bb89138

A few months ago my airbag light come and stayed on (very annoying). I knew that it’s probable is the SRS module, but I had no intention of removing the dash board center console heater and more just to get to the module. I also know that it’s impossible for get a new module and a used one is more than 20 years old with no guaranty to work. I had to reduce or eliminate the illumination of the air bag light. I pulled out my shop manual and reviewed the instrument cluster and SRS wiring diagrams. They showed that the light bulb is a 2 watt and is fed from the cluster circuit board; the output is to the SRS goes through a Brown wire on one of the cluster connectors. Next I dusted my old electrical engineering text book refreshed my memory on electrical circuits and there was the answer. Current is inversely proportional to the total circuit resistance, power (W) is directly proportional to the current, total resistance is the sum of the resistances of all the components in the circuit. Hence increasing the resistance of the circuit will reduce the current and reduce the power – the illumination of the light bulb, I just had to find the right resister (Ohm) to add in series with the light bulb.

Went to Fry’s Electronics and bought few packages of resisters, 100, 120 and 330 ohms ($1.50 per package of 2-4 resistors each). Back in my garage, I found an old instrument gauge in my scrap box, wired if the one resistor at a time and to the battery; with a 100 ohm resistor the illumination was reduce, with 200 ohm resistors the illumination was faint and with a 330 ohm resistor there was no visible light: that was the one I needed. I calculated that it will reduce the current to less than 30 milliamps enough to keep the SRS happy not to trigger the beeping.

Disconnected the negative battery cable and proceeded to remove the steering covers, the bezel and the 4 mounting screws of instrument cluster (no need to remove the steering wheel). I pulled the cluster forwarded, and found the connectors on back side. Disconnected the white connector the on the left (when facing the cluster) nearest to the air bag light. There it was the air bag light brown wire, at the 5th position of the connector. Pulled up lightly on the connector to get more room on the top and then cut the wire leaving 1-2 inch in each side, connected a 20 inch long, 18 gage wire to each end of the cut brown wire and threaded then through the back of the cluster to below the steering column. Connected the wires to the 330 ohm resistor, connector the negative battery cable and turned the ignition key to ON; all was good, no air bag light and no beeping. Disconnected the negative battery cable, secured the resistor and shrink wrapped and tied it under the steering column with a tie strap. Reinstalled the cluster bolts the bezel, steering covers and the under dash kick panel and reconnected the negative battery cable, reset my radio stations and the clock and took the car for a drive.

I know that this may not resolve inspection issues in some States, but there is no red light to alert an inspector. In California and Nevada you only have to pass emissions (smog) test, and in Nevada, if your car is older than 21 and is driven less than 5000 mile a year you can be exempt from smog check provided you get a Classic Vehicle or Classic Rod plate, same cost.

Disclaimers: This Fix in no way resolves the initial problem with the SRS module that caused the air bag light to stay on. I don’t know if the airbags remain functional and deploy-able when the light is on, it may depend on what is wrong inside the SRS module. This fix may give you a false sense of security the all is well with the air bag system- it isn’t so and it must be kept in mind!

hks_kansei

So basically, the light came on indicating a fault somewhere.

So you just stuck resistors in until the light turned off.



So, a more complex version of this:

ryansmoneypit

iTrader: (6)

Kind of. The beeper is real loud and really annoying. Tape doesn't fix that.

bb89138

Important to note that by referring 1996 shop manual, section T "air bag system Trouble shooting" you'll find a flow chart and the diagnostic codes for the air bag light and the possible causes; There are five codes 0, 1, 2, 3, 4. code 0 is for the light staying on, the other are for blinking light (not my case). The possible causes listed for code 0 are the SAS unit, the connector to the unit, or wiring short. to inspect and check each possibility you must get to the SAS unit and like I said dissasembling the dash board and etc, and I wasn't about to do it. Every thing I read on l the subject indicated to me that the cause is failure of components inside the SAS unit. Hence I decided to look into cutting down the illumination of the air bag light without triggering the beeping alarm, and carefully selected the resistor.

bb89138

If your air bag light doesn't come on when you start the car,you probably have a burned out light bulb. You will have to take out the instrument cluster to replace the bulb.