air bag warning light

[Shamus]

Friends, I have a US-spec 1998 V8 SE. Purchased in Turkey, now trying to get through the annual test here in Finland. Herein lies the prob: the tester cannot find the airbag warning light and is refusing to pass it until he sees the light. This has never worked since I purchased the car five years ago. Today I took the dash apart and found NO PLACE FOR A BULB directly behind the SRS space, (the bit that is supposed to light up) bang in the middle of the speedo (or is it the tacho? anyway, the one on the left). Any thoughts on why this might be or am I looking in the wrong place for the bulb.

Cheers,

Sean

[BogMonster]

May be a silly question, but does it have an airbag fitted?

Many Discovery 1's did not, as it was an option. The non-airbag steering wheel has a horn button in the middle of the wheel with a green LR badge, the airbag one is a much bulkier centre to the wheel which does not have a separate horn button, you push on the whole 'bag to peep at people.

Maybe the system is not working and the bulb was removed by a previous owner.

[Shamus]

May be a silly question, but does it have an airbag fitted?

Many Discovery 1's did not, as it was an option. The non-airbag steering wheel has a horn button in the middle of the wheel with a green LR badge, the airbag one is a much bulkier centre to the wheel which does not have a separate horn button, you push on the whole 'bag to peep at people.

Maybe the system is not working and the bulb was removed by a previous owner.

Not a silly question at all, although they are fitted as the wheel is just as you describe, along with warning stickers under the bonnet etc. Problem is there is no place for a warning bulb at the back of the dash, although the 'SRS' symbol appears unilluminated in the middle of the speedo, looking for all the world like it should be there and part of the system

[sotal]

If your handy with a soldering iron then look up "555 timer circuits".

With a few simple components available from any electronics retailer (maplin in the UK is good) and a soldering iron, you can make a timer circuit which illuminates a red LED for whatever amount of time you require. Glue the led in place behind the SRS symbol and hey presto you will have a light which comes on for a set amount of time then goes off - probably cost about £3 and would take about an hour to do.

I'm guessing that the previous owner removed the bulb and possibly the bulb holder as the system had malfunctioned

[Shamus]

If your handy with a soldering iron then look up "555 timer circuits".

With a few simple components available from any electronics retailer (maplin in the UK is good) and a soldering iron, you can make a timer circuit which illuminates a red LED for whatever amount of time you require. Glue the led in place behind the SRS symbol and hey presto you will have a light which comes on for a set amount of time then goes off - probably cost about £3 and would take about an hour to do.

I'm guessing that the previous owner removed the bulb and possibly the bulb holder as the system had malfunctioned

The problem is that there appears to be no provision for a bulb, like no hole or connection, behind the tacho. This is where I am stumped.

[western]

Sounds like the previous owner has removed the bulb holder & bulb & possible tucked the wiring out of sight, or a new instrument pack from a non-airbag fitted vehicle has been fitted.

[David Sparkes]

An interesting question!!

I don't have direct experience of a Discovery 1, as Steve obligingly identied this as, so I'm just 'reading the books' that happen to be included in a RAVE CD.

The Owners manual effectively says there can be one or two airbags, Driver only, or Driver and Passenger.

Do both exist in your car?

The Owners Manual also confirms the SRS warning light as below the digit 3 of the tachometer (to the left of the speedo).

On the basis of what you have found so far (no hole for a warning light), I think it would be useful to check for an 'Air Bag Diagnostic Control Module' situated in the centre console, to the rear of the handbrake lever.

The ETM tells us that it is this ECU which sends the illumination signal to the Instrument Console.

I'm working round to 'proving' the SRS was never fitted, and a previous owner fitted the SRS steering wheel because they liked it, or something!!

Now here's interesting.

The ETM mentions the SRS system, and in section E3, Warning Lights and Indicators (NAS), it mentions the SRS light, BUT, there is no separate section for the SRS, and in neither E3 or E1, Instruments, does it show an SRS warning light.

As a matter of interest, do you have the Electrical Troubleshooting Manual for this car?

There must be more to this, but I'll post this first as 'the story so far', it may prompt comment from others.

[David Sparkes]

Previously I looked at an 'Export' version of the ETM (1997 Export, 6th Edition).

Now I've looked at an 'English' version (1997 4th Edition).

In Warnings and Indicators', Section E2 in this version, it shows the SRS Indicator Control Circuit of the Instrument Cluster, that deals with the SRS lights (Yes, two of them). The connector to this is a flat 5 way connector (C223), with only three wires (Green, Purple, and Slate).

Did you spot such a loose connector behind the Instrument Panel? The location picture shows it unplugged.

In the Workshop Manual the SRS section contains:

"Two different SRS systems are fitted to Discovery.

The Distributed SRS which has two crash sensors located in the engine compartment on the chassis longitudinals and the Single Point Sensing (SPS) SRS which has a single crash sensor located in the Airbag diagnostic control unit.

The change from distributed SRS to SPS SRS occurred at VINs 198222 and 528977."

Comparing your VIN with the information, would you expect to find twin sensors within the engine compartment?

Cheers

[discojmz]

if you only have the one airbag (drivers side) i would simply remove the steering wheel and refit a non-airbag wheel. problem solved (would be in the UK anyway. i know loads of people who have done this) as with your airbag being now 10 years old (unless proof of it being changed in the past) it is no longer a reliable safety measure anyway.