Leaderboard

I have had an Airbag Light for the last 8 months. I tried all the poor man's remedies like an electrical spray and then drying it with canned air. It worked for a while until I realized that the light will reappear after I had passenger actually use the belt. When I ran the codes using my Durametric Tool I got Fault code 48 which indicated a Passenger Side Seat Belt Problem. The previous owner had the driver's side completed in 2006. Below is a screenshot of the fault code I received: Depending on year of the car, fault Codes 45, 46, 48 and 49 refer to a selt belt problem on either the driver's side (45 or 46) or the passenger's side (48 or 49.) The Technical Service Bulletin is TSB 6924. This Bulletin replaces an earlier one dated 10-8-99. Being a donating member on this Board gives you access to this TSB Bulletin and all other TSB Bulletins. Both the passenger and driver's side's DIY are pretty much identical with a few differences as noted later on in this posting. The TSB is a little awkward to read and understand. I hope this write-up helps to understand it.. First, remove the key from the ignition and disconnect the negative side of the battery. A key in the ignition activates the airbags. So removing the key is good practice. Then in my case, remove the passenger side seat by loosening the four (4) bolts connecting the seat to the floor. You'll need a 10mm socket or an E12 to remove the seat. Both sockets will work. The E12 is a female torx like socket. When removing the seat, it is recommended that you have the top down and cover the door threshold with a towel or blanket. The seat is awkward to remove and the paint can be easily scratched. Next, release the backrest of the seat and swing the backrest forward and down, then tip the seat towards the engine (back and all) to gain access under the seat to release the electrical harness. Below are two (2) photos. The first is a photo of the harness. It is still connected and the second photo is taken with the seat removed from the vehicle after the harness has been separated. The second photo also shows the location of the harness lock. The harness lock must be pulled out to separate the harness into two (2) parts. The TSB refers to the vehicle side (of the harness) and the seat side (of the harness.) When the harness is seperated the vehicle side (of the harness) stays with the vehicle and the seat side(of the harness) stays with seat. With the harness separated and the seat removed you basically are doing three things: In the car (vehicle side) Step I and Step II Step I. Replacing 2 pins (4 pins on the driver's side) and their attached wires on the vehicle side plug. Regardless of which seat you are working on the kit provides four (4) wires. The old wires contain more tin in the fittings and the tin eventually causes connectivety problems and thus the seatbelt light comes on. The new pins contain more gold and less tin. Step II. Replacing the ground wiring harnesses with a new ground wire provided in the kit. The new ground has a prefitted round lug that connects under the bolt to the appropiate grounding point. Outside the car on the removed seat (seat side) Step III Installing a new seat belt buckle receptacle and it's attached wires. The wires from the new buckle receptacle end in a green plug (it goes under the seat and snaps into the seat side of the harness.) The green receptacle can be seen in the photo above. It is exactly the same of the driver's side except on the driver's side the receptacle ends in a blue plug and not a green one. The diagram below is the electric wiring schematic provided by Porsche. You are working on Connector X16 (driver's side and X17 (passenger side.) Step I Unravel or unwrap the black banding on the vehicle side. Save the banding to re-use it for reassembly. You will need to further disassemble the vehicle side plug. The TSB explains this very well. Passenger's side ( X17) has two pins(2) for sockets B7 and B8. The driver's side (X16) have four pins with wires and are for sockets B5, B6, B7 and B8. Work on the wires one at a time to make sure they get connected correctly. Here is a photo of the passenger vehicle side sockets B7 and B8. If you click on the picture it will expand and you can actually read which is #7 and which is #8. The wire colors are brown/blue and brown respectfully. To remove the old pin depress the raised portion of the pin (thru the opening shown below) with your press out tool and pull out the old pin out by the wire. Install the new pin and wire and using the old wire you can chase it along to determine where to cut. When you cut the old existing wire leave 50mm or 2 inches long on the replacement wire for connecting, crimping, soldering and applying the heat shrinking rubber sleeves supplied with the kit.. Strip both wires to 1/2 inch. Twist the wires together, crimp the wires with the supplied ferrule supplied in kit with crimping pliers. You can see that they are twisted togther before applying the ferrule and then crimp the ferrule. The tool shown in the photo below is not a set of crimping pliers but rather a soldering clamp . Once crimped with the ferrule, solder the ends of the exposed copper wires and then cover with heat shrink tubing. The photo below shows closing the end of the heat shrink tube with heater gun. Repeat for all remaining replacement pins. Again replace one wire at a time to make sure they get connected correctly. Then you can reassemble the wiring with banding and use additional electrical tape if needed. The kit also contains cinch ties or tie-wraps. The TSB shows where to place these. The TSB cautions that the airbag light will re-appear if the wires are not sufficiently banded. Step II You are now ready to work on the ground leads. You can see the old ground lead attached to ground point 6 in the photo above. Begin by unwrap[ing the existing ground banding all the way back to where the factory spliced is located. Unbolt the old cable lug from grounding point 6 (GP6) on the passenger side or grounding point 7 (GP7) on the driver's side to replace it with the new one(s) provided in kit. Cut, strip, clamp and solder all wires together. Again leave 2 inches extra for clamping and soldering. You can have up to four wires (plus the new ground with the new lug connector) depending on the seat options that came with your vehicle. Below is the factory splice before I cut them. I also had the ground adapter for a children's seat. The TSB provides directions for dealing with this. Step III. Replace the old buckle on the seat with the new one and route the cable lead to the seat side of the harness and install. This is the wire that has a tail or plug on the passenger side that is green in color (photo above.) Driver's side is blue. You will need to slide off the end of the seat side portion of the harness to remove the old green (or blue) plug. Make sure seat side of harness is securely installed in the track under seat and cinch ties are correctly installed per the TSB. Reinstall the seat in the vehicle, connect the harness, tighten seat, connect battery and reset the Airbag Light with a Durametric or PWIS/PST2 Tool from an Indy or Dealer. Contrary to what some think, a disconnected battery will not reset the airbag light. Parts numbers for this DIY and prices from Sunset are: 996.803.183.10 - Passenger side Buckle - $52.82 996.803.183.09 - Driver's Side Buckle - Not sure because I did not replace this part 000-043-206-06 - Harness Kit - $46.27 (2 needed, one per side) Good Luck! :D