Strange air bag light issue....

[Deke]

Last weekend, I parked Mo for the weekend, as usual. We had passing thunderstorms and rain Saturday and Sunday morning. When I went to take Mo to Hess to fill her belly, the air bag light flashed - sequence of six, then pause, then six. This continued. I thought the system was not inop and hoped the bag wouldn't pop in my face while driving.

Well, got to the station, filled the tank, started up again and the light cycled like normal and didn't flash again! Worked like a charm all week.

This weekend, parked Mo on Friday, went to the East Coast to visit the in-laws (drove the wife's Camry - 30+ MPG) got back today. We had periods of rain and T-storms from Gustav's feeder bands pass through all day Saturday and most of yesterday. Today, I started Mo for the trip to Hess and the air bag started flashing like last week! Same thing, too. On next start-up, cycled through like normal.

I'm just shrugging my shoulders and chalking it up as "one of those things"...

[P72Ford]

I had that happen with mine. I put a flowmaster sticker over the light...lol

Then one day it was fine. Unplug the sensor up front under the hood latch, and plug it back in. I think thats what fixed mine, honestly.

[86GmLsCoupe]

My friend's got a Mark VII LSC and her airbag light would always go crazy with wet weather and one day when checking under the hood on the notorious air suspension I noticed the sensor mounted to the header panel was completely rusted through. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case with your car. Take a look and let us know what you find.

[91waggin]

Well, I guess I'll go through this spiel again:

An airbag saved my life. I was hit head-on by a drunk driver going about 45 mph while I was going about 20 in the other direction. I was told that if I hadn't had an airbag on my car I'd probably be dead. As it was I had to wear a neck brace and had a broken rib. But that was all.

Airbag systems are like air brakes on trucks. They're designed not to fuck you over if something goes wrong, just like the brakes will come on if you lose air pressure. If any of the following conditions apply, the airbag computer shuts the system off so it won't go off accidentally. However, it won't have the chance to save your life.


1. The airbag light is on steady
2. The airbag light is flashing continuously
3. The airbag light is flashing codes (groups of flashes)
4. The airbag computer is beeping at you (it's a really shrill, loud, obnoxious noise; you'll know it if you hear it)

So basically, if the airbag light is doing anything besides the single bulb check when you start the car, the airbag system is not functional and will not go off, even if you need it to.

To the question at hand: There is no code that I can come up with that has a leading 6. They only go up to fives. However, a continuously flashing airbag light means "all crash sensors disconnected"

**edit** codes below are for 1992+ models

Here are the codes:
AIR BAG DIAGNOSTIC MONITOR FAULT CODE PRIORITY TABLE
Priority Code Component/Fault Description
Highest -- No Air Bag Lamp - Inoperative Lamp Circuit or No Ignition Voltage to Diagnostic Monitor
| -- Continuous Air Bag Lamp - Diagnostic Monitor Disconnected or Inoperative
| 12 Low Battery Voltage
| 13 Air Bag Circuit or Crash Sensor Circuit - Shorted to Ground
| 21 Safing Sensor - Not Mounted on Vehicle Properly
| 22 Safing Sensor Output Circuit - Shorted to Battery Voltage
| 23 Safing Sensor Input Feed/Return Circuit Open
| 24 Open in Circuit 944B or Low Resistance in Crash Sensor(s)
| 32 Driver Side Air Bag/Safing Sensor Circuit - High Resistance or Open
| 33 Pin 7 Not Grounded at Diagnostic Monitor
| 34 Driver Side Air Bag/Safing Sensor Circuit - Low Resistance or Shorted
| 35 Low Resistance Across Pins 8 and 9 at Diagnostic Monitor
| 41 Crash Sensor Circuit - High Resistance or Open
| 44 RH Crash Sensor - Not Mounted to Vehicle Properly
| 45 Center Radiator Crash Sensor - Not Mounted to Vehicle Properly
| 46 LH Crash Sensor - Not Mounted to Vehicle Properly
| 51 Diagnostic Monitor Internal Thermal Fuse - Blown and Short to Ground No Longer Exists
| 52 Backup Power Supply - Voltage Boost Fault
| 53 Internal Diagnostic Monitor Fault
Lowest -- Rapid Continuous Flashing of Air Bag Lamp - All Crash Sensors Disconnected


The airbag diagnostic system is organized by priority, top to bottom on the list above. If multiple faults exist, the highest priority fault will be the code shown. Once that fault is corrected, the next one down the list will be displayed, and so forth until all faults are corrected.

I do know that the header panel crash sensor grounds directly through its mounting bolt, and if that ground is not perfect, it can make weird things happen.

Sorry for the long post; hope this helps.
</$.02>

[Deke]

My friend's got a Mark VII LSC and her airbag light would always go crazy with wet weather and one day when checking under the hood on the notorious air suspension I noticed the sensor mounted to the header panel was completely rusted through. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case with your car. Take a look and let us know what you find.

Where exactly would the sensor be? Under the hood on these "modern" cars is a mystery to me! I'd love to have my old 68 Fury back with nothing extra under the hood with the 318!

Deke

[gadget73]

There are two different airbag systems. 89-91 uses single digits. 6 is probably a problem with the clock spring or the connections going to the clock spring.

2 All Primary Crash Sensors Disconnected.
3 Air Bag Deployment Circuit - Low Battery Voltage or Low Backup Power Supply Voltage
4 Safing Sensor - Diagnostic Circuit Open or Low Primary Crash Sensor Resistance
5 Air Bag Circuit or Crash Sensor Circuit - Shorted to Ground
6 Driver-Side Air Bag Circuit - Open or High Resistance
7 Passenger-Side Air Bag Circuit - Open or High Resistance
8 Primary Crash Sensor - Not Mounted to Vehicle Properly
9 Primary Crash Sensor Circuit - Open or High Resistance
10 Diagnostic Monitor Internal Thermal Fuse - Open Due to Intermittent Short to Ground

[91waggin]

There are two different airbag systems. 89-91 uses single digits. 6 is probably a problem with the clock spring or the connections going to the clock spring.

2 All Primary Crash Sensors Disconnected.
3 Air Bag Deployment Circuit - Low Battery Voltage or Low Backup Power Supply Voltage
4 Safing Sensor - Diagnostic Circuit Open or Low Primary Crash Sensor Resistance
5 Air Bag Circuit or Crash Sensor Circuit - Shorted to Ground
6 Driver-Side Air Bag Circuit - Open or High Resistance
7 Passenger-Side Air Bag Circuit - Open or High Resistance
8 Primary Crash Sensor - Not Mounted to Vehicle Properly
9 Primary Crash Sensor Circuit - Open or High Resistance
10 Diagnostic Monitor Internal Thermal Fuse - Open Due to Intermittent Short to Ground

Oh Fuck you're right! I totally posted the wrong set of codes! I'm so sorry to be posting the wrong information!

Could a mod please edit my previous post to remove the erroneous info?

[86GmLsCoupe]

Where exactly would the sensor be? Under the hood on these "modern" cars is a mystery to me! I'd love to have my old 68 Fury back with nothing extra under the hood with the 318!

Deke

On her car, if I remember correctly, it was mounted centered just front of the radiator. When you open your hood, look around where the catch for the hood is, it should be around there.