Fanta and centre console = faulty airbag

[pclarejnr]

Whilst climbing through the centre of the seats on the car this evening my son spilt fanta onto the pass airbag switch (medium sized fast food drink- something beginning with M)

I only noticed when i turned on the ignition and the onboard computer gracefully told me the passenger airbag had been neutralized, then airbag system fault, I have washed and dried out the switch and checked continuity put all back and dried out the module under the handbrake (hot air gun) but still the system says fault

Any ideas

Regards

Pete

[jasper5]

Whilst climbing through the centre of the seats on the car this evening my son spilt fanta onto the pass airbag switch (medium sized fast food drink- something beginning with M)

I only noticed when i turned on the ignition and the onboard computer gracefully told me the passenger airbag had been neutralized, then airbag system fault, I have washed and dried out the switch and checked continuity put all back and dried out the module under the handbrake (hot air gun) but still the system says fault

Any ideas

Regards

Pete

You may need to have the light switched off, but it's possible that after a short while of running the car the light will go out by itself.

The system does a self test and if no fault is found will turn off the light automatically.

[lozz]

Drinks like fanta go sticky goey if spilt.
is it not possible the contacts within the switch are coverd?

[pclarejnr]

The drink was spilt about 7pm, and I found it at 9:30pm , I washed the switch in hot water and dried it out so I hope I caught it in time, I have tested it and it seems to be working, looks like a lexia 3 is in order then (well one was on the cards anyways)

Is the module below the handbrake an airbag module?? if so I have a bad feeling this is full of the orange stuff

Regds


Pete

[lozz]

The drink was spilt about 7pm, and I found it at 9:30pm , I washed the switch in hot water and dried it out so I hope I caught it in time, I have tested it and it seems to be working, looks like a lexia 3 is in order then (well one was on the cards anyways)

Is the module below the handbrake an airbag module?? if so I have a bad feeling this is full of the orange stuff

Regds


Pete

yup the airbag ecu is under the handbrake area

iwouid disconect battery, remove /air bag ecu and dry it out,

[grasmere59]

The trouble is that the acid in the orange will start work on the pcb inside,a friend of mine who used to mend t.v.'s always told me if you want to make an insurance claim to get a new t.v. pour orange juice down the back as that would always right it off co as soon as it touches a pcb it's toast,there again how much orange is in a fanta from m'c d's

[pclarejnr]

Ohh My word , so just for peace of mind are these modules interchangable??

Upset , but grateful


Pete

[FarmerPug]

don't worry the module just unplugs and bolts out, i think they are fairly interchangeable, i can take a look i think i have one sitting in my attic, the switch itself it might be best to take apart to clean the barrel rotates and presses a tiny switch to do the work but juice can jam it, if you open it over a table and take care with the springs its a bit fiddly but possible to open up and clean.

[plod]

You really want electrical switch cleaner for that kind of job
any kind of sugar will feck any board within though as already stated

I also have a spare airbag ecu

[pclarejnr]

Well then gents,

firstly: I want to correct my earlier mistake, the air bag switch doesn't actually appear to make full continuity (I think it was 100 ohms = off and // 400 ohms = on when I tested it I was sure I had continuity whilst on (don't ask how I got these results I could still be wrong)

Secondly : having washed the switch out with hot water that eve and trying it (to no avail) I then left the switch on the radiator for the night, the following day I stripped the centre console and removed the abs module plug (no trace of liquid) I put all back together and hey presto all works (whilst I was there I fixed my cig lighter bulb and now all is well with the world again

would you advise I still strip the switch and use electrical cleaner?

Many Many thanks


Peten

[lozz]

glad to hear you got it sorted,

iwouid leave it alone now, wouidnt bother trying to clean it, My guess is once such an item is taken apart it may never work again or you couid loose something out of it,

[Harshan]

Exactly the same thing happened last night except what I spilled was coke.

Left it for sometime thinking it'll dry out as what I spilled was not more than few drops. Even after driving for few hours the flashing air bag light didn't go off so decided to take out the switch, split open it, sprayed 3M contact cleaner and dried using a hair drier (hope wife won't read this )

But still the air bag light flashing and pps gives permanent fault passenger air bag deactivation.

Any help would be appreciated as spare parts guy said he only has the switch for standard D9 and my exec needs a different one and out of stock.

Sigh, I would never go through a KFC drive in again in a pug.

[Harshan]

Update as at last night, still sleepless it's being 2.30 in the morning.

Removed and replaced the pass air bag deactivation switch. Erased the fault from pps. Air bag light stopped blinking. But the moment I switch off the ignition and switch it on, it started blinking. Then removed and sorted out, cleaned, dried all the wire connectors of the air bag module which is under the console. But still the same error throws out by pps and air bag light blinking. PPS says the pass air bag deactivation switch is on. Checked to see any wiring short circuits of the switch supply line but still no issues.

Completely Clueless now as to what should I do next.

[Harshan]

Another update.. Checked with a replacement air bag module and bingo, light goes off properly. Workshop confirms that i need to replace an air bag module/ECU.

Can this happen? i mean anyway the pas air bag deactivation switch suppose to make a contact using that small button. Coke would've done that too and I'm sure I didn't spill much coke to short circuit the contact points of the module/ECU.

[markw]

I think it was 100 ohms = off and // 400 ohms = on

The passenger air bag disable is not simply an on/off switch. It has resistors in there, hence the readings above.
This is to prevent a short circuit or open circuit in the wiring from 'fooling' the system into thinking you had operated the switch, which could potentially be disastrous.
In one position, say "on", it will present a known resistive load to the ecu and if the ecu sees this exact resistance, all is well. Similarly, in the "off" position, a different known resistive load is presented to the ecu, it too gets recognised and all is well again.
Should for example, the loom get chopped for one reason or another, there is now infinity ohms resistance in the circuit and that will trigger a fault. A short circuit gets similar treatment too.

Same principle in property alarm systems to prevent tampering from bypassing the system. You can't simply cut the wiring as the system is monitoring a known resistive load all the time.
Hope that helps!