legacycentral bbs

How does one go about diagnosing the problem when the Air Bag light is on? I was at a subaru mechanic today and briefly brought this topic up. He stated that there is a wire under the dash which one connects, then it'll go into diagnostic mode/spit out codes/something.

Anyone know how this can be accomplished?

There is a connector and it does spit out codes. Due to hurricane Ike, my server is down, so I can't link you to the procedure.

Server back up again?

Yeah it's back up. However I just looked and I don't have the airbag diagnostics scanned.

There are probably a few scans around on here if you search in the electrical forum, and probably on nasioc.

If you can't find anything I can try and scan the info in when I get back in town this weekend.

I've been unable to find the diagnostic info you're talking about. Would you mind scanning in the FSM for the Airbag diagnostics? thanks!

I'll try and remember to do it tonight. If I forget it won't be until next week. Going out of town again tomorrow.....it's just been crazy busy.

Josh, while the following two EndWrench PDF's don't contain the error codes, they do have some info about the various components to the airbag / SRS systems. Might be worthwhile for you to archive them on your site

http://www.subaru-faq.ru/pdf/electrical/srs.pdf
http://www.subaru-faq.ru/pdf/electrical/srs1.pdf

Do you still need this information?

I'm sorry about the delay. Just have had too much shit going on right now.

I do! Light is still on and I'm trying to be frugal and figure out myself what the problem is, instead of taking it to a subaru shop.

Ok,

I'll try and find time this evening to look for the information. I swear there just isn't enough time in the day any more.

It's alright, I know how that goes. I swear all I do for 4 days a week is sleep and work.

I apologize for the super delay in getting these scanned, but here they are.

http://main.experiencetherave.com/subar ... ostic1.jpg
http://main.experiencetherave.com/subar ... ostic2.jpg
http://main.experiencetherave.com/subar ... ostic3.jpg

Had a few minutes before work today to hunt down the connector in the mess of wires under the dash.

Think I found the right shaped connector with a loose wire pin.


Connected it up to Pin 1 per the diagnostics with the ignition on and nothing happened. Looked further up the wire bundle and found the following.



Looks like some previous asshole ripped off the other DIAG wire. Didn't have time to splice on another one before work.

Anyone have a chance to look under their dash and confirm that there are two DIAG (aka loose wires with a pin) on them for the airbag connector?

Got the other broken wire hooked up and tried it in the connector -- nothing happened. There aren't any other U-shaped connectors under the dash, which match the diagnostic picture.

Any other thoughts? otherwise, going to have to take it to the stealership, guh.

Well finally decided to take the car into the local subaru only shop, Smart Service, to have them look over a few things. They spent a good 1.5 hours trying to diagnose the airbag system which involved several ASE mechanics -- it wouldn't even enter diagnostic mode. Now I feel vindicated that it wasn't just me doing something stupid!

Apparently for the airbag, unlike the check engine light, when it is solid, that means the module isn't working at all, short, open ground, etc. It will flash when there is a problem and then you can read the codes (or so I was told by a mechanic).

They said the next step was to take apart the steering wheel / cluster / etc to trace wires and follow the diagnostic procedures. They were nice enough to print out the two pages for me so I could do it. Busy this weekend, but will give the diagnostic a go later this week and see where that leads.

Legacy777: It probably would be beneficial for others if the full airbiag diagnostic stuff was available online . They gave me pages 46-47 (T5J0-T5J2) to follow.

I'll have to look for those pages.....someone needs to email me for a reminder Life's just been way too busy lately.

I woke up this morning with the remains of a dream on my mind about the airbag still not working. I looked through the service manual and parts catalog that Legacy777 posted, trying to find where all the wires/fuses/etc for the airbag reside.

Went out to the car and took apart the plastic covering by the driver door and fuse panel. There was the yellow airbag connector -- connected. nuts! ah-HA! the green safety clip wasn't engaged! Pushed that in, fired up the car and the airbag light turned off.

Victory!

Good to hear you got it fixed.