Same old service light and airbag light grief

[vmaxnick]

Hi all
I've just bought a 2001 Clio II phase 2 1.5 DCI for my son
Oh yes, we bought a proper mutt!
Discs, pads, ball joints, shoes, clutch, airial out and seal, sunroof out and seal, and a new clutch.

One thing which has me beat so far though is the serv/airbag light. Following the masses of info on this forum and elsewhere. I chopped the plug off under the drivers seat and soldered the wires. Closer reading of the forum posts and some youtube videos and I realised, the wires from the grey plugs had allready been cut and soldered (well) so the wires I did were the drivers seat airbag wires (a black plug with a red plastic locking gizmo in it) three wires comming from each side of the plug. I soldered them exactly as the came from the black plug Through the plug it goes black brown and blue one side, greyishblack orange and purpleishbrown the other side

so the connections are starting on the purpleishbrown orange greyishblack side: purpleishbrown to blue. orange to brown and greyishblack to black. Hope this makes sense. I took the car to a friends garage where he has a clip diagnostic set up. He cleared the airbag ECU which was showing lots of historic faults and reset it. the serv/airbag light came straight back on with drivers seat airbag short circuit as the only fault.
A few questions: Can anyone throw any light on this one? is there another plug from the bag igniter to the seat loom which could be causing the short. The car was full of water from the sunroof and airial leak so is it more likely to be the ECU faulty? There is no short in any of the wires which have been soldered, they've all been done quite throughly (Renault dealer at a guess)
I have bought some 3.3 ohm resistors which am going to try connecting in place of the blue and brown wires in the loom which goes to the drivers seat airbag just to see if that kills the light but not as a permanant fix as I want that circuit to work!!!
Last question (If you havn't allready fallen asleep) I am thinking of buying a cheep and cheerful eprom and ecu reader. What if any can I get for under £150 which will interrogate and reset the airbag ecu's?
Thanks for your indulgance with this novel and thanks in advance for any helpful sugestions!
Nick

 

[stevescort172]

Best bet is to wait for mickPm to reply, he knows his stuff and might be able to help

 

[vmaxnick]

Best bet is to wait for mickPm to reply, he knows his stuff and might be able to help

mickPm, any chance of some advice?

Any suggestions for a cheap eprom and airbag ecu reader which can interrogate and reset PC based prefered to handheld?

 

[Dan@SJM]

If your friend has clip. He can go in and remove the seat sensor from the equipment list.

 

[vmaxnick]

If your friend has clip. He can go in and remove the seat sensor from the equipment list.

He wouldn't do that as he's an MOT station. I wouldn't ask him to do it either.

I would like some advice on buying a hand held though as that would certainly prove usefull if I could real-time check any repairs or changes I make. There are so many gadgets out there but I susspect most of them will be as usefull as a chocolate fire guard.

I would like a laptop based set up so that the software can be upgraded. It would be a wise investment for me as bikes are using eproms extensively too these days. I am not looking to spend thousends as I would not see the return but would be happy to spend up to £150 for something versatile.

Views, opinions, personal experiences of other members greatly appreciated

 

[len_beach]

An RSTuner could fit the bill.

They're primarily good used for re-maps but are also very good for diagnostics etc.

 

[Dan@SJM]

RSTuner. For diagnostics on the engine ecu.

If your in the southwest I can reprogram your airbag ecu for you.

 

[vmaxnick]

As it happens, I am in Somerset too! I may take you up on your offer Dan. Will the RSTuner interrogate airbag ecu's if so, anyone got one for sale?

 

[Dan@SJM]

You can get them that read them but afaik it can't reprogram to the level that I can with CLiP.

 

[vmaxnick]

I've ordered some 3.3 ohm resistors which I am hoping I can use to trace the fault to it's source. (Starting at the drivers seat airbag connection and coming back to the ECU plug under the gearstick console if necessary). If I get the light to stay out, I will know that the fault is between the resistor and the bag itself. If it doesn't work, I will try another ECU. If that still doesn't work, visit to Dan with my tail between my legs to turn the damn circuit off. I will post up the results as they come in.

 

[vmaxnick]

Seems the problem was the wet interior from the leaking sunroof. Since curing the leak, the car has dried out and the airbag light has gone out. Glow plug light has come on though and is staying on. I've fitted new plugs which made no difference, checked the old plugs; all four working. glow plug relay is cycling correctly. I now have an ELM 326 which seems to connect ok to the engine ECU so I will see what it says. Car is running fine though. Perhaps a little hesitant to fire up but then it is wicked cold!

 

[Dan@SJM]

If you need it on clip just holla mate.

 

[MicKPM]

Sorry, got here a bit too late it seems.

The damp can get in at multiple places and cause problems not just under the seats. It is also pretty common for the line to the pre-tensioner unit itself to need replacing after a deployment and the result of not changing the wires is an open or short circuit... not that I'm saying your car had had a deployment at some point but it may be worth checking the vin numbers match in the various systems.

Finding a general code reader that can do what you want will be difficult as they just don't exist. The RSTuner can, with the purchase of the additional srs module, can indeed read/clear/configure it but I've never used it so can't really give you any advice. Then there's a CLIP clone from Ebay; I don't normally advise the purchase of these as some are better than others but if you're not planning on any serious config work it'll do you right.

Mick

 

[haimsey]

I have a similar problem with this plug. I'm pretty sure when I had the seat out I may have broke it. Can the wires be joined by using spade connectors? Or is there something inside the plug that's crucial?

if I got another plug and swooped them over would that work?

sorry for the slight hijack

 

[Ianboom]

The sunnroof leaked on my lad's clio, it was the side impact sensor that was faulty-you can't wire them out with a resistor, but they're a tenner posted from ebay!

 

[haimsey]

The sunnroof leaked on my lad's clio, it was the side impact sensor that was faulty-you can't wire them out with a resistor, but they're a tenner posted from ebay!

Don't suppose you have a link? or the title you typed in for the item?

 

[Ianboom]

Don't suppose you have a link? or the title you typed in for the item?

You need to diagnose the problem before you start throwing money at it-are you any good witha multimeter?

 

[haimsey]

You need to diagnose the problem before you start throwing money at it-are you any good witha multimeter?

Can be yeah.

I broke the red/black clip when removing my seat. So I'm guessing this is why the light is on