Leather upgrade for my C5 and it's gone all grumpy - help please

[djoptix]

I've obtained some lovely front leather seats for my C5 saloon (ex Citroenmad & Northernmike) from Stickyfinger, but I've had a few fun and games fitting them. The airbag connectors have been rewired for a facelift car, so I was expecting to have to rewire them, but it turns out my car has the correct connectors for them anyway... weird? (Mine is a S1, 52 plate).

Anyhoo, I started with the passenger seat. The old seat only has one connector (airbag) whereas the new one has two (an extra one for seat motors and power I assume). The plug is there under the carpet for the second connector, so I fitted the new passenger seat and plugged it in. Result: "Airbag fault" - bugger. Also, the power stuff (seat adjustment) doesn't work.

Question 1: is the airbag fault likely to be because the pinout for the airbag connector is different, even though the physical connector is the same? Or the "crap connectors" issue discussed elsewhere on the forum...? Or something else?

Question 2: the old seats had three wires in the relevant connector whereas the new ones have four. Why?

Question 3: power seats not working - Lexia required? Do they need to be enabled in software?

[myglaren]

1 - is most probably just a poor connection, maybe the connectors have been damaged or are corroded.
2 - not a clue
3 - Most likely a missing Maxi fuse in the 'hidden' fusebox under the main one in the engine bay.

[Hell Razor5543]

Re point 3, the following link has the information about the fuse, its strength and location;

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... 14&t=50653

[wurlycorner]

Yep, see page 2 for the leather seat fitting.

I didn't have to do anything with the airbags, but the seats had come straight out of a breaker s1 and into mine.

[Stickyfinger]

HiYaaaa.

Ummm......not to sure but sorry your having problems

Try plugging in your old seat airbag and see if the fault is still on ? if yes it is car side.
If the fault goes out, try swapping the Airbags over....as I described, it is quite easy. (Check connection is clean and good first)

I have a set of Airbags (I think)....I will check tomorrow for you.

[Stickyfinger]

Plug was changed on the CAR not the Airbags/Seats ..........DOGH !_...so they WILL be correct for a Mk1 ....my bad

[djoptix]

Aha, that certainly clears things up a bit.

I'm not worried at all, I expected some electrical gremlins! There always are with this car. Every time I disconnect the battery I have to do a little dance round it or something to get rid of the immobiliser fault.

I've refitted the old seat and no fault, so it's not car side, but at this stage I'm guessing it's more likely to be a corroded connector or wiring confusion than a faulty airbag. As you say, I can always physically swap the airbags - I think there was some jiggery pokery going on with the wiring in the new seats though (that is, it's not a straight connection from the airbag connector to the airbag itself - it goes somewhere else on the way) and I was being lazy hoping not to dismantle the seat loom.

This will be an excuse to get my Lexia working, anyway

[djoptix]

Stickyfinger - interestingly, though, the airbag plug has been rewired on the passenger seat.

[Stickyfinger]

My memory is defo bu44ered !

[djoptix]

[GiveMeABreak]

And if you do get all that sorted - there are options that will need to be set by the Lexia to enable the passenger and driver electric seats too.

[wurlycorner]

And if you do get all that sorted - there are options that will need to be set by the Lexia to enable the passenger and driver electric seats too.

Errr, no. You just plug them in, fit the fuses and that's the electric seats done, exactly as per my profile thread. The bsi etc. know nothing about electric seats.

[myglaren]

That is true enough with the early model but facelift and later may require Lexia use - mine, like yours, just plugged in and worked once the Maxi fuse was installed.

[Hell Razor5543]

I wonder if (as in some other vehicles) the seats (in later models) have a memory function, and this needs to be configured. I know that (on some vehicles), once a seat configuration has been set up and stored, using the key that 'saved' the settings will automatically recall those settings (so two people can use a car, and when they insert their key the car recognises them and 'loads' their preferences).

[wurlycorner]

Did you put the ignition switch on at any time while you had either/both seat airbags disconnected? If so, it would pick up an open circuit fault, which stays logged until the fault codes are cleared (even if it now sees the airbags as ok). I know that from my recent shenanigans with the pre-tensioners on mine.

I don't know if that would continue to bring up an airbag fault message, or if it would then ignore it after a while, though...

Without checking with Lexia, it's not possible to be sure, but that might be the only thing that has actually been logged and everything is otherwise fine? Worth a check with Lexia.


myglaren - the OP's car is also an s1.