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air bag light

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Old 05-14-10, 08:11 PM
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air bag light

I have a 90 vert and installed a nardi steering wheel, removing the factory airbag. Does anybody know how to get the airbag warning light on the gauge cluster to stop blingking?
Old 05-14-10, 08:40 PM
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Disconnect the airbag control units elect plugs?
Old 05-14-10, 08:44 PM
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Would that be the green/blue box underneath the steeringwheel, with the yellow tag on it?
Old 05-14-10, 08:58 PM
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Originally Posted by 90socalvert
Would that be the green/blue box underneath the steeringwheel, with the yellow tag on it?
Got me. I've never seen a RX with airbag ever. BUT the wiring diagrams that are online for a free download, show the elect plug(s) as shown in the attached jpg. So just find the unit and compare the wire colors with the wire colors shown in the attached jpg.

It's the airbag plug with the RED wire that causes the instrument cluster light to come on.
Attached Thumbnails air bag light-airbag.jpg  
Old 05-14-10, 09:06 PM
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I found the airbag power slupply and disconnected it, and its still the same problem. There are two green/blue boxes underneath the steering wheel. One is the airbag power supply and not sure what the other is, and i dont know if the other controlls somthing else.
Old 05-14-10, 09:30 PM
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The jpg I attached seemed to show two plugs. The plug with the RED wire is the wire going to the light. So? The plug you removed did it look like.....which plug shown in the jpg I attached earlier?

The RED wire is in the middle of the plug as shown.
Old 05-14-10, 09:35 PM
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Actually maybe I have no clue.

Is this light that blinks in the WARNING LIGHT CLUSTER? or in the INSTRUMENT CLUSTER (the one with the guages, tach etc)?

Is there something that tells you the blinking light is for the airbag???? a symbol? or label? or????
Old 05-14-10, 09:40 PM
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It says airbag and has a symobl. It is in the top left corner of the warning light cluster. I unplugged the connector with the solid red wire now the light just stays on constantly instead of blinking.
Old 05-14-10, 09:43 PM
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The PASSIVE SHOULDER BELT UNIT has a signal going to the INSTRUMENT CLUSTER. I see no such signal going to the instrument cluster from the airbag unit though.
Old 05-14-10, 09:45 PM
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Yeah that light will kill you. You have two choices.

1. Use a 3Ohm resistor and place it on the airbag connector (the blue one, should have two pins).
2. Remove all of the blue boxes under-neath the steering column. Follow that orange/blue connector for the airbag around, you will see what I am talking about. I believe they are all labled "Ford". Anything in those blue boxes is related to the airbag.

See pictures of blue boxes here: https://www.rx7club.com/midwest-sale-wanted-classifieds-224/s4-s5-n-parts-860257/
Old 05-14-10, 09:51 PM
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I have taken out all the wiring, except the stuff under the dash. I was just wondering if those boxes controlled somthing else. if the dont i will just rip all of that stuff out.
Old 05-14-10, 09:52 PM
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Answer me this.........does your warning light cluster have a HATCH warning light??? or not?
Old 05-14-10, 09:54 PM
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No.
Old 05-14-10, 09:56 PM
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Originally Posted by 90socalvert
I have taken out all the wiring, except the stuff under the dash. I was just wondering if those boxes controlled somthing else. if the dont i will just rip all of that stuff out.
You need to remove the boxes if you are not planning on running the resistor.
Old 05-14-10, 10:00 PM
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Alright cool. Can i just unplug them for the time being until i have enough time to remove everything?
Old 05-14-10, 10:02 PM
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All any light in the warning light cluster is looking for to turn ON, is for a ground to be put on it. All the lights have power to them with key ON. So if you disconnect the airbag unit with the red wire the light should have gone off in my opinion.

The RED wire is spliced to the diagnostic connector, but it that item is not connected to anything like a tester of some sort, then it can't make the light come on.

So if the plug with the red wire is disconnected and the light stays on.............the wiring diagrams are INADEQUATE in the online version of the series five cars. Maybe theres some other wiring diagrams available somewhere else. The BODY ELECTRICAL shows zip as far as airbag but maybe that's because the online version is incomplete. Got me.

See attached jpg.
Attached Thumbnails air bag light-airbagtwo.jpg  
Old 05-14-10, 10:02 PM
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Originally Posted by 90socalvert
Alright cool. Can i just unplug them for the time being until i have enough time to remove everything?
Trust me, the boxes come off in 5 seconds. You will have enough time. Any box that looks like the ones in the pictures I posted will need to be removed. There are not many underneath the steering column area.
Old 05-14-10, 10:04 PM
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Originally Posted by HAILERS
So if the plug with the red wire is disconnected and the light stays on.............the wiring diagrams are INADEQUATE in the online version of the series five cars. Maybe theres some other wiring diagrams available somewhere else. The BODY ELECTRICAL shows zip as far as airbag but maybe that's because the online version is incomplete. Got me.

See attached jpg.
Its these S5 convertibles with airbag that always will throw you off I know the FSM is missing a few things in there that are on the car (remember the high beam circuit that goes through the CPU?). He will be fine removing the blue boxes, or if he wants to keep them, plugging a 3ohm resistor into the blue harness.
Old 05-14-10, 10:09 PM
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I removed the two boxes underneath the column and the light still stays on constant.
Old 05-14-10, 10:16 PM
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There should be a total of 3 connectors you disconnected, plus the blue/orange harness going to the steering wheel. That should be disconnected from anything steering related.

That is odd you still have a light if you did disconnect that. My light shut off when I did that.
Old 05-14-10, 10:19 PM
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It has been a while. I can't remember if I ended up removing the airbag bulb from the dummy light cluster when I did this. The problem with doing it this way at first was:

1. If you try to remove the light from the cluster with the blue modules connected, you will get an annoying buzz while driving the whole time.

However, I do remember when I removed the boxes I tried to remove the light and no more buzz. So I might have ended up doing that. I did this when removing most of the airbag wiring.

Sorry about the confusion, it really has been a while, I am suspecting that's what I ended up doing though, because now that I remember I did break one of the mounts for the dummy light dash cover while removing the bulb (my mistake).

There are only two screws holding the dummy light cluster in place. With the boxes out of the way, it will let you remove the bulb without giving you the buzz of death.
Old 05-14-10, 10:20 PM
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Yeah all that stuff is dissconnected. Do you think i need to disconnect the battery to reset the ECU? Im guessing there may be an error code running through the ECU to keep the light on.
Old 05-14-10, 10:22 PM
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Ok that makes sense. Is it pretty easy to remove the light without damaging anything?
Old 05-14-10, 10:24 PM
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Originally Posted by 90socalvert
Ok that makes sense. Is it pretty easy to remove the light without damaging anything?
Yes it is, the dash plastic cover pulls straight UP on the front (not sideways or front and back) with two mounts on each side (left and right). Pry carefully.

Then you will see two phillips screws. Undo. Remove dummy light cluster, disconnect harness, remove bulb.

Remember to note where the bulb is located or shine a bright light at the cluster while its out.

Its really easy, should only take minutes.
Old 05-14-10, 10:33 PM
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Awsome that solved the problem. Thanks for the help. I was also wondering if you would know why my oil level light and charge light never light up even when turing the key is in the on position?


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