A difficult question for knowledgeable people

Orange... · Jan 14, 2007

so I was doing some soldering under the dash today and I ended up dripping some on the grey/orange airbag wire ... nothing happened other then the airbag light flashes a few times (forgot to count how many) then stays on.
Due to my complete lack of knowledge of the airbag system...
The question is will the extra solder that I'm assuming went through the rubber coating on the wire cause a drop in the voltage enough to trip the light?

And would taking off the extra solder and heatsealing it back up repair this, or will I more then likely need to get a new harness?

I'm under the impression that resetting the computer with the battery off won't solve this as well...

hotmustang331 · Jan 14, 2007

I would remove the battery and remove the solder from the wirses and then tape up the wires individually so they are not making contact. Thats very dangerous and DO NOT sell the car until its fixed and the light doesnt come on anymore.

droid#83853 · Jan 14, 2007

The best thing to do is cut the wire, splice it, and heat shrink it. Tape is not the answer. That is amateur at best. There is no point in desoldering the wire, unless there won't be enough slack to splice it up. Yes certain wire gauges and conductors have different properties, but it's a Ford, not the space shuttle. Regular old copper does the job. A drop of solder on the wire won't change anything. Unless the solder contacts something else. It may have melted a few wires together. Reset the computer too. You may have soldered the wrong thing, and that may have caused the airbag light to come on. What were you soldering?

WashburnGT · Jan 14, 2007

Reseting the computer will not solve this problem. Most likely the solder is causing a
short in the wire. Therefore you need to either try and fix it or replace it.
You could try to reheat the solder to get it off. but I dont think you'll be able to get it
all. The remaining solder obviosly wont be as flexible as the wire, so it could possibly
create a brittle spot in the wire. Im having trouble visualizing the wire right now so
Im not sure if thats an issue or not. Heat-wrapping the wire after your done is a
good idea. Tape works too, but heat-wrap looks a little more professional. Another
option for repair would be to bypass that section of wire by soldering a little stint
around the short and then cutting out the affected wire and heat-wrapping the
whole thing.

Oh yea make sure you unhook that battery before starting...airbag in the face is not a fun day. Good Luck.

thomas91169 · Jan 15, 2007

if the only thing that happened is a drop of solder melted two wires and fused them together, then all you need to do is un-solder them by re-heating the droplet with the gun, taking your other hand and pulling the two wires (or however many) apart while still holding the gun on the melted solder, then keep them seperated while you take the gun away and let them cool to the touch, then put a bit of electrical tape around the exposed wiring and shrink it with a cigarette lighter flame.

you do not need to cut and splice damaged areas, as the only damage is to the insulation, not the wire itself, and re-insulating it with electrical tape will be more than enough. cutting and splicing more wire is adding more connection points that can short or not conduct in the future. there is nothing wrong with the continuity of the exposed wire, other than with the solder its shorting with another wire.

oh yeah, unhook the battery and lay on the brakes for a few seconds to drain any residual power from the system.

Orange... · Jan 15, 2007

so I didn't have time to throw the car on the modis scanner yet... but I have found some of the comments here helpful.
I am not an ammature here just so you all know... but I haven't had to deal with any airbags yet at my job.

I originally thought that I had just set off the sensor when I unhooked the harness there but that was not the case... I tried for the easy fix (only time to run out to the car between jobs) and unhooked the battery... that really did nothing.
I took a 1/2 assed look tonight and it looks like I also got some solder right on the connector in between the wires... this might be causing the problem... but I might have to get another connector to get the desired solution...

So... I'll have to hook it up to the ol' snap on scanner and see what codes its throwing... It has about 15 intermittant flashes in various "morris codes".

But I need to wait for a day off cause were so busy right now with the cold weather.. no ones cars are taking it well.

But I'll keep you all updated just incase someone else has a bad experience with airbag wiring in the future. I'll let you know in a few days what the deal is and my game plan to repair what damage was done...

And I was soldering the accessory wire for my amp up.. not too much room there I'll tell you...
and I'm not really thinking of selling the car... I like it too much right now... but it will be repaired very soon... I hate it when there are lights on my dash other then the ones that are supposed to be there... annoying!!!

BPMWare · Jan 16, 2007

Probably stating the obvious here, but BE SCARED. I recently had the front end apart and for like a week after, I was just so afraid that I'd be driving down the road and would get a smack in the face from my air bag for no reason at all.

I would completely disconnect the battery and replace anything that could possibly be bad. Someone once said me on these boards ... do it right ... I think that goes double for air bags.

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