JPTL

Sorry....by p/s I was referring to the passenger side.
a/b I meant airbag.

docmirror

Sorry, been under a hot airplane all weekend. The ignition pill is the high tension wire that fires the little charge that deploys the airbag. It has a two voltage state, first is the resting or idle voltage which is very low, maybe in the millivolts. The ignition voltage is very high, maybe in the 100s of volts. During normal operation, on start-up there is a short diagnostic that is run. During this diagnostic the airbag light will illuminate for about 8-12 seconds. One of the tests in the airbag circuit is the ignition pill loopback current. A small solid state switch in the controller senses the current from the resting voltage. Once that voltage is deemed to be well below the ignition voltage, then another solid state switch will ground the ignition pill wire to insure there is no stray voltage on the wire, such as an induced voltage from a frayed wire touching the pill circuit. Once that is grounded, it is then tested for resistance, and if found too high, a fault is set. If found ok, then the resting voltage is set on the ignition pill wire, and the current is constantly monitored. Any changes in the current reading from the pill circuit, and the wire is immediately grounded, and a fault code is set.

Search for my 'steering wheel registration' thread on handling the airbag.

Now, the seat wiring. The seatbelt warning light is on as a result of the airbag fault, not the other way around. Porsche wants to make sure you have your belt on when the airbag system is defeated to help save your life. When you reset the codes, I'm pretty sure your seatbelt warning light will go out.

do this test. Sit in the car, and attach your seatbelt. Turn the key to on, but not start, and watch the timing of the seatbelt and airbag lights. Now, turn off the key, unhook your belt, and turn the key on again while watching the sequence of seatbelt and airbag lights. Any change?

Sorry to hear that you're moving to LA. I used to live near there and it's not for me anymore. IMHO, you have a much better chance of selling your car out there than in Austin. Plenty of people in LA with more money than brains.

docmirror

Sorry, been under a hot airplane all weekend. The ignition pill is the high tension wire that fires the little charge that deploys the airbag. It has a two voltage state, first is the resting or idle voltage which is very low, maybe in the millivolts. The ignition voltage is very high, maybe in the 100s of volts. During normal operation, on start-up there is a short diagnostic that is run. During this diagnostic the airbag light will illuminate for about 8-12 seconds. One of the tests in the airbag circuit is the ignition pill loopback current. A small solid state switch in the controller senses the current from the resting voltage. Once that voltage is deemed to be well below the ignition voltage, then another solid state switch will ground the ignition pill wire to insure there is no stray voltage on the wire, such as an induced voltage from a frayed wire touching the pill circuit. Once that is grounded, it is then tested for resistance, and if found too high, a fault is set. If found ok, then the resting voltage is set on the ignition pill wire, and the current is constantly monitored. Any changes in the current reading from the pill circuit, and the wire is immediately grounded, and a fault code is set.

Search for my 'steering wheel registration' thread on handling the airbag.

Now, the seat wiring. The seatbelt warning light is on as a result of the airbag fault, not the other way around. Porsche wants to make sure you have your belt on when the airbag system is defeated to help save your life. When you reset the codes, I'm pretty sure your seatbelt warning light will go out.

do this test. Sit in the car, and attach your seatbelt. Turn the key to on, but not start, and watch the timing of the seatbelt and airbag lights. Now, turn off the key, unhook your belt, and turn the key on again while watching the sequence of seatbelt and airbag lights. Any change?

Sorry to hear that you're moving to LA. I used to live near there and it's not for me anymore. IMHO, you have a much better chance of selling your car out there than in Austin. Plenty of people in LA with more money than brains.

RyanPerrella

Doc,

Thanks again for the great post.

I am in the middle of recharging the AC but that should be done in the next hour or so. (Currently testing to see if it holds vacumn for 30 minutes)

Thanks for the confirmation on the airbag and seatbelt lamps. I was curious if that could be an issue but I have full function in the passenger seat so i will rule that out. And cause you just clearly told me its not an issue.

Where are these contacts at? I will look up the thread you mentioned and see what i can find. But I have heard that some of tehse airbag issues are due to contact problems which should be an easy enough thing to alleviate once i know where said contacts are.

I can search, but if someone wants to post where they are and what needs to be clean that would be appreciated.

Back to the AC .....for now.....

RyanPerrella

Q: If i fix the fault, the airbag message wont reappear will it? But there will just be a code stored right?

Or do i need to fix the fault and then I MUST use the hammer to clear for the airbag message to go away?

docmirror

A: Yes, if you locate and fix the fault, once the code is reset, it will not reappear. Note; the tautology of your question is difficult. The code must be reset with the hammer, no matter if it's fixed or not. That is why my position is to get the codes, fix what is broken, reset the codes, then test several times by starting the car, and letting the airbag diagnostic do it's business.

1 Get code.
2 Locate and fix fault determined by code in 1.
3 Reset stored fault code with hammer.
4 Run airbag diag with hammer.
5 Run POST test(start the car) a few times to verify.

Others have different views on this process. My opinion only is that if you start 'fixing' things that aren't called out in the code as a preventative measure, you may do more damage.

Also, there is no circuit from the chassis ground to the sensors for the airbag. It is a fully self contained unit that is isolated electrically from the chassis. This is for protection against a false deployment should the car be struck by lightning, and the chassis suddenly energized to a few thou volts.

JPTL

I stand corrected in that regard...so it must have just been dirty contacts & not a contact @ the chassis mounting point of the p/s sensor that was causing the fault in my case.
I would suggest cleaning the contacts prior to finding a Hammer or Baum only if one isn't going to be easily available to you,(like in my case) or the tech wants to charge you a hefty fee for his running the codes.
If you can easily and painlessly locate a Hammer and have the ability to get the code(s) and reset them w/it; and subsequently can get access to it again after repairs are made, that's the way to go IMO like docmirror says.

RyanPerrella

ok so i NEED a hammer to resolve this issue.

Better give Roger a call....

docmirror

See post #2, first para, third sentence. There is another type of test tool called the 'Spanner'. I recall using it to test, diagnose and reset my codes with the airbag. Not sure if it's ready for prime time, or if it will do all the functions correctly, but the Bosch tool will take care of it smartly.

RyanPerrella

when i said "hammer" it was just a general term. I dont have a hammer, spanner, or any of the other 2-3 type of tools used for this so i need to borrow one or visit some stealer to do it.