Airbag light - T4 diag in Bath/Bristol area?

[n300zxtt]

I managed to somehow get mine to go off, could not work out which seat it was so, i moved each seat until it came back on again. that then narrowed down the connectors to 2.

I had engine switched off when i was messing with the wires but i never disconnected battery or anything

[rover54]

Originally Posted by BigJacko

Thanks. There are actually FOUR connections; two (blue) for the seat-belt pre-tensioners, and two (yellow) for the airbags, so that's actually double the amount of time - which, if it doesn't work, is even more of a wasted effort.

I've also read that the original connectors have a spring inside them which shorts out the two wires (on the airbag side), so that they are definitely uncharged and untriggerable when they are disconnected. Choc-boxes don't quite offer the same degree of protection, so I am keen (if possible) to only have to mess with the *actual* connector or item that's bust, rather than muck around with them all and risk (at a later date) an airbag firing off because of a dodgy choc-box connection coming loose or shorting against the seat frame.

I'm not looking to save money, specifically. Time is a constraint; safety is another. Obviously I'm not looking to throw money away, but neither am I going to cut corners with airbags if I can help it.

£55 for a diagnostic is steep, but if it'll rule out the offending article and save me having to rip the lot out 'just on the off-chance' then it's actually not so bad. I have emphysema, so struggling around under car seats is actually pretty hard work for me - which is another reason why I just want to find the *actual* source, rather than stab in the dark.

Cheers for the info anyway.

When I said both, I meant driver's and passenger side connectors. Not the number of connectors. Cannot say anymore than that and I am sure you will find whatever method suits you. I suggest you find a T4 if you don't want to waste anymore time as apart from trial and error, that is the only way you will find the problem.

[hogweed]

Originally Posted by BigJacko

The law changed this year. Since March 2012, SRS lamps illuminated on the dashboard is an instant fail.

Anybody know how to disconnect the @!*^&”!! light if we can’t fix the connection and make it go out?

[GAVIN]

Originally Posted by BigJacko

Hi all,

I have the dreaded airbag light, and less than a month left before my MOT is due. I've been going nuts trying to pin it down to a specific underseat connector but haven't been able to do so.

I occasionally (one time in ten) seem to get an extinguished SRS light, but more often than not, it stays on. Even the times it is extinguished, I'm not concious of having 'done something' to make it so. It seems purely random (but probably isn't).

My wife and I both use the car, so the driver's seat gets moved a lot, as does the steering wheel - the passenger seat gets moved almost as much too, though. I've WD40ed and opened+closed all four connectors (yellow airbag connectors and blue seat-belt pretensioners) repeatedly. I haven't yet done the 'cable clip around the body, end-to-end' trick yet though (that's next).

The interior of the car has never been wet, so I don't suspect the side-impact sensors.

I can't see any problems inside the steering wheel, but I haven't stripped down the shrouds completely yet.

I've not looked at the rear-seats (we have two child-seats installed which rely on the seat-belts) - presumably there are no airbags there, but are there any sealt-belt pretensioners in the rear that I should check? If so, how?

The annoying bit is that I'm being sensible and waiting 10 minutes after each test (ignition off, key out) before wiggling or disconnecting the under-seat connectors again... and this is making the process of trial-and-error take ages.

I can't help thinking it would be better to get a diagnostic box on there, and see whether it will tell me exactly what connector (or other thing) is the cause. I have an ODB-2 reader working on my laptop, but it shows no MIL faults at the moment, so evidently, it probably can't read the airbag-ECU through the normal ODB-2 bus (can anyone confirm?)

So, I'm left with a hunt for a T4 or something similar that I can employ someone to use to read me the codes. My nearest ex-Rover garage is Hartwells, Bath, (two minutes away) but I'm reticent to use them, given the poor feedback they have on Google, and comments I've heard locally. Does anyone have any other recommendations for trustworthy T4 (or equivalent) operators in this area?

And how much should I expect to spend on having someone plug in a reader and tell me "it's the left front pretensioner, guv" and trouser my dosh?

Thanks in advance!

(Car details: 2002 52-plate Rover 75 Tourer Club, 2.0-litre petrol KV6, pre-facelift model)

Again double check with your MOT testing station as its still an advisory.
It didnt come into affect this year.

[rover54]

Originally Posted by hogweed

Anybody know how to disconnect the @!*^&”!! light if we can’t fix the connection and make it go out?

AFAIK it will fail because it wasn't intially illuminated. The SRS and ABS lights intially are illuminated and then go out after they system has passed an integrity test. If either of these lights don't illuminate and go out in the right sequence they your car will fail the MOT for either defective air bags or ABS. There is now no getting around the problem, they need to be working or don't bother taking your car for an MOT.

It is not a good ideal to be driving with defective airbags anyway, they are part of your safety.