04 GX airbag light comes on intermittently (1 Viewer)

[dnp]

I've been fooling around with this for a while, and I've decided to see what y'all think.

I've got an '04 GX with about 189,000 miles. I start the car, and all instrument check lights come on, then go off as normal. I can drive it around and as long as I don't idle the car for some time, all lights usually stays off. However, if I idle the car for a time (seems to happen more often than not when in a drive-thru line), the airbag light will come on in the dash cluster. I can put it in neutral or park and turn the ignition off and restart it, and the light will go off.....usually for good, until I idle it again for a while later on (NOTE: very rarely will it come on while driving, but like above, I can turn off / turn on, and it will go out). Oh, and no check engine light.

Any thoughts on where I might continue with my electrical search?

Thanks.

 

[mustyGX]

Scan it to see what the code is.

 

[CarolinaGX]

I wonder if the issue is heat. Perhaps the idling is allowing something to heat soak increasing the resistance in the wire or plug? Just speculating as i have no clue. Try following all of the ABS wires from the wheel up to the controller and see if you notice anything. As Musty GX mentioned, scan it to see what it says.

 

[GXO]

Sounds like the loose connection at the seat belt buckle on driver or passenger seats. Inspect. They are known to get loose over time and cause this flakiness.

 

[CarolinaGX]

Wow, I was way off. I would have never suspected that. I am interested to see if that is the cause

 

[dnp]

Scan it to see what the code is.

There's no check engine light and no code is shown when I scan it

Sounds like the loose connection at the seat belt buckle on driver or passenger seats. Inspect. They are known to get loose over time and cause this flakiness.

Interesting. Wasn't aware of that problem. So would I just take apart the seat belt buckles and look for loose connections inside? Thanks.

 

[GXO]

Just look under your seat. They plug in right there

 

[dnp]

Just look under your seat. They plug in right there

Got it. Thanks.

 

[greenscobie86]

I had a solid airbag light along with a B1153 code(verified via techstream) on my recently purchased 2004 GX. It was the seat buckle/position wiring harness that basically broke off at the connector due to wire fatigue. Some soldering work fixed the issue. TSB attached as well.

 

[GXO]

I had a solid airbag light along with a B1153 code(verified via techstream) on my recently purchased 2004 GX. It was the seat buckle/position wiring harness that basically broke off at the connector due to wire fatigue. Some soldering work fixed the issue. TSB attached as well.

That's the very one I was talking about.

 

[jordan04gx]

There's no check engine light and no code is shown when I scan it
Interesting. Wasn't aware of that problem. So would I just take apart the seat belt buckles and look for loose connections inside? Thanks.

You will need a scanner that is capable of reading codes from the various systems, in this case the SRS/Airbag computer. Most low cost OBD2 scanners will not have this feature. Autel has a nice dongle based scanner (Autel AP200) for about $60 on amazon. It requires the autel software to run on your phone, and it can read codes and live data from most of your subsystems (as well as reset them).

 

[dnp]

I had a solid airbag light along with a B1153 code(verified via techstream) on my recently purchased 2004 GX. It was the seat buckle/position wiring harness that basically broke off at the connector due to wire fatigue. Some soldering work fixed the issue. TSB attached as well.

You will need a scanner that is capable of reading codes from the various systems, in this case the SRS/Airbag computer. Most low cost OBD2 scanners will not have this feature. Autel has a nice dongle based scanner (Autel AP200) for about $60 on amazon. It requires the autel software to run on your phone, and it can read codes and live data from most of your subsystems (as well as reset them).

Thanks guys. Quite helpful!