My turn to be a pita......

So after having some problems with TPMS that (almost) solved on its own with trying different tyre pressures now i have another riddle, maybe some of you "gurus" can point me in the right way......

My yellow airbag comes on when it wants (lol) so i can drive 100km without it being on or i can take car out of the garage and drive 1km and its on, no blinks (codes) or other thing it just comes on. Tried so far: check battery voltage and voltage drop (have a new battery installed when i bought the car, no warnings but the TPMS then) all OK, charged the battery in the car overnight: still the same. Had it on a generic reader (WOW and Delphi) and there are no codes when off but "airbag module" when its on. Since it is either good or broken and not with a will of it's own i really would like to know why.

Read some topics here that it could be two things: wiring under the seat, cable loom too short OR clockspell. If it was clockspell shouldn't it activate everytime the steeringwheel comes trough a certain point?? Since i'm 1.85M and my wife is much shorter the memory on the seats are set for both of us, even in the "shorty" position it comes on (or not depending on the mood) so mystery for now.

There should be some plugs under the seat but have no clue what to look for, i know that in other cars airbags are yellow and before i take the seat out i would love to here other opinions...

And i already did this:

So went to an ofiicial Jaguar dealer to check my car and as said before i can drive sometimes long journeys without the light coming on. So after 30km the light came on and made the trip to the dealer with the light on. Stopped the car, went inside, put the car into the garage and they hooked it up to a genuine JLR reader (must get one of those ) and what came up: some stupid errors about voltage in the gearbox (too high and too low) but NOTHING about airbags. The light during the tests NEVER came on nor do i have any warning. So emptied my wallet and went home frustrated. Did drive about 7km and there it was again. Went straight back, did NOT turn off the car and they hooked it up again..............NO errors what so ever, light on but no errors at all!!! Like i said before gremlins for sure.

After talking to the mechanic, and with the car stopped, he said that this "first" models have these quirks and that i should be prepaired to have this kind of things. So i told him about the TPMS, collision and now the airbag problems and he said that if i wanted to change the moduls/ECU i should prepare money. Also said that the airbag might be some sensor under the seat or the loom to the airbag module located under the rear vents. Has something to do with the distance between the seat (user) and the airbag deploy time, nothing to worry about since the airbag will still deploy incase of an accident. That might be the reason that it doesn't come up so often with my other half (shorter). All things said: o spend alot of money to get info that i already found here on the forum, maybe a bit more, and lost half a day of work......

Thanks for the help in advance,

Beco

 

If there are no codes associated with the airbag light, you're pretty darn screwed.

Your only option is to take shots in the dark replacing airbag components and hope somehow you fix the problem. It could literally be anything in the airbag system, and none of the components are inexpensive.

You need codes.

 

Most likely the clock spring. Dash light intermittent when on its way out, also losing buttons and horn eventually. Mine didn't have a code either, which is ridiculous.

 

Well, on second thought, you do have some troubleshooting steps you can take without the airbag codes.

You can find out what are the resistor values for the various air bags in the car, get resistors with the same ratings, and then start bypassing the airbags at different points in the wiring. Start closest to the airbag ecu to find out if the problem is with a particular airbag. Hopefully you will find the airbag that is causing the problem and be able to work along the wiring to see where the connectivity issue lies, or if the airbag itself has somehow malfunctioned. This would be a lot cheaper than replacing parts hoping to catch the problem. The clockspring will not be inexpensive.

Another thing you could try is to apply Stabilant 22a to all the connectors to help with any light corrosion that may be affecting the connectivity/resistance and setting off a light in the ECU. Many mechanics swear by the stuff. Look it up.

 

Thanks all for helping me out...... Next step: taking out the seat, rear vents, get to the airbag module and start digging.....

From last friday: 600km without light on (several turns on the steering wheel) today i took the car to do some stuff: 500mts and light on...... This is driving me nnnuuutttsss

Beco