Bit of a story here, so please bear with me.

About a year ago, the trip odo gears stripped. I pulled the IP and sent it out for repair. IP came back, put it all back together again, and the air bag light wouldn't go off. Local shop took pity on me and owed me a favor so they reset the air bag warning with what I believe to be the procedure listed in Clark's Garage. http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/elect-12.htm. I also found this procedure, which is basically the same thing: http://www.944online.com/techinfo/fa...category_id=25 (How Do I Reset The Airbag Light On My Porsche 944 ?).

Driving around Traverse City at Porsche Parade this year, the air bag warning light came back on. I figured at the time, no big deal, I'd use this procedure to re-set it.

After about 5 times trying, the air bag warning light still comes on. It does go off for a second when starting the car in the final step in the procedure, but comes right back on again.

OK. So I'm figuring that either this procedure doesn't work on a '91 S2, or there really is a fault in the air bag system, but frankly, I really don't care if the air bag system works or not, just as long as the warning lights are off.

Does anyone know of a reversible way of disabling the air bag system? Reversible, in case later on, I want to bring the system back into operation.

I Goggled around, and found this procedure (http://www.944s2.com/how-to/how-to.htm - AIRBAG STEERING WHEEL DELETION), but frankly, I don't want to be cutting wires.

Are there any other alternatives? Anyone swapped steering wheels and got around this problem?

 

Digging through my Porsche Shop Manual, I find that I'm missing section 74 in the Body/Chassis manual. Does anyone have a possible source for these missing chapters?

 

To reset the airbag light on a 91 944S2, the procedure on Clarks Garage will not work. You will have to find a dealer or an independent shop that has the Bosch "Hammer" tool. They were expensive when new and are fairly rare now.

 

I have the same issue with my '91. Except my airbag and seat belt light stay on.

 

I have confirmed with the mechanic who performed the reset last time, that the Clark's Garage procedure was what he used to clear the fault from the IP remove and re-install (which involved removing the steering wheel air bag).

Don't know what that means, but I know the guy is one to trust.

Yes, it's my seal belt light as well.

Correction: The Porsche factory manual does indeed have the air bag section. It also has its own version of Clark's Garage procedure as a fault reset procedure.

The diagrams indicate that the air bag control module is mounted behind the glove box, and that the glove box can be remove to access it.

I'm going to try and jump pins 2 & 3 on the connector and see if I can get the air bag / seat belt / master alarm lights off. Checking the wiring diagram, it seems to follow that this will work.

 

I think the seat belt light is the key here. Figure out why that is on, and the airbag light will probably go out. And as a note, just today I had my airbag light come on with my seatbelt light. Very unusual as my seatbelt was latched. Wiggled the receiver, and both lights went out.

When I had to do the reset on my car, the seatbelt light was not light, but following Clarkes garage procedure, it did reset my airbags. Timing has to be perfect, not 4.5 seconds, nor 5.5 seconds. Probably took me ten tries to get it reset.

 

I'm not sure, but I don't recall a wire that went into the seat belt buckle receiver to detect if the seat belt was buckled or not.

 

on my 90S2, the connector under the red plastic cover has a connector with only 2 male pins. also, i just had a shop try and reset mine using the bosch hammer tool yesterday. the guy said he tried 2 different tools and found nothing would work. he suggested the seatbelt could be the problem as well. i dont understand how that would make the airbag light come on, but im not trying to figure out how to troubleshoot my seatbelt wires. my car sat with a dead battery for almost 4 years and then i had this airbag light problem and central locking alarm issues. eventually i will find it but electrical gremlins are a pita

the procedure on 944s2.com will be my last effort at it but im sure it will work because there will be nothing to send a signal to turn the lights on then.

keep posting what you find out and i'll do the same. im tired of that warning light being on all the time.

 

I found the wires that run from the seat belt receiver to under the seat. Tomorrow morning, I plan on pulling the seat out, and checking those connections to make sure they make contact.

Previously I had the IP out to repair the broken ODO gears, and when re-assembled, the same set of lights went off. This was in fact cleared by using the Clark's Garage procedure for this.

There might be some additional fault codes whose reset this procedure doesn't address, but that's where I'm going to go first, once I verified that the seat belt receiver connectors are in fact making solid contact. 'Course I could always jumper them if the receiver itself isn't providing a good connection anymore.

 

More information.

I found the wire on the drivers seat that connects the seat belt receiver to the car. The sockets and spades, or round posts really, for the connector are all clean and shiny.

When there is no seat belt buckled, the circuit is closed and there is continuity between the 2 wires.
When the seat belt is buckled, the circuit is open and there is no continuity between the 2 wires.

Seems to me that you can leave the connector disconnected to have the open circuit condition and eliminate this variable.

I checked the flash codes to try and determine what the fault is.
My reading of the flash codes reveals:
Fault Count = 1
Fault Group = 1
Line = 3
Column = 2

Fault Code = 19 = Transition Resistance to ignition capacitor 1 - Excessive

Wish I knew what that meant.

 

the thing is that the seatbelt and airbag lights should work independently. if they are both on i think its more of an issue with the airbag module. if it was just the seatbelt latch id imagine the airbag system wouldn't care. im paying attention to this though. not too far from just going snip or disconnecting. i can always resolder if i ever feel like it (never).

 

I can tell you from experience that a 91 S2 required the hammer or Durametric to reset the airbag light. I had to get it done on mine to pass inspection and get it registered so I ended out purchasing the cheaper durametric kit as it ended out costing about what I would have to pay someone to do it and I figured it would be good to have since it allows you to read and reset all of the codes in the airbag system and dme. Also allows you to get some live data as the car is running when it is plugged in which is nice.

 

I had the same problem. The shop I took my car to had to pull the instrument cluster as the impedence in the electrical circuit was incorrect. I don't know exactly what they did to fix this but now both the seat belt and air bag light both go out.

 

i eventually (sooner than later) plan on getting a non airbag wheel anyway. i think im going to just snip the wires to the lights. i had a shop use the hammer plus another tool and couldnt get the light out. im just tired of the red light and i give up. :P

 

If you don't mind, where did you purchase the Durametric from? I am just ignoring the light for now since I don't drive my cab much.