Flashing Airbag Light

[2007_Crown_Vic]

Hi Guys,

As you may have seen in another recent post, I am looking at changing some or all of the exhaust system out on my 1990 GT Cobra, but during the search for parts and combining that with some research I did into an issue from late last season I have come up with a new question:

It sounds like what causes the flashing air bag light could be the smog system (thermactor parts TAB/TAD) as well as ignition module and/or ignition coil. I am going to change the ignition parts because they likely need it anyway, but if the thermactor parts and smog system is causing problems which sounds like a hard problem to chase, would it be best to go with the non-catted H pipe, get a shorter belt to bypass the smog pump and cap/tuck away all the smog related piping to the heads and cats?

I like the idea of simplifying the system and doing the above, but will this cause any engine lights or any other flashing trouble lights on the dash? If anyone has experience in doing this please let me know your thoughts. Where I live we have no emissions tests or anything like that so that is no concern. Getting pulled over and having a roadside inspection done might not go well, but I will look into whether or not that will be an issue.

As always, thank you for the help!

 

[General karthief]

If you have a light that spells out airbag flashing on your dash that has nothing to do with anything but the airbag.

 

[2007_Crown_Vic]

That would be a huge relief if that is the case, and it makes sense too. I just did a quick search trying to find the back and forth between people that had the same issue but couldn't find it. I did instead find something where they are saying that there is some sort of back up battery behind one of the headlights for the air bag that could be causing this. I am going to look further into this. The original stuff I found they went into great deal about the air bag light flashing a trouble code and it meaning that the smog system or in one persons case the ignition module being the culprit. It always seemed strange to me that this could be the issue but it was all I had to go on at the time.

I again hope that it is something to do with the air bag and nothing else. That should be a much easier problem to find and is much less worrisome than trying to chase a problem that is effecting the way the car runs. I guess the question still stands about if disabling the smog system and going with a non-catted H pipe will trigger any dash lights or negatively effect the way the car runs, but I'm sure this is a very routine thing to do and there is likely a lot of information available online.

Once again, thank you for your help, it is appreciated.

 

[General karthief]

I would like to advise against disabling the smog stuff, I has no inpact on performance, keep the cats and update your headers and the exhaust after the cats, if you do decide to remove it then keep everything, adds value to the car when you decide to sell it and that stuff is getting hard to find

 

[2007_Crown_Vic]

Yeah, I agree with that. I really had no intention of disabling or removing any of it but once it was in my head that the system might be causing issues and since I am doing exhaust work to some extent I thought I could maybe kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Even though we don't have emission tests here, the cats are still required for a safety inspection so if I ever ended up in one of those rare road side surprise inspections I would be in trouble.

On that note, I have seen that there are after market "catted" H pipes. Is there any advantage to these over the stock setup? If not then maybe like you suggested just changing the headers and doing the cat back system would be my best and cheapest (not to mention legal) bet. I will be getting the car out of the garage soon and dig a little deeper into this air bag light situation. If I can get it fixed I will for sure leave the smog system alone. Hows the saying go - if it ain't broke don't fix it right, lol. It would be a different story if the car was just a Sunday cruiser or something like that but I will be using this daily for the summer.

 

[Shakerhood]

What Air Bag Code Number is your 90 GT flashing?

 

[2007_Crown_Vic]

That unfortunately I can't seem to find. We are in the middle of moving and it has been misplaced. I will have to get it again once the car is out and running... unless I get lucky and it for some reason isn't doing it anymore. I don't really like when that happens though. I would rather fix a problem than have it disappear.

But, is it possible for the air bag light to flash a trouble code? I came across a posting somewhere where they were arguing about whether or not it works that way. The argument was that the check engine light flashes trouble codes not air bag light. I am kinda hoping this is true because that would mean the air bag light is just related to an air bag issue.

 

[2007_Crown_Vic]

I found the threads of comments that I was referencing about this if anyone is interested:
http://forums.corral.net/forums/5-0-5-8-engine-tech/92388-anyone-know-about-eec-codes-94-44-a.html
and
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forums/5-0l-tech/30774-89-5-0-error-codes-44-94-a.html

So I am guess that I had either one or both the 94 and 44 codes, but that is assuming that the air bag light can actually flash codes. If not I have probably travelled quite far down a road I didn't need to, but on the up side learned a lot more than I ever wanted to know about how the smog system works which is good I guess.

 

[Shakerhood]

On a 90 GT the Air Bag should have Single Digit Codes, you count the number of Flashes. On my 92 it flashes 2 Digit Codes, my Diagnostic Monitor was at fault a few times.

 

[2007_Crown_Vic]

Ok, Once it is out and running again I will see if it is still flashing. It happened just before it went in to storage so I didn't have much time to play around with it. I did just find out that where I live apparently if it is older than 1995 cats are not needed so maybe it will be the best option to disable and cap the whole smog system if I find that is what is causing the issue like forum links above, remove the cats and just simplify everything. I would get the exhaust system I want and maybe end the flashing air bag light too. If possible I would rather keep it all intact and working. I guess I will see how the trouble shooting goes in the next month or two and go from there. Thanks.

 

[Shakerhood]

The Air Bag Light has nothing to do with any check engine light or malfunction codes you have, they are separate systems. Your AirBag light will flash, if it flashes 4 times then its Code 4 and then we can find the probable cause at that point. It is nice to not have warning lights flashing in your face for sure!

 

[2007_Crown_Vic]

Sweet! I have been thinking about what the problem might be all winter thinking it was something hard to find or difficult to fix. If it is just air bag related that is a huge relief. I will see what it is doing when I get the car out and go from there.

Now I just have to figure out if the catted after market H pipe offers any advantage over the stock one or if it is still worth disabling the smog system and going with no cats.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Shakerhood]

http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/airBag/airBag90-91.html

Here is the Code list for the Air Bags, so that should help get you in the right direction.

 

[2007_Crown_Vic]

Perfect, thanks! I've read some threads about people having a really hard time with this if it is something like a shorted wire. They ended up pulling the dash bulb only to find they were greeted with a buzzing noise in its place, then they took out more parts to get rid of the buzzing, lol. I don't want to disable the air bag at all so I will just hope for a relatively easy fix. Looking very forward to getting the car out now, thanks.