A friend has a 1996 Golf Estate (diesel, although I don’t imagine that’s
relevant).
The airbag warning light is on all the time, and he would like to sell the
car.
He’s tried replacing the steering wheel, but it didn’t make any difference.
He had it checked out by the local dealer, who said this on the bill
"Carried out 1551 test. Showing faults with air bag igniter O/S. N95 value
of resistance too great. O/S air bag short to earth.
Control unit defective.
Removed steering wheel and cowlings.
Checked slip ring and cleaned. Re-fitted steering wheel. Attempted to erase
fault. Will not erase."
They want to replace the control unit (is this is the ECU, or just the air
bag control?) and the slip ring, at a total cost of 600 ukp including VAT
and labour. This sounds like an awful lot to me. Are there any obvious
things which it would be worthwhile to investigate? (I’m an electronics
engineer BTW). I remember reading somewhere that there’s a connector which
it’s worth trying to reseat or clean – how do I get to this? Or should he
just bite the bullet and pay the £600 ?
I was hoping that a friendly VW tech might be able to advise me on this one.
Thanks in advance chaps
James
It shows a problem with the air bag igniter and they want to replace the
computer, but I did not see anything about replacing or testing the igniter.
Did I miss something or did the mechanic.
–
Joseph E. Meehan
26 + 6 = 1 It’s Irish Math
"James" <james_kel…@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3ee8f568_2@mk-nntp-1.news.uk.worldonline.com…
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
> A friend has a 1996 Golf Estate (diesel, although I don’t imagine that’s
> relevant).
> The airbag warning light is on all the time, and he would like to sell the
> car.
> He’s tried replacing the steering wheel, but it didn’t make any
difference.
> He had it checked out by the local dealer, who said this on the bill
> "Carried out 1551 test. Showing faults with air bag igniter O/S. N95 value
> of resistance too great. O/S air bag short to earth.
> Control unit defective.
> Removed steering wheel and cowlings.
> Checked slip ring and cleaned. Re-fitted steering wheel. Attempted to
erase
> fault. Will not erase."
> They want to replace the control unit (is this is the ECU, or just the air
> bag control?) and the slip ring, at a total cost of 600 ukp including VAT
> and labour. This sounds like an awful lot to me. Are there any obvious
> things which it would be worthwhile to investigate? (I’m an electronics
> engineer BTW). I remember reading somewhere that there’s a connector which
> it’s worth trying to reseat or clean – how do I get to this? Or should he
> just bite the bullet and pay the £600 ?
> I was hoping that a friendly VW tech might be able to advise me on this
one.
> Thanks in advance chaps
> James
On Thu, 12 Jun 2003 22:55:54 +0100, "James" <james_kel…@hotmail.com>
wrote:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
>A friend has a 1996 Golf Estate (diesel, although I don’t imagine that’s
>relevant).
>The airbag warning light is on all the time, and he would like to sell the
>car.
>He’s tried replacing the steering wheel, but it didn’t make any difference.
>He had it checked out by the local dealer, who said this on the bill
>"Carried out 1551 test. Showing faults with air bag igniter O/S. N95 value
>of resistance too great. O/S air bag short to earth.
>Control unit defective.
>Removed steering wheel and cowlings.
>Checked slip ring and cleaned. Re-fitted steering wheel. Attempted to erase
>fault. Will not erase."
The inability to erase the fault code is probably a good indication
that the ABS control unit has failed.
>They want to replace the control unit (is this is the ECU, or just the air
>bag control?) and the slip ring, at a total cost of 600 ukp including VAT
No, it’s not the ECU, it’s the gizmo under the N/S rear seat & yes,
they are £400 odd + VAT trade.