Xsara Picasso wiring diagram or airbag connector locations?

[JamesQB]

Hi, still struggling to cure an airbag fault on my 1.6i 2002 Picasso. The passenger airbag has gone from intermittent level 1 open circuit igniter fault, to a permanent one after I used switch cleaner on the airbag ECU plug. Can't find a problem with the ECU pins or the connector plug so perhaps it's the movement on the loom that has caused a wire break or bad conection in a connector to make things worse. Also have a new fault now too: permanent fault - of the general led open circuit which means nothing to me, or Google.

I can't follow the passenger airbag cable through, as it vanishes into a fat bundle of cables that disappear behind the dash. I'm wondering if there are connectors along the cable run before it goes to the airbag ECU which is located behind the lower centre console area. Does anyone know of any connectors anywhere, or perhaps has a proper wiring diagram for the car (the Hay*es one is useless)?

Thanks

[wheeler]

Don't have a wiring diagram available but from memory there are no connectors in the harness.
Really you would need to fit a dummy 'airbag' in place of the airbag, basically a resistor that imitates the resistance of a real airbag (they are around 2-4 ohms).
Never attempt to measure the resistance of a real airbag to get the right figure as, ohmeters send a small current down the wires to calculate resistance, this can be enough to deploy the airbag. if you fit the dummy airbag & the fault goes away then the airbag itself is faulty.
As for the other fault code, check that the little bulb that illuminates when you disable the passengers airbag with the key switch is still working, if its not replace the bulb.

[JamesQB]

Hi, thanks for the reply. I checked and both the airbag warning light and the passenger airbag disabled light are working. I'll try a dummy load on the connector and see what happens. Why do these things crop up before an MOT is due?!

[JamesQB]

Cured the airbag fault. I had to replace the cable from ECU to airbag connector. Somewhere behind the dash there must be joints or connectors as the cable colours change, but as I'm not stripping the entire dash out, it was easier to run a new cable. The original was reading a few ohms which is enough to be considered an open-circuit by the ECU.