Air bag warning light uzz31

[turmite]

I have just bought a 91 soarer(uzz31). The car is in mint condition for its age, I just have one problem that has me stumped! The air bag warning light won't go out, I have tried the clearing code through the cabin diagnostic port but the light re appears 5 seconds later, I need to blue slip the car but its not gonna pass with this f...ing light on, any body got any ideas cause I'm out of em. If I have to I'll pull the dash out and put a piece of tape over the light but I want the job done properly if possible. Also how do you get the dash out, it looks like you gotta start at the lower dash and work your way up, does this sound right?

[Hiro]

Have you actually tried pulling a code rather than just resetting it? If the warning light is telling you there is a problem there is a decent chance there actually _is_ a problem

[turmite]

Yup it comes back back as an error 41, this could be just about anything depending wich forum you ask. So I am back to scratch. Does this model have any likely faults? I'm just totally buggered as to wich way to go from here, is this an auto electricians field or do I just replace the bag? Any help would be appreciated.

[Hiro]

According to the Soarer Bible airbag diagnostics section (Soarer Central: Toyota Soarer V8 / SC400 Air Bag Diagnostics), error 41 doesn't exist (it does exist in the engine diagnostics though, which is the TPS). Which diagnostics mode are you in (Soarers have several different diagnostic modes with different pins bridged on the diagnostics connectors?

[trd_st184]

I had an issue when I took my car in for a roadworthy and they mentioned it could be due to what they called a clock spring which I believe sits behind the steering wheel.

It ended up they had reset the code and the issue didn't come up again. It could be something small after all.

[turmite]

Ahhh ok, I got a mechanic friend with a scan tool to check the codes, he plugged the tool into the interior diagnostic port and said that's what the car was telling him. Personally I don't know anything about this stuff so I could only go of what he was telling me! I searched various forums and came up up with 10 differant answers ! I do all my own mechanical work but this out of my league! There is a guy In town whom sells services imports so ill book it in with him. He is as dodgy as hell but I just got of the phone with him and he says he has the proper scan tool.Maybe he can shed some light on the prob.

[trd_st184]

I have to admit while the air bag has saved countless lives they can be a bit of a headache when things go wrong. I am quite scared to ever work on any aspect of them. I wanted to switch over to a non auto tiptronic steering wheel and while I know I have to discharge any current in the electrical system after disconnecting the battery I am still too worried to change the wheel over.

Were you able to verify the error code from a service manual for your model car? Even if its the clock spring they aren't that expensive if I remember correctly

[turmite]

Still working on it. Have booked car for Thursday for scan tool diagnosis, hope it works because me hank. Is charging me 85 dollars just to plug the tool in! Will let you know how it goes!

[Hiro]

You can check codes yourself with a paperclip.....

It's only OBDII cars (don't think any of the Z30 Soarers were OBD II) that _require_ a special scantool

[turmite]

Umm how do you do it?

[Hiro]

You straighten out a paperclip and then bend it in half, and use it to short out two pins in the diagnostics connector. In the case of the airbags diagnostic mode, you bridge pins Tc and E1 of the in-cabin connector located under the dash, and then count the flashes on the appropriate dash warning light (in this case the SRS light). A constant repeating flash is normal, everything else is an error code in 2-digit format, so 3 short flashes followed by a 1.5 second pause and then another short flash is error code 31, if there are no other codes then it will repeat otherwise it will cycle through all the stored codes with a 2.5 second pause between codes and a 4 second pause at the end of the cyle before starting again.

[dumbass]

Just download the soarer workshop manual.
Shitload on the net and read how to diagnose and get codes

I feel sorry for u buying a soarer. I vote it my worse car to work on
And very rarely find a good one but underneath the ugly looking shell
Hides a lot of problems down the track

The diagnosing codes for these vehiclessometimes interlink thruout the car
So if u are getting code 41 it might be from engine even thou u are checking something else
So best of scan the whole car
Engine
Trans
Trac
Abs
Srs
And fix any problem

Or u could just cut wire that brings on srs globe
But then some other light might come on heheh
I'm always finding the engine ecus failing on these

[turmite]

Thanx mate, will give it a whirl tomorrow.

[CrUZida]

How are you resetting the airbag light?

The tutorial is here.
Lexus LS400: How to Turn-Off the Air Bag Light / Clearing Diagnostic Code 41
Its a pain in the arse to reset.
It took me about 20 minutes of constant trying before I succeeded.

[CrUZida]

According to the Soarer Bible airbag diagnostics section (Soarer Central: Toyota Soarer V8 / SC400 Air Bag Diagnostics), error 41 doesn't exist (it does exist in the engine diagnostics though, which is the TPS). Which diagnostics mode are you in (Soarers have several different diagnostic modes with different pins bridged on the diagnostics connectors?

Code 41 means that there is a fault in the ecu's memory, and it needs to cleared.
This happens when the dash cluster comes out, or the steering wheel is removed.