lambretta man

ITS OUT !!! Fitted the new small wiring loom that connects the airbag to the steering wheel, called at my local garage who reset it for free and thankfully the warning light went out. Loom only cost £20 from a main BMW dealer. (thought they would charge me £20 just to enter the showroom !) Apparently when I had replaced one of the airbag plugs by cutting the wires and re-soldering the wires together they are extremly current sensitive and although the soldered joints were very good there was just enough current drop to register a fault. Thanks to everyone on the forum for their suggestions. Cheers

Spoke to an independent BMW garage yesterday and he is going to hook it up to his super duper computer / diagnostic machine so hopefully that may give us the answer were looking for. Will keep you posted with the answer. Cheers. UPDATE Super Duper Computer says resistance drop in steering wheel to airbag wiring. Have ordered replacment small wiring loom and plugs from BMW. Should be here friday. Will try and fit over the weekend and report back

Thanks for all replies guys, Called in at a local garage yesterday, the guy who normally does the diagnostic checks was on a call out so another mechanic tried to re-set it but couldn't said it was showing a wiring fault in the steering column and I think he said it was a code 12 error (but I could be mistaken). When I got home I rang a local mobile auto electrician who has been out this morning but couldn't even get into my cars computer with the gear he had but to be fair he did not charge me anything. I've since had the airbag out and checked the connections and everything appears to be ok. Going to ring around a few local garages now and see if anyone has the right gear to re-set it. Will keep you posted. Cheers Jeff. UPDATE. Been to another local garage this morning who had the the equipment to access the system and it wont reset. Its showing drivers airbag stage 2 fault, unfortunately they did not have the time to remove the airbag and see what the fault may be but I had already taken the thing off yesterday and there was nothing wrong that I could see. The only thing I did when I swapped the wheel was to change the black airbag plug. The one that was on the new wheel had been damaged when it was removed from the car so I removed the one from my old wheel and carefully joined the wires together making sure that the correct colour coded wires were the same and used very small block connectors to connect the wires together and taped everything up so there is no possibility of anything touching. I did a continuity test on the wires and that was ok. Now wondering if I could be getting some kind of voltage drop or resistance through the block connectors and not being the least bit electrical I dont know if this is a possibility. I'm trying to fix the problem myself and then get it reset locally rather than going to a BMW specialist so any advice would be most welcome. Cheers Jeff.

Thanks for reply, Is the plug you are refering to under the seat and do I need to diconnect the battery before doing so. (Sorry for being a div) Cheers Mate jeff.

Sorry havn't a clue !! Is it still safe to drive with the airbag light on ? Cheers

negative battery terminal was disconected as per manual

Hi Guys Help needed again, I have changed my standard multi function steering wheeel on my 316 ti compact for a 'M' multi function wheel. the wheels are identical and all the multi function buttons are working ok however the air bag warning light has come on the dash. The air bag is the one from my old wheel as the new one did not have one and the warning light was not on before the switch over. I have checked that the plugs on the airbag are located correctly. Will it reset itself after a few miles or am I looking at a more serious problem. Cheers. Jeff.

Probably did'nt make it clear , the seats i'm looking to buy are also from a E36 compact (1996) Cheers Jeff.

Thanks guys, Its the seats I'm more concerned about. I think the front seats should be a straight swap but I'm uncertain about the rears. Not too bothered about the door cards as mine look like leather although they are probably vinyl. Seats are approx. 150 mile away so I would like confirmation before I travel so any further help would be appreciated. Cheers Jeff.

Hi Guys, Just re-entered the world that is BMW again, having owned several 320's in the past and now have a 52 reg, 316 TI Compact. I have the chance of a full leather interior but its from a E36 (1996)and was wondering if the seats and door cards would fit. Any help would be much appreciated. Cheers Jeff.