 

 

 

Additional new items for Class 5 vehicles only:

 

Electronic Braking System warning device

 

Entrance/exit steps and doors

 

Door remote and emergency controls

 

Door open warning devices

 

Stairs

 

Emergency exit signs, windows and ‘break glass’ hammers

 

 

Smudger needs to have his MOT done before the cutoff date....Can someone PM him? (I dont do PM's)

Edited March 13, 2013 by seatkid

[viperclive]

Spot on seatkid, when bro logged on this morning he got the info you listed.

[smudger]

maybe that explains why it will fail as i was booking it in for next week, i will rush the work that needs doing so i can get a 12mth on it

[BrianH]

I can assure you air bag light is not a fail, yet, only advisory, mine passed last Monday with air bag light on, my brother owns garage/mot station up north and is a good source for info for when I put my girl in for mot down here in Gosport.

 

Ditto mine exactly the same as the first clock spring i got didn't work, and the second is currently sat indoors waiting for better weather. I put mine in around 3 weeks ago as the tax was up expecting it to fail and was amazed it passed with several advisories which I will work on. Airbag on mine is an advisory note. Don't think your idea with the light will be as easy as you think as it looked to me when i had the clocks out to replace the bulb behind the fuel gauge that the airbag one is an led buried on a second board.

 

I do gather its supposed to come in but not in as yet. I also have found that the manager in any station will tend to err on the side of caution and say it may fail when the tester may say otherwise (as they will know the current regs better anyway).

 

Edit - should have scrolled further down the thread. But still may help with the note about the light.

Edited March 13, 2013 by BrianH

[smudger]

yeah brian i had clocks apart and can achieve it by way of desoldering the led for airbag drill small hole in circuit board were the led was and resolder 2 wires and the led to the oil led, tried all sorts like i said im going to do the cv boot clean the drivers abs sensor and stick her in for mot on monday get the advisory and work from there

[seatkid]

I have nothing against putting it through the MOT early, thats legal (until 20th March) and  the indicator tells the driver/passenger of the risk when travelling in your car.

 

but I really think that frigging the LED is stupid and irresponsible. If you, your passengers, or a buyer of your vehicle were involved in a serious/fatal accident in which the lack of airbags were a factor, its likely a police investigation would uncover your skullduggery and you would be held liable and of course lose all insurance cover and have police/insurance/injured parties persue you for criminal negligence and fraud.

Edited March 14, 2013 by seatkid

[smudger]

thsts my plan seatkid i need get mot asap as a full air bag overhaul will cost about 400 quid and with the other stuff if i can quock mot it

[smudger]

and seat ur right im trying cut corners just for my mot... im aware but my passenders are not but i promise u now i will fix the issues legally...

[BrianH]

I have nothing against putting it through the MOT early, thats legal (until 20th March) and  the indicator tells the driver/passenger of the risk when travelling in your car.

 

but I really think that frigging the LED is stupid and irresponsible. If you, your passengers, or a buyer of your vehicle were involved in a serious/fatal accident in which the lack of airbags were a factor, its likely a police investigation would uncover your skullduggery and you would be held liable and of course lose all insurance cover and have police/insurance/injured parties persue you for criminal negligence and fraud.

 

Agree on that point i think thats probabbly also the reason the clocks are assembled in that fashion to prevent doing it. I get the distinct idea that its almost designed to be impossible to get the unit back together if you start taking it apart that far anyway to avoid people fiddling the milage display amongst other things.

 

Its probably the clock spring causing the problem they are usually the culprit on here. And by design once its detected a fault the light comes on and stays on so you know to fix it. The too low error is caused by the metal clip on the plug connecting the two prongs (by design). Think of what the clock spring does every time you turn the wheel its not really surprising it fails (although more often than others appear to).

 

Personally I'd take it for mot asap if everything else is sorted and then deal with the airbag afterwards as you have suggested.

 

Also not sure that the behavior of the led is identical on startup to the oil one, The oil won't go out till engine starts whereas airbag on my other car goes out after a short delay even if you don't start (the galaxy one has not worked in the 7 months i've had it and hadn't got round to fixing it as been busy fixing other stuff on there.

[smudger]

brianh i could agree on the clock spring if it was connected if u see my pic at start of thread it has beeut off. ive decided the best way to solve this problem is to go and salvage a airbag wiring loom from scrappies, no cutting and joining wires, and as for my mot i checked dvla website it isnt due till may lol so i have 2 mths to fix

[BrianH]

might be a good start on the loom but there must be a reason someone did that in the first place. only one real way to find out though and your suggestion for the first step sounds like the best bet.

Only problem you may run into is finding one intact one (the scrapyard i went to most recently has fired all of theirs by applying current to the connectors after stripping them off. Required to by the environment agency they say - though how firing them improves anything pollution wise i don't know, could see safety as no chance of them going off by mistake after that).

[seatkid]

(the scrapyard i went to most recently has fired all of theirs by applying current to the connectors after stripping them off. Required to by the environment agency they say - though how firing them improves anything pollution wise i don't know, could see safety as no chance of them going off by mistake after that).

 

I think it is probably required for HSE reasons as they are classified as explosive devices and would otherwise have to be stored in an approved safe area.

 

You are right that smudger wouldnt get his oil light frigged airbag light through the test. The airbag light comes on when the ignition is turned on and extiniguishes as self tests are complete - approx 2 secs. A tester will check this without starting the engine.