looking for advice fixing airbag light and top not opening
05-27-2014, 01:08 PM
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On the top, I got nothing.....
On the airbag light: My money says it's the clockspring in the steering wheel (about $130 new). Treat yourself to an Autel AL619 scanner. If your car is like the rest of ours, you'll make the $180 back very quickly by being able to diagnose these things yourself and make fixes on your own. You also won't be totally in the dark if you find yourself having to farm a big job out to a pro.
The reset procedure is valid. The problem is that each time you reset it, you're inducing the same fault all over again when the car is driven. When the clockspring fails, it'll sometimes allow a reset, then it will fault again as it's moved and the wires short. Rinse, repeat maddening cycle....
If you were to take it to the dealership, members here have reported that you may be led down an expensive path of replace-part-after-part, eventually fixing the problem by default at the cost of thousands to you. There's no magic to the diagnosis; the scanners will tell you roughly what side or quadrant of the vehicle to check, not precisely which sensor is out.
My AL619 directed me to an SRS fault on the driver's side. That can be a number of things: The airbag itself, the seatbelt tensioner, the clockspring, all the wiring to and from, etc. Has this car been modded or hacked on? Did the P.O. put some new seats in and mess up the sensors? Have seat belts been replaced? Is there an aftermarket steering wheel that's not playing nice with the car's computer? Perhaps a collision repair, after which someone failed to reconnect something to the SRS harness?
Any of the above conditions should draw your attention accordingly. Otherwise, all things being normal and stock, I'd say wear and tear has caught up with the clockspring. It's an easy fix. It's one of the parts I'd definitely order new, so you don't have to worry about it in the future.
But before you do anything, get that scanner. It will read and clear all these codes, and it'll do the same on your other cars as well.
Check the year of your car, but this is a step in the right direction:
http://www.courtesyparts.com/25567-b...i-p-13937.html
On the airbag light: My money says it's the clockspring in the steering wheel (about $130 new). Treat yourself to an Autel AL619 scanner. If your car is like the rest of ours, you'll make the $180 back very quickly by being able to diagnose these things yourself and make fixes on your own. You also won't be totally in the dark if you find yourself having to farm a big job out to a pro.
The reset procedure is valid. The problem is that each time you reset it, you're inducing the same fault all over again when the car is driven. When the clockspring fails, it'll sometimes allow a reset, then it will fault again as it's moved and the wires short. Rinse, repeat maddening cycle....
If you were to take it to the dealership, members here have reported that you may be led down an expensive path of replace-part-after-part, eventually fixing the problem by default at the cost of thousands to you. There's no magic to the diagnosis; the scanners will tell you roughly what side or quadrant of the vehicle to check, not precisely which sensor is out.
My AL619 directed me to an SRS fault on the driver's side. That can be a number of things: The airbag itself, the seatbelt tensioner, the clockspring, all the wiring to and from, etc. Has this car been modded or hacked on? Did the P.O. put some new seats in and mess up the sensors? Have seat belts been replaced? Is there an aftermarket steering wheel that's not playing nice with the car's computer? Perhaps a collision repair, after which someone failed to reconnect something to the SRS harness?
Any of the above conditions should draw your attention accordingly. Otherwise, all things being normal and stock, I'd say wear and tear has caught up with the clockspring. It's an easy fix. It's one of the parts I'd definitely order new, so you don't have to worry about it in the future.
But before you do anything, get that scanner. It will read and clear all these codes, and it'll do the same on your other cars as well.
Check the year of your car, but this is a step in the right direction:
http://www.courtesyparts.com/25567-b...i-p-13937.html
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