car just failed MOT on air bag light

[CCWjames]

a little while ago ( a year ) i reported on here about the p/s foot well full of water and thanks to this site worked out was the hole under the windscreen leaking water from someone running a amp wire.

To dry the carpet out i removed the P/s seat ect and since then the airbag light has come on. It was reported here that it happens when i removed the seat and can be cleaned from vag/vcds. i have had a mate who tried to clear it and every few days it keeps coming back on.

I just took the car for a MOT and they failed it on my airbag light saying on as well as " 2 " screws holding my front reg plate on....

can anyone help about how to sort out the light? any setting to go in and disable it again, as my mate has now moved to OZ

otherwise im going to take the bulb out and take it back in a few days

thanks

 

[ScottD3]

Can we have more information about the car please?

 

[CCWjames]

audi a3 mate

this is the scan from about 3 months ago

Chassis Type: 8L - Audi A3/S3
Scan: 01,02,03,08,15,16,17,22,35,37,45,55,56,57,75,76

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 01: Engine Labels: Redir Fail!
Controller: 06A 906 018 AQ
Component: 1.8L R4/5VT MOTR HS D03
Coding: 04000
Shop #: WSC 06335
No fault code found.
Readiness: N/A

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 03: ABS Brakes Labels: 1J0-907-37x-ABS.LBL
Controller: 1J0 907 379 H
Component: ABS/EDS 20 IE CAN 0001
Coding: 13504
Shop #: WSC 06435
No fault code found.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 08: Auto HVAC Labels: 1J0-907-37x-ABS.LBL
Controller: 8L0 820 043 D
Note: Excessive Comm Errors

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 15: Airbags Labels: Redir Fail!
Controller: 8L0 959 655 F
Component: Airbag 7 Audi 0505
Coding: 00104
Shop #: WSC 06335
2 Faults Found:
01217 - Side Airbag Igniter; Driver Side (N199)
32-10 - Resistance too High - Intermittent
01218 - Side Airbag Igniter; Passenger Side (N200)
32-00 - Resistance too High

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 17: Instruments Labels: 8L0-919-xxx-17.LBL
Controller: 8L0 919 930 E
Component: AB-KOMBIINSTR. VDO D03
Coding: 04442
Shop #: WSC 00000
IMMO-IDENTNR: AUZ7Z0V0316651
No fault code found.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 35: Centr. Locks Labels: 8D0-862-257.LBL
Controller: 8L0 862 257 H
Component: ZV-Pumpe, DWA D10
Coding: 00266
Shop #: WSC 06335
3 Faults Found:
01367 - Central Locking Pump Run Time Exceeded (Likely Leak)
35-00 - -
01370 - Alarm triggered by Interior Monitoring
35-00 - -
01373 - Alarm triggered by Radio Ground Contact
35-00 - -

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 45: Inter. Monitor Labels: 4B0-951-173.LBL
Controller: 8L0 951 173
Component: Innenraumueberw. D04
Coding: 00101
Shop #: WSC 00214
3 Faults Found:
01377 - Ultra Sonic Sensor for Alarm System; Left (G170)
31-00 - Open or Short to Ground
01378 - Ultra Sonic Sensor for Alarm System; Right (G171)
31-00 - Open or Short to Ground
01381 - Alarm triggered by Anti-Theft Sensor; Rear Right
35-00 - -

End --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[ScottD3]

That's a common fault.

The plug under the drives seat is a bit dodgy at times.
You can either strip the plug down, clean it all up or remove the plug and solder it all together.
Just need to get the fault cleared and you're done.

 

[CCWjames]

yep or take the buib out lol, is there guide to check how to clean , as dont want a bag in my face

also some of the codes look werid, as no alarm goes off and the central locking is ok

 

[ScottD3]

yep or take the buib out lol, is there guide to check how to clean , as dont want a bag in my face

also some of the codes look werid, as no alarm goes off and the central locking is ok

You can't take the bulb out. I think its a LED and the Airbag light needs to come on and go off again.
So removing bulb, LED or sticking tape over it wont work.

The air bag will not go off if you are unplugging it or soldering the two ends together as long as the ignition is off.



As for the alarm.
The fault codes for them could have happened at any point and never cleared.

when you lock the car and central locking kicks in, does the pump in the boot carry on pumping away for long periods of time?

Sit in the car, lock the car so the alarm activates. wait 30 seconds and then bounce around in side like a loon and see if the alarm goes off.
The other fault codes look like your interior censors are not working or unplugged.


This is what the inside of a clock looks like.





P.S. Can a mod please move this to the 8L section as I feel it would be better suited to that location.
Thank you.

 

[Sandra]

Moved to 8L

 

[CCWjames]

well weird, i have 2 things under there not connected?

one i think was a bulb? as does look like goes into the other?


can a mod resize please ???

 

[ScottD3]

Bulb?
What is it with you bulbs? lol

That's your air bag plug.
Plug it back in and get your error reset.

 

[CCWjames]

it had a LED in the small one when it was removed and was burnt out.

U telling me the **** old owner used a airbag switch to power a light? btw, which one lol big ot small

cant do it now as work in 30 mins but 3 hrs break tomo

 

[ScottD3]

it had a LED in the small one when it was removed and was burnt out. U telling me the **** old owner used a airbag switch to power a light? btw, which one lol

If it was plugged in to the air bag plug yeah.
No idea why anyone would do that or why it would power cause I don't think there is any power going to the air bag until its needed to go bang.

 

[NHN]

Could be an airbag fault on that seat & maybe they used a light as the resistance to fool the system into thinking its all ok.

Fix the fault, not fool the system is the way forward.

 

[S4 Muzza]

I had this problem last month on my B5, removed the sensor completely and soldered together as Scott suggested above. Worked a treat

 

[hades-]

so when you removed the pass seat you didnt see it was unplugged ?

 

[CCWjames]

i saw just a light in the small bit and thought was underseat light,

anyone a pic of where what goes where? doesn the small part go in the big part?

in my break tomo ill see what i can do

 

[ScottD3]

You just plug em together.
Like putting a plug in a wall socket.

 

[CCWjames]

well i thought that lol but the small one has only 2 pin holes where there is 3 in the other side

 

[leegsi]

If a plug is yellow 9 times out of 10 its do do with air bags,

Plug back together and read the codes again and see what the rear fault is.

 

[CCWjames]

will do guys, if no reply tomorrow after noon means went bang lol

and if goes out i`m driving 10 miles to knock someone out lol

 

[aragorn]

yeh your right, those plugs arent compatible.

Someones changed the seat, and probably fitted an earlier or later one with a differnet plug.

See if the wiring colors match?

If they do you can probably just solder the two wires together.

 

[CCWjames]

yep, thats what i thought,

well there was no airbag light on the car at all untill i took out the seat after the leak

also i have a new cluster in the car and as soon as that was in i got abs light on, that somehow after a bump has gone gone off for months.


it would be great if someone had a pic of theirs, as other wise i pain to sort out for mot running out in 4 days

 

[CCWjames]

well i pushed in the pass side one even i know does fit, guess what, that code went

now light still on so did the same to the drivers side ( had a bulb in there as well all glued up ) and guess what, light off

 

[NHN]

Man amazes me what some people do to fool people into thinking car has no issues, lets hope you don't find anymore issues.

 

[hades-]

post a pic of the bulb

 

[CCWjames]

here is what i found under the drivers side

removed, gone to garage, they cleared the codes, key in light on, 5 secs later air bag light off

new mot for a year in hand

thanks for the posts guys, all i can think off is someone swop the seats from another car?

 

[NHN]

WTF lol, what some people do lol.

 

[ScottD3]

That is shocking!!

 

[hades-]

lol i thought it was going to be a resistor
iv used them before when iv had raceing seats in a s4.
the pre owner might have wanted footwell lights.

 

[NHN]

What concerns me is if that was laying against the carpet & it got so hot, it could of been fairly serious, we'd hope the carpets are retardant.

 

[CCWjames]

yep and thats what was under both seats, but there is no light, as i just tried with a bulb, no power there so why was it there.

now i wanna sell the car as getting a 350GT

should i sell on here with the disco lights lol

 

[aragorn]

Because the airbag ECU looks for a resistance on the wire to satisfy itself that the airbag is present and correct.

A lamp is nothing more than a resistor.

It wont have been powered at all, because if it were a real airbag and the car applied power, it would go off!

 

[NHN]

Oh sorry, the image looked like it had light on the bulb, its just a reflection of daylight on the glass, silly me, did make me wonder, then again having plugged a bulb into that wiring, you never know what else they may have added lol.

 

[hades-]

it would worry me that after pluging back in the bag light went off
iv always had to clear bag light after a unplug

 

[aragorn]

He did say in a subsequent post that the garage cleared the codes!

 

[leegsi]

A capless 501 bulb is the same value roughly as an airbag.

People have been driving cars without airbags in the past and some people dont want to spend £100's of pounds to put a light out n the dash.

If you had covered the bulb it wouldn't have been a fail either. All they can do is put it down as an advisory.

 

[boost-addict]

same go for a abs light?

 

[CCWjames]

any warning light is a fail apart from the engine managerment as per new law in april

 

[voorhees]

now i wanna sell the car as getting a 350GT

should i sell on here with the disco lights lol

Please don't