I have a 91 NA Coupe and I have this annoying problem where, even though the seat belt is securely fastened and everything works fine, the seat belt sensor still goes off at random intervals. The warning light comes on and the beeper goes off. I wondering if anyone knows the causes of this problem. When I pull up on the auto shoulder belt from the socket near the parking brake, the sensor light goes off and the beeping stops. When I release the belt, it goes off again. It's pretty annoying. What do you guys think I'm looking at here?

 

SEARCH! There was a recall on S5 seat belts. Bring it to your local Mazda dealer. They have to fix it for free.

 

If you hadn't noticed, it's not the seat belts, the seat belts work fine, it's the SENSOR. I've done all the searches, stop jumping on the bandwagon of ppl who tell what they perceive as noobs to go search. I've already read down the list of TSB's and recalls so please try to refrain from telling me to look there.

 

OK, then you have taken it to a Mazda dealer for the RECALL right.


Gil

 

It's clearly a sensor within the seatbelt assembly, for witch is replaced with the RECALL...


Gil

 

Oh yeah, 'cuz I'm sure you know all the exact things that are replaced in the RECALL, right?

Here's the deal, I had the same problem (before and after doing the recall). The sensor is underneath the center armrest. Check out the FSM. Get to the sensor and unplug it from the wiring harness. The seatbelt warning should light up and beep at you non-stop when the car is on (running or not). Take a look at the connector on the wiring harness, there should be 4 wires. Now what you want to do is make a connection between the two wires on the driver's side vertically and then also make a connection between the two wires on the passenger side vertically. I just got some .25" (I think that's the size) male crimp quick-disconnects from Radioshack, crimped a short wire between two of the quick-disconnects and plugged them in the sensor.

WAM BAM BOOM! By doing that, you bypass the sensor (c'mon, I'm not stupid enough to not wear my seatbelt) and you don't damage anything. So, you can always make it just like it was if you wanted to, for some reason. And, you can do it in a short amount of time and avoid going to the dealership. Now this is all from memory, so if there are any discrepancies, please forgive me.

OR you can buy the sensor from Mazda, which is $30, I believe.

 

Wow, the high horses of some people, I have taken it to the dealer, would you like me to fax the paperwork to you as well? Better yet, would you like me to take out my metaphorical stick and knock down your metaphorical high horse? Jeez. It WASN'T covered in the RECALL if that meaning wasn't clear enough for you. And quit double posting, there's an edit button for that reason.

Thanks MRX_Rotary, I'll look into getting another sensor from Mazda, I hope it's the $30 as you said it was, after talking to KDRotary, they quoted me 690 for the whole sensor assembly since they did not have an individual sensor lying around.

Is there a way to just re-wire it, instead of doing a bypass? Or is the sensor just malfunctioning?

 

Yeah, the sensor is ka-put.

 

I'm just curious that if it's kaput, why does it work if i pull on the belt a little?

 

I'm not sure, mine would go off when I moved, most of the time. Though sometimes it didn't matter. From what I gathered doing extensive searching, the sensor is just bad. Feel free to take yours apart and tell us what you find, it may just be cold solder joints or something like that. I'm just to lazy to do it.

 

Haha, ok, will do

 

I never heard of a factory recall but if you confim that it is that would be great.

Or, check out mysite, I'm working on making my webpage a rotary resource. Join my club if it helps and then add info.
1988-1991 Rotaries > Electrical > Warning cluster

 

My S4 flashes intermittently too

 

http://auto-recalls.justia.com/MAZDA-RX7.html

 

I guess that sensor is driving you crazy, all snapy, maybe it's that time of the month. You could of just said that it's not included in the recall and that you had taken it all ready.


SORRY FOR NOT KNOWING THAT YOU HAD TAKEN IT IN FOR THE RECALL and trying to clarify your situation to help you out. THe thanks people give for trying to help get their answer.

SOrry for trying to help you.
GIL

 

My problem was not the content, I applaud your intention for helping me out. Rather, it was in the delivery of your posts. If you had just written the post without capping RECALL, I would not have snapped back. That's all I want to say on this topic.

 

Those position sensors rarely fail.
Before you bypass it, maybe try some spray contact cleaner.

 

that's a good suggestion, but if that doesn't work, can i assume it's bad cold solder joints?

 

Usually a CPU problem on the S4 models as the sensor talked about above is built into the seat belt latch.

 

use solder along the contacts. basically the surface wears out after time so use solder to resurface it. the parts that need to be fixed are a contact board located in the rear of each retractor under a white cap.


if you need a more detaled description than just ask

 

any diagrams?