Xantia Air Bag Light

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pburnxr
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Xantia Air Bag Light

Post by pburnxr »

I have a 1996 Xantia Turbo-Diesel. For about a year now the air bag has been coming on the first time I do a hard right turn. Firstly it flashes and then stays on until I start the car again.
I've had this problem for about a year now, but don't want to spend £60 on the investigation. They said it could cost thousands to sort out.
The problem seemed to happen shortly after I had the tracking done. The steering wheel is not totally in-line on straight ahead, it is slightly wonky. Neither does my indicator cancel properly, since it was tracked.
I've heard that there are sensors under the front seats for the air-bag. I've unplugged these and plugged them in again, but its made no difference.
Any ideas anyone?
Dave Burns
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Post by Dave Burns »

No sensors under front seat's, what there is are orange connectors going to the seatbelt pre-tensioners, these are pyrotechnical devices similar to the charge in the air bag, they are also triggered by the same controller as the air bag, which is why they cause the airbag light to glow when there is a poor connection in their circuit.
Cut the orange connectors off and solder the wires straight through, making sure you totaly insulate them from each other, this normaly cures the fault.
I had it happen on my 97 Xantia, and that was going round a particular right hand bend every morning on the way to work, as it gradualy got worse the light started to come on earlier and earlier in the journey, until finally it came on and stayed on when the car was first started.
Cutting the connectors out and soldering the wires together cured this fault on my car and on that of a family member.
<font color=red>DON'T GO PROBING ANY OF THESE WIRES WITH A METER</font id=red>, the current a meter puts out can sometimes be enough to deploy the air bag.
Disconnect the battery and wait for 15 minutes before touching anything in this circuit.
Good luck
Dave
P.s My light came on when I turned the wheel and in the early stages allways when going round the same tight righthander, so I took the rotary connector apart thinking that had to be the culprit, unraveled it and tested it with a meter but couldn't get it to fault, what a ballache winding it all back up, and with the correct number of turns to allow it to work properly.
If I had paid 20 odd quid for a new one I would have thrown money away, I suggest you start by looking at the connectors, this wont cost you anything, if it cures it all well and good, if it doesn't then there is not much lost, you can then start to spend money having eliminated the obviouse.
Edited by - Dave Burns on 20 Oct 2002 13:54:04
David Goddard
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Post by David Goddard »

As your light comes on when you turn the wheel, it sound like there is an intermittent connection in the rotary connector in the steering wheel. I had one go open circuit on a 306 - looks similar to a Xantia's. Managed to open it up and solder one the open circuit spiral coils - 3 years ago. Hasn't failed since! Bit tricky to check these conncetors as all "pyrotechic" connectors have a spring loaded shorting piece to help avoid bags going off due to static or people probing with ohm meters!
A new rotary connector should not be too expensive - £20 ??
Again - disconnect the battery for 15 minutes before working on the air bag circuitry. Follow ALL the safety procedures detailed in Haynes manuals when reconnecting.
handman

Post by handman »

i had a problem with my light staying on i found it to be the connector behind the air bag , it is a very long wound wire that also connects the radio controles and returns the indicators, if the steering wheel has been removed at any time it is posible that it was pullud off without disconecting the plugs properly and the result is damage to the wireing, it wears on the inside as the steerins is turned shorting the system and a replacement is required it cant be repaired- the scrap yard is the best option as this switch is very expencive, it changed in early 96 so the older type cant be used, different setup copper ring type - as a matter of interest remove the keys and you can disconnect the battery earth wait 5 mins and then remove the steering wheel this has been covered in other topics - when you want to reset the system remove the keys just reconnect the earth then turn the ignition on and make sure the srs light goes off, im sure some one else will jump in and give you the full low down on air bags
be nice - have a nice day you all i have posted a safety topic on this item on 20/10/02 you should read it
Edited by - handman on 20 Oct 2002 21:05:17
handman

Post by handman »

[quote]
i would ask you to look at a post i put on about airbags but it offed somewere cant be bother typing all that again last post covered it any ways
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