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General >> Problems >> wayward airbag dash warning light
(Message started by: november_man on Apr 2nd, 2012, 11:14am)

Title: wayward airbag dash warning light
Post by november_man on Apr 2nd, 2012, 11:14am
greetings, is there a circuit diagram available for this system. the illumination can be quite intermittent , a bump in the road causing it to go off as well as bringing it on. it may seem daft but can it be affected by R/T. on the motorway nearby there is an electronic traffic monitoring array. the light can be off but you can guarantee that when the position is passed the light pops up ! there again it could be a bad connection somewhere, duff sensor ? any advice gratefully received

Title: Re: wayward airbag dash warning light
Post by Simmo on Apr 2nd, 2012, 1:13pm
The usual cause is a loose connection in the steering wheel. Have a read of This (http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/airbags.htm).

Also check out the details in the Electrical faults section of Fault finder (http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/faultfinds.htm).  

Another place to check is the connections under the seat as rear passengers feet can sometimes disturb them.

Title: Re: wayward airbag dash warning light
Post by Tompion on Apr 2nd, 2012, 3:36pm
There have been several posts regarding a flickering airbag light over the years. Faults with components of the airbag system or their wiring should produce a flashing code as shown on the page that Simmo posted a link to.

A flickering or permanently on light is more likely to be either the power supply to the airbag module, a fault with the module or its connector/wiring to the dash, the dash connector or the dash itself.

Quite often with this problem people report slapping the top of the dash or pressing the instrument cluster will cause it to come on/go off.
Cleaning the connector behind the dash is often suggested, but as that connector has 6 other wires it is difficult to see why just the airbag light would be commonly affected – although having said that there are less common reports of problems with the cruise light, its pin is adjacent to the airbag pin.

I have found bad solder joints in the dash of my car & have had no problems since re-soldering them, however it was only a few weeks ago so difficult to say whether it was definitely the fault.
I plan to post more about it at some stage.
You can see some details here:
http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Advice;action=display;num=1330135415

A link to the wiring diagrams can be found here:
http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=admin

Title: Re: wayward airbag dash warning light
Post by november_man on Apr 3rd, 2012, 10:56am
thank you for pointers. investigation underway

Title: Re: wayward airbag dash warning light
Post by Mike H on Apr 3rd, 2012, 12:44pm
Safety note ~ before messing about with the actual airbag unit in the steering wheel (if it comes to that) disconnect battery and wait 30 minutes, or is it 45 minutes? To make sure it don't go off in your face!  :o

I'm only going by what some other experts wrote before ;D


Title: Re: wayward airbag dash warning light
Post by Mike H on Apr 3rd, 2012, 12:45pm

on 04/02/12 at 13:13:32, Simmo wrote:
Another place to check is the connections under the seat as rear passengers feet can sometimes disturb them.

I agree that's most likely first on the list.


Title: Re: wayward airbag dash warning light
Post by november_man on Apr 3rd, 2012, 12:55pm
postscript : investigation temporarily suspended, rain stopped play . as a matter of interest regarding wiring under front seats, I assume the airbag circuit is linked to seatbelt tensioning setup ?

Title: Re: wayward airbag dash warning light
Post by Tompion on Apr 3rd, 2012, 2:21pm
Yes plugs link to pyrotechnic pre-tensioners, although I believe early cars may not have pyrotechnic types. Later cars also have side airbags but I don’t know the location of the plugs.

You should find clips under the seats to keep the plugs out of harms way.

The plugs & sleeving for the wires for the system are yellow.

On this page it says “disconnecting the battery for twenty minutes”:
http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/airbagmanual.htm

However within the PDF’s it says
“Wait at least 15 minutes after disconnecting the battery before disconnecting the electronic control module multiplug. For all other supplementary restraint system multiplugs wait two minutes. If these times are not observed there may be the possibility of accidentally deploying the air bag(s) and the pyrotechnic seat belt pre-tensioners.”

Title: Re: wayward airbag dash warning light
Post by november_man on Apr 3rd, 2012, 7:07pm
it would appear a previous  owner has been here before me. no clips and a fistful of wires !

Title: Re: wayward airbag dash warning light
Post by a-way on Apr 4th, 2012, 9:05am
My scorpio did the same but the flickering went of for moments if i slapped the dashboard... it bothered me so finally i changed the instrument panel and the airbag light flicker disappeared like magic... also i looked at the old instrument panel for cold solders and there were some so i think that were where the flickers originated.

Title: Re: wayward airbag dash warning light
Post by Mike H on Apr 5th, 2012, 8:17pm

on 04/03/12 at 19:07:09, november_man wrote:
it would appear a previous  owner has been here before me. no clips and a fistful of wires !

A-ha!!

Title: Re: wayward airbag dash warning light
Post by november_man on Apr 6th, 2012, 11:37pm
faffed about with wires and plugs under seats with some success, though not 100%however, light can also be induced to go off with severe beating of dash ! trouble is cruise control light is now behaving in sympathy. never had this problem with my QUAD 22.

Title: Re: wayward airbag dash warning light
Post by leewar on Apr 7th, 2012, 11:23am
Sounds like a removal of the instrument panel and a spot of soldering or a replacement panel ;)

Title: Re: wayward airbag dash warning light
Post by november_man on Apr 11th, 2012, 1:00pm
time to throw rope over rafters !

Title: Re: wayward airbag dash warning light
Post by leewar on Apr 11th, 2012, 6:13pm
It never gets that bad :)

Title: Re: wayward airbag dash warning light
Post by november_man on Apr 18th, 2012, 11:22am
it does ! new problem



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