Another Airbag Light Question - BMW Forum

storme · 10-23-2005, 09:03 AM

My air bag light comes on when the car is warm

not in the morning on my way to work 10 minute drive
not in the evening on my way home 10 minute drive

but intermitently comes on when driving say 5 miles and the car is warm
it will stay on for a few seconds and them go off
then it will stay on for a minute and go off
sometimes it wont come on for a while,,sometimes it is on/off/on/off/on/off

now.....the question is ,,,have i caused it???????????

i had a rattle by the passenger door ,,somewhere...so i squirted some spray grease around

the door frame, the seat bolsters, the side of the dash,,the top of the dash,underneath the dash,the door trim,the door handles(inside) basically ,,anywhere that could move..have i squirted a sensor???

and how much,,,in the UK would it cost to goto a stealership and have the sensors reset...???

zibby · 10-23-2005, 02:39 PM

Hi Storme ! I strongly suggest you have it connected to a diagnostic tool to check the fault that is present. If I were to venture a guess, I would say it is the seat belt switch in the latch or ring behind the steering wheel.

Dirty_Tool · 10-23-2005, 11:08 PM

The way it comes off and on like that makes it seem like there is maybe a different problem. Sometimes a failing ignition switch can cause symptoms like this. Try with the engine off and key on using the drivers and passengers visor lights and see if you can get any other symptoms to occur like airbag and other lights flickering on the dash. If so then this is typical of ignition switch. Also as Zibby said with the airbag system you dont want to mess around, get it to a mechanic ASAP so that you at least know whats going on and if the airbag system will function in the event of a crash. BTW I dnt see how you could have caused this by using spray lube on the car, I dont think its related.

Good Luck,
DT

storme · 10-24-2005, 12:55 PM

hi all,,

its not a flickering on/off...

and all other lights seems ok,,,no on/off there

why dont i disconnect the wiring at the base of the seat,,to test if it is one of them that is doing it???

i do intend fixing it,,but id like to be armed with some info before going into the stealerships...then i can direct them to the fault 1st time

could i disconnect the wire from the bottom of the seat??

ps hi zibby,,,how r ya??

Dirty_Tool · 10-24-2005, 10:09 PM

disconnecting would do no good, that in itself would cause a fault. In regards to the seatbelt tensioner circuit the MRS module looks for the total resistance of the circuit which should normally be *roughly* between 2 and 6 ohms. If the resistance goes out of range then the module sets a fault. Disconnecting the seat connector would activate the shorting bridge inside the connector and give you a resistance of roughly .5 ohms which would set a fault. Beyond that you still have no idea if the seatbelts are even the issue as well as no way to clear the lamp. Airbag systems are best left to professionals. A false move when testing can trigger a bag and cause injury as well as expensive vehicle damage.

DT

storme · 10-25-2005, 03:28 PM

THX

i'll just go the the proper ppl

thx again

will post again when i have found out what it is

storme · 10-26-2005, 12:44 PM

1 LAST THING

as i said,,i squirted some spray grease around,,,including under the seat!!!!

could do this???
make sure the ignition is not on

disconnect the cable sockets under the seats,,,,clean them,,,and reconnect them,,,,,?????

my theory is ,,,all this happened straight after spraying this grease around....so i reckon when my car gets warm,,,the grease gets softer....and interupts the power....ie changing the resistance......

a long shot i know,,,,
could i clean the connections???

having spent ALL day yesterday driving around,,,with my daughter in the REAR seats. the airbag light wasnt on at all...
so it is obviously something to do with the front passenger seat....

storme · 11-01-2005, 01:21 PM

well,,,,i made sure the ignition was completely off...

and i un-did all the connections under the seat...cleaned them and then re-seated the plugs....and now 2 weeks later everything is still good

the moral of the story.....dont squirt wax/grease all around without thinking 1st....i could have easily destroyed the whole airbag system

storme · 11-21-2005, 01:01 PM

just found out what it was....

the seat pad on the passenger side is faulty...weird really...as the drivers side is always used much more often,,,seems to be a regular fault as well