When I got this car, the airbag module was unplugged, the airbag light had been removed, and the airbag fuse was blown. I plugged the module back in, replaced the light, and replaced the fuse, then cleared the codes to turn the light off.
All was well until I was driving after lots of salt was dumped on the road and the airbag fuse again blew and the light came back on. The stored code (52) indicated that the airbag module blew the fuse due to an intermittent short on either one of the airbag wires or one of the crash sensor wires.
I checked the wiring under the dash and at the crash sensors and all looked fine. I replaced the fuse and again cleared the codes.
The fuse blew again a couple of weeks later, again while driving with lots of salt water on the roads. I inspected the wiring again (same code about an intermittent short) and did not see any problems, so I replaced the fuse.
The airbag light came on again a week later, this time with a code 42...open circuit to the left front crash sensor, and this time it's a hard fault, not an intermittent. Now we're getting somewhere.
I disconnected the airbag module and did a continuity check between the connector at the firewall and the crash sensor. That tested good. I then checked between the airbag module and the crash sensor..open circuit. I'd narrowed the problem down to a 2 foot section of harness between the airbag module and the firewall connector.
I finally had a chance to look at it today and I found a chafed wiring harness by the passenger side wheel. The wire had nothing but green powder where there should have been copper. I spliced a new piece of wire in and that fixed the problem.
I think the harness may have gotten chafed when it was a police car--they did have some add-on wiring running next to it, part of which was still there when I got the car.
Having the wiring diagrams, which cost me all of $10 on Ebay, was a big help. I don't think that I could have begun to troubleshoot this problem without them.
All was well until I was driving after lots of salt was dumped on the road and the airbag fuse again blew and the light came back on. The stored code (52) indicated that the airbag module blew the fuse due to an intermittent short on either one of the airbag wires or one of the crash sensor wires.
I checked the wiring under the dash and at the crash sensors and all looked fine. I replaced the fuse and again cleared the codes.
The fuse blew again a couple of weeks later, again while driving with lots of salt water on the roads. I inspected the wiring again (same code about an intermittent short) and did not see any problems, so I replaced the fuse.
The airbag light came on again a week later, this time with a code 42...open circuit to the left front crash sensor, and this time it's a hard fault, not an intermittent. Now we're getting somewhere.
I disconnected the airbag module and did a continuity check between the connector at the firewall and the crash sensor. That tested good. I then checked between the airbag module and the crash sensor..open circuit. I'd narrowed the problem down to a 2 foot section of harness between the airbag module and the firewall connector.
I finally had a chance to look at it today and I found a chafed wiring harness by the passenger side wheel. The wire had nothing but green powder where there should have been copper. I spliced a new piece of wire in and that fixed the problem.
I think the harness may have gotten chafed when it was a police car--they did have some add-on wiring running next to it, part of which was still there when I got the car.
Having the wiring diagrams, which cost me all of $10 on Ebay, was a big help. I don't think that I could have begun to troubleshoot this problem without them.
