can I disconnect the flashing airbag light?

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addo
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Post by addo »

Once you prise up the tray forward of the gearstick, you cannot miss the thing. It's a diecast box about 3½" square with a big yellow label on top, and an orange plug on the RHS.
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Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

addo,

cheers I give it a go, disconnecting the battery first and waiting five mins for the system to discharge.

its a good job your so far away you wont here the bang if anything goes wrong. :lol:

regards Nigel.
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Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

wheeler & addo,

unplugging the airbag ecu doesnt extinguish the airbag light on the dashboard, in fact it did nothing at all.

I am going to try un-plugging the small orange plug with the two core lead that looks as if its heading of up to the dashboard. still with the ECU disconnected.

maybe that will extinguish it.

will keep you posted.

regards. Nigel.
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Post by hobblerian »

As the light indicates a fault withthe airbag system, I can't see how introducing more faults will make the light go out. The best way is to bite the bullet and remove instrument cluster and remove the bulb.
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Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

I wonder where they got that info from then unplugging the Airbag ecu would extinguish the light?????

strange.

Oh well got to replace the steerring column soon its got play in the top bearing so I might as well dig a bit deeper and extinguish the bulb.

at least if the airbags become mot-able the light will be out and no-one will know wether they are connected or disconnected.

regards Nigel.
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Post by Old-Guy »

Sorry to disillusion you Nigel; if airbags become MoT-able then no bulb will mean a fail because the airbag light doesn't light on turning on the 'ignition'. Son-in-law tried removing the ABS warning light to get a pass despite an intermittent gremlin in the ABS (that's another long story). MoT testers aren't blind or daft.

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Post by jgra1 »

thats why my abs was wired to the alternator light.. cheeky previous owner..

I want to remedy it.. first step is to remove the clocks I think
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Post by wheeler »

falling-out-with-my-car wrote:
unplugging the airbag ecu doesnt extinguish the airbag light on the dashboard, in fact it did nothing at all.
Thats really strange, i've just looked at a wiring diagram for the mk2 xantia airbag circuit. An ignition live goes to the warning lamp bulb via pin 10 of the 26 pin yellow connector, the other side of the bulb comes back out of pin 11 on the same connector, it goes from there straight into pin 2 of the 18 pin orange connector of the airbag ECU which obviously gives it an earth to illuminate the bulb so disconnecting the ECU in theory should stop the bulb earthing so impossible to iluminate. The only reason i can think that the bulb is still lit is that i noticed that on the diagram the earth terminal for the ECU is pin 1, a lot of the connectors on the airbag system are desinged to short the terminals when disconnected (you will see what i mean if you look at the 2 pin orange plug you were talking about when it's disconnected) for detecting faults, the only thing i can think of is that pins 1 & 2 of the ECU short together when the plug is disconnected thus giving the bulb a path to earth. You could try removing the terminal of pin 1 or 2 from the plug, the plug & terminals come apart very easy with a small jewelers screwdriver. If that doesent work then either im looking at the wrong diagram or the laws of physics have changed.

PS disconecting the 2 pin plug deffo wont work.
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Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

thats ok Old-Guy I'll just ask for a medical excemption certificate from driving with activated airbags from my GP.

back to airbags the two pin plug goes to the passenger seat belt tensioners.

there is a change in behaviour of the airbag warnning light once the ECU is unplugged.
with the drivers seatbelts disconnected the airbag light flashes approx five mins then lights solid for the rest of the journey.

when i unplugged the ECU the light lit solid from the word go, which suggests that there is more than one supply of power to the airbag warnning light unless the earth forms a loop inside the plug as you more or less suggest.

when it comes time to change out the steerng columnn I'll get to the bulb an d install a long lead with a swicth accessable in the drivers side fuse box, that way the airbag light can be disconnected/reconnected easily.

I appreciate your efforts wheeler but I tend to ave a great deal of difficulty putting plugs like this back together if I take them appart.

I have now emailed citroen UK in the hope that they will answer my queiry and help me extinguish the airbag light .
STOP PRESS. citroen have just Phoned me and they can't comment on technical matters concerning the air bag system W**kers.

I told them what I thought of them basically. The nanny state has a lot to answer for, even citroen in slough want to be wrapped up in cotton wool.
Im groanning now please forgive me, but it makes me sick when I have an 11 year old motor and citroen in slough still wont tell me how to disconnect the airbag warnning light and airbag system because they are scared they will be sued.

I want to do this even more now and fight the damm establishment.

I feel like posting them the airbags in a box with an exterior note may go off BANG in transit, but I suppose I'll be arrested under new anti-terrorism laws. ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) GGGRRRRRRRRRRR.

regards.

Nigel
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Post by Xaccers »

I'm still intreagued as to what would cause a GP to prefer a patient slamming into a steering wheel or putting their body through unneccesary stresses while their seatbelt bites.
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Post by wheeler »

falling-out-with-my-car wrote:there is a change in behaviour of the airbag warnning light once the ECU is unplugged.
with the drivers seatbelts disconnected the airbag light flashes approx five mins then lights solid for the rest of the journey.

when i unplugged the ECU the light lit solid from the word go, which suggests that there is more than one supply of power to the airbag warnning light unless the earth forms a loop inside the plug as you more or less suggest.
The bulb always gets power via the ignition switch regardless of whether the ECU is disconnected or not so its operated by earthing the bulb. If it goes solid as soon as the ignition is on then that suggests it is being earthed out on pin 1. If you snip wire number 478 coming out of pin 2 or fit a switch to it this will stop the bulb earthing & will make it much easier to re connect in the future.
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Post by CitroJim »

You have to see it from Citroen's point of view Nigel. You're asking them how to disable a safety feature and quite rightly, thay will not offer guidance. It would be no different in principle if you asked them how to go about disabling the ABS. I agree entirely with Citroen's stance in the matter. If they officially gave you the information, you then allowed someone else to use the car who was not aware, they were injured because the airbag failed to deploy and it would be straight back to them; big trouble.

I appreciate you have a legitimate need for disabled airbags and the light is a distraction. Surely the easiest way to put the light out is to snip the wire at the airbag ECU. Wheeler has given you sufficient information to identify the wire in question. Job done in 10 seconds.

If you don't want to disconnect the connector again to identify the wire then I can look up in my harness diagrams and provide the wire number for you.

EDIT: Thanks Wheeler 8) You beat me to it! Excellent.
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Post by falling-out-with-my-car »

Ok Ok Xac,

I deserved that one youve got me back for that one about marriage, I might have known I'd get bitten back sooner or later....lol.


Are you suggesting that the seat belts are an inadequate method of preserving life on their own?

then since 1849 when volvo were the first to install seatbelts have they been wasting their time?

I can get a certificate to exempt me from wearing a seatbelt altogether Xac but I dont think its in my interest to take it that far, thats just being plain stupid.

why is it that some people (and this is nothing personal) pander to the way the world goes, why would you not want to be in control of your own lives? if your told something is safe you believe it because marketing and journalism tells you so

appolagies for the agressiveness I'm still a bit angry at Citroen Uk at the moment.

regards Nigel.
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Post by CitroJim »

I feel this topic has now run its course and it is time to call it a day.

The technical information has been provided. This is a forum dealing with French cars and not a forum for discussing the rights and wrongs of the world today.
Jim

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