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Airbag Light Flashes

S

Scorpion8

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Jul 10, 2008
Messages
1,681
Location
Juneau, AK
I noticed that my airbag light has started flashing on & off a lot more lately. When I first bought the car it came on once in a great while. Now (maybe because it's rainy and damp) it flashes on/off quite a bit. Not with any regularity. Sometimes it won't for awhile, and then it may flash once, pause, flash 3 times and do that repeatedly (but not at fixed intervals).

OM says if it flashes, have the system checked and serviced. Okay, I can do that. The Haynes manual doesn't tell me much. Any ideas?

ETA: I have cruise control, and horn at least when the light is not flashing. I haven't checked yet to see if those go away when I'm driving and the light starts flashing. Where do I find the SRS flash codes described?

98 Contour GL 2.0 Zetec
 
projectSHO89 said:
Double check the flash code. There is no LFC 13 listed in the workshop manual for a 98 'turd. Steve
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Well, that's just it. It's not always the same or at regular intervals. Sometimes it'll flash once. Sometimes one-three, sometimes just three. Sometimes two.
 
I just drove the car around and get the same sequence. The airbag light flashes as: 1, then 3, then a long pause (~ 5 secs), then 1 and 3 again. Then I'll drive maybe 2/10-mile and it'll repeat. And then it won't for awhile.
 
You need to disable airbag system and then pull modules. If you probe circuit with meter, you may very well blow off the bags. No power to be applied there at all while bags plugged in. A resistor with a value of exactly 2 ohms can be substituted for the bag to test circuit. I'd be looking around the clockspring area of steering wheel first, that connection moves all the time, subject to damage.....
 
Today I was getting multiple codes. Still the 1-3, then every so often a series of 1-4's and sometimes a string of 5-1's. They don't always run thru all of them.
 
I had the flashing airbag light before and it ended up being the battery IIRC. When was the last time your battery was replaced?
 
KerryKool said:
When was the last time your battery was replaced?
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Don't know honestly. I've owned the car for little over 2 months and it's been fix-this-and-that ever since. The battery seems to hold a good charge, starts up every day right away. I only drive it 7 miles to work and back. Maybe I should put the charger on it this weekend and just deep-cycle the battery?
 
The airbag light code is anow a steady 5-1 indicating a "blown thermal fuse due to a ground" somehwere. Anybody have any experience with where the likely spots for this ground might be? All my steering wheel functions (horn, cruise, etc) work fine but I went ahead and ordered a new clock spring as a search says most issues come from a worn clock spring. Any help?
 
Scorpion8 said:
The airbag light code is anow a steady 5-1 .... Any help?
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51=Air Bag Diagnostic Monitor Internal Thermal FuseFuse Blown Due to Intermittent Short to Ground

The airbag was most probably deployed and the Airbag Diagnostic monitor was not replaced.
 
I'm not sure the car was ever in an accident. So in short, if the air bag deploys (for any reason) the diagnostic monitor should be replaced? What's a good source for these besides the dealer?
 
Scorpion8 said:
I'm not sure the car was ever in an accident. So in short, if the air bag deploys (for any reason) the diagnostic monitor should be replaced? What's a good source for these besides the dealer?
Click to expand...
Yes.

I would get it from a dealer.
 
Could someone please tell me exactly what this means:

24=Safing Sensor Output Feed/Return Circuit Open

Safing?? :confused:

**EDIT** OK...Found some info on this. It seems the most likely causes are loose wiring and/or a tripped seatbelt pretensioner. Honestly, I suppose it could be either. The car was involved in a low speed (~5 mph) rear-ending at a stop sign before I came into possesion of it. Might this have triggered the seatbelt issue? If so, is it possible to reset the sensor or does it have to be replaced? As for the possibility of a wiring issue, would this be something that's likely to be in the engine bay or is it more likely to be in the cabin? If it's under the hood, then wiring is DEFINITELY a possibility since this is a 98 with some crumbling insulation. I had to rewire several runs while I had the engine out for the MTX swap.
 
Just replaced my clock spring and the air bag light still flashes. Darnitall. Now I guess that means I have to chase wires (on a warm, sunny day).
 
Solved. Since I had had different flashing codes over the life of it, I was pretty sure it wasn't accurate. I traced out the airbag wiring, and didn't find any obvious grounds. So, I bought an airbag diagnostic module off a parting-out Contour and last weekend swapped it. Pulled the center console et al and did some real spring cleaning down there. Anyway, the airbag flashing code is gone. Done. been two weeks without a single blip. Call it "fixed".
 
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