Evening gents, My p-car mechanic tells me the source of my airbag light staying on constantly could either be the airbag clock spring or airbag control module. There's an airbag control module on eBay right now at a good price, but I'm not sure this 996/997 version will work on the 993. Does anyone know if this part will fit on 993 #996.618.219.01? Thanks a ton!

 

the 993 controller was superseded to 996.618.217.02, Apparently 996.618.219.01 is different, but in what way I don't know.

I don't know if they are interchangeable, but would guess not., They both list for ~$736.

I have a new never installed 996.618.217.02 For $400 shipped to lower 48 if you are interested.

 

Airbag light - source of fault? - Rennlist Discussion Forums
forums.rennlist.com › ... › 993 Forum
May 5, 2011 - 17 posts - 6 authors
If the airbag control unit has ever been replaced it may have the 996 unit. ... There is a TSB, 6863, that supercedes the 993 PN with a 996 one. .... vehicles have a new air bag control unit, part number, 996 618 217 00 ... The new air bag control unit can only be diagnosed and locked using the new Porsche ...
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A search engine can be your friend, all one needs to do is chose to use it!
Hope this helps

 

I'll bet 99% to 1% it's the clockspring. At least if he's not capable of diagnosing, I'd start form there. It's much cheaper part.

 

My '95 airbag light came on. The local indie just opened up the drivers side and cleaned all the contact points. That was 2 years ago, no problems since.

 

I just went through the mill with mine. Yes, the new part is a 996 unit. It needs to be reprogrammed with a PIWIS tester unit as some things that are on 996s - but not on 993s - need to be programmed out, such as seat weight sensors etc.

My local dealership found their PIWIS-2 tester unit wouldn't do the job and they ended up getting a working PIWIS-1 unit flown in from Australia (I'm in New Zealand) and that did the job of reprogramming it successfully. Porsche disabled all of the PIWIS-1 units so they wouldn't end up on the s/h market and the PIWIS-2 was supposed to do it all on the old cars as well as the new. Well, it didn't, and my local dealership spent 21 workshop hours finding this out (not at my cost though...)

If you need a new unit, my advice would be to see if a s/h 993 unit works first as I'm pretty sure only an Official Porsche Service Centre can reprogramme the 996 units.

 

The one on ebay is for a 996 turbo, no good for n/a 996 and 993

 

How about using your OBDC software to clear the code and see if it comes back. With Durametric software you will need to use the airbag menu from a 964 to access the module.
Unless you have wrecked the car do not understand why a new controller is needed.
Andy