Citroen Xsara Picasso 1.6i - Airbag light constantly off

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Wed 23 Jul 2014 18:15
Citroen Xsara Picasso 1.6i - Airbag light constantly off - Diguelo

Ive not had this car for very long and it appears I may have done something a bit dumb.

First let me say for the past 10 years Ive happily plodded around in my Pug 405 and thought seeing as I had some spare money I would get a newer car. Now Ive kept my pug on the road all these for one reason "NO CAT ON THE EXHAUST". Anywho I decided to buy this smart though poorly looked after car last owner had it 8 years according to the V5.

Now when I got this car from the dealer it worked great, power steering the whole 9 yards then the words stamped AIRBAG came to my attention and have been an issue ever since. I did what I now know is something very dumb and thought well seeing as the battery appeared to be a bit naff I would put a new one in and promptly did so, took seat up, removed cover, undid clamp, unclipped battery, removed battery, put new one in, ( I can feel heads nodding now, hence the explanation of driving a pug for 10 years.) put the clamp back on, reconnected the wires turned the ignition on and no Airbag light. ABS lit and went out but the Airbag light that did work, doesnt now. Nobody would have thought you had to leave it while you went off and watched Avatar and Lord of the rings trilogy before reconnecting the battery. Well I know now and now I have an issue where I dont know if the airbag system is working or not. The isolator switch on the end of the dashboards been changed by a so called expert, that did nothing but cost me £50 and still no lights.

OBD readers dont have my car in their databases because they were only around for 2 years. Even Haynes manual has a special one whose advice regarding airbags is "Report to bank, extend mortgage, report to citroen dealer and prepare to lose your home" useful. Then I started reading forums, all of them and this one is one of at least 40 I have joined in the hope someone will have half a clue whats gone wrong.

I want to take my daughter and granddaughter out in it and I darent even let them sit in it in case the airbags go off, I have no idea if the systems armed or not, If its safe or not. Ive had the dashboard out and changed every bulb in the back of it for a new one, another £35 but what the hell safety is safety. So i know the bulbs ok, the fuse according to Haynes is F1 cockpit fuse box and its a shunt ( bent 6" nail) at 70 amps, cant find it, havent a clue where it should be on the fuse panel. Spent hours giving myself lower back injury trying to see what a shunt is or where a 70amp fuse is. Now I did find 2 70 amp fuses in the engine bay fuse box, both are fine and getting power through.

Then I was told by another "expert" "Oh you need one of them OBD readers mate thatll tell you whats wrong" so I got one, it told me that ignition coils 1 to 4 werent working at all and the ignition was faulty, so I started the car up and drove it back to the shop where I had bought it. Must mean I get a car runs on air because all the coils are shot and the ignition doesnt work, runs sweet as a nut.

So now having tried 7 of these meters and spent weeks and pounds on postage returning said meters I then find out off a manufacturer of said meters, "No Sir, your year of car isnt in our databases because so few exist" At that point tears started to flow out of pure frustration. I even took my Pug out for a run and have started getting her ready for her 11th MOT because as of March 2014 if the Airbag lights dont work its an automatic MOT failure. My pug has no airbags, no computers, nothing except it runs runs and runs.

I would like please some useful information as to a possible fix for this nightmare of an airbag issue, even a few auto electricians wont come out to it because the lights arent showing. Now Im no dummy where electronics is concerned and make a living as a computer technician. All I want is for the airbag system to be safe and show me its safe by having those lights come on when i turn the ignition on just for a few seconds, check and say everythings fine and go off again. Or am I the only person ever to have had this fault?

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Wed 23 Jul 2014 18:31
Citroen Xsara Picasso 1.6i - Airbag light constantly off - bathtub tom

First of all, if your old car didn't have airbags why do you think it's dangerous to run around in another car where they don't work? Let's face it, they were only introduced for lazy Americans who couldn't be bothered to wear seat belts.

As far as I know, it's not an MOT failure for an airbag light not to light. It is if lights up and stays on.

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Wed 23 Jul 2014 19:07
Citroen Xsara Picasso 1.6i - Airbag light constantly off - elekie&a/c doctor
Firstly let me say that the Picasso model has 2 air bag warning lights.one to tell you there is a fault in the system,and the other is an indication to show the passenger airbag is switched off.if neither work ,then I suspect the bulbs have been removed.as suggested above,there is an anomaly in the mot test which allows no airbag light to be a pass and advise,rather than a fail.as for a diagnostic tester for the airbag system,a cheap obd tester is only good for the engine system.you will need something more expensive to read the airbag electronics.
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Thu 24 Jul 2014 14:59
Citroen Xsara Picasso 1.6i - Airbag light constantly off - Gibbo_Wirral

As far as I know, it's not an MOT failure for an airbag light not to light. It is if lights up and stays on.

I was under the impression that the light had to appear then go out. It seems to vary between MOT places.

To the OP: Get your car checked out with the Lexia diagnostic equipment. Don't waste your time with anything else. You'll find a list of owners of such equipment at frenchcarforum.co.uk

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Sun 27 Jul 2014 10:28
Citroen Xsara Picasso 1.6i - Airbag light constantly off - Diguelo

DATE: 27/07/2014

Thanks for the replies guys especially about the obd tester. So far the only internal result Ive obtained about the bags is

A General LED failure (What and where that is I dont have a clue )

Airbag Isolator Open Circuit,

Passenger Airbag Open Circuit

Those came off a local garage owner who had a Snap On code reader.

To clear it up in my own mind I called in at our local MOT station and spoke to the head tester and showed him what was wrong. His reply "Thats just an advisory on current test so dont worry about it"

To answer the reply to the above, yes I know they were fitted for lazy americans who use electric locking seatbealts that put themselves on as you close the door and those that cant even be bothered to wear a belt. Then again there are some of us that for some medical reason cant wear seat belts. Yes my little old 10 year old bus is still going and will be staying while the Xpic goes for its MOT on monday.

Having spoken on the phone to the previous message owner, thanks for that advice. I popped over to windleys and ripped a COMM2000 uint to pieces in the yeard out of a 2000 HDI diesel and had a butchers in the box. Yes the switch on the dashboard at the passenger side plugs into it, that copper transfer ring ssystem sucks for the relaying of instructions from the panel on the pedistal. Theres a 3 wire loom heads off into the massive loom that splits into two on the dashboard, one for the lower panel info and one for the upper warning light feedback unit. Took a dashboard box to pieces and found some well burned tracks in there and bubbled plastic. So you are probably right in your assumption that my bogus battery swappover did the damage and took the units airbag system out. Still didnt manage to locate the airbag ECU supposed to be a square type box bolted to the bulkhead though. Its more than likely its that that died.

As for the airbag lights I am aware of the passenger isolator light thanks, I already purchased a new switch having been told by citroen that was the problem and shelling out 70 quid for an hours labour and 25 quid for the switch and then getting slapped for VAT and still no lights.

But your advice was bang on. Thanks.

As for caring that a bag system isnt working, Im the sort of owner that if its fitted then it should be working. Even my old pugs radiator fan kicks in if the engines off and the keys out after a long run. Thermostats get changed every year, coolant get swapped yearly includes antifreeze and K sealant, thats probably why its still on the road after 10 years of ownership and its 24th Birthday from first registration is on the 9th September. Once the Xpic has gone through the MOT, then its the Pugs turn. That car will be driven into the grave, got 238000 on the clock so far, new timing belt fitted and clutch cable.

Still thanks so much for the help and advice guys its all really appreciated. And the engineer thanks for going to the trouble of tracking down a circuit diagram for my car.

Oh and one other point to save other owners of XPics dated 2000 to early 2004, your motor tansmits a KWP2000 coding system to the OBD reader socket and the cheapest meter Ive found so far that reads anything but the engine codes is around £800 and even that I dont know if it works. The test on the Snap On unit cost me £10 for the numbers and descriptions. The expense on the switch the citroen dealer is being taken to the small claims court over, they told me it was fixed and it wasnt and still charged me. Oh well, we live and learn.

Any further change or hickups I will let you know.

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Mon 28 Jul 2014 20:45
Citroen Xsara Picasso 1.6i - Airbag light constantly off - Diguelo

AIRBAG LIGHTS NOW WORKING PROPERLY

Ok, this is going to sound so wierd even I didnt believe it and I did it.

Took the car for an MOT today and as a poster rightly said I got an advisery "Safety system light failed to illuminate." but the car failed its MOT on one thing only, NO BRAKE LIGHTS. Not a single light could possibly have been working on the car since I bought it, why i hear you ask, because the fuse was removed. Id stripped the back lights down and found as I expected a ton of dirt in there which had breached the seal round the light and obviously water on circuits pops fuses. Now I replaced every single bulb in the back pds, cleaned all the contacts, reassembled them with a swear of grease on the the rubber gaitors on the pods to make a good seal. Then I started the Hunt for F5 a 10 Amp fuse in the drivers fuse box. Of course as the factory where it was made is obviously south of the equator, the fuse box is completely inverted. Fuse 1 is bottom right, fuse 40 is top left. Fuse 5 holder was completely empty. Previous owner probably got fed up with changing the fuse every time it rained. Any how, Put the fuse in went and stood at the back of the car while my mate turned the ignition on and there were the lights. As well as the damn AIRBAG LIGHTS. they had come on as well, stayed on 5 seconds and went off.

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Mon 28 Jul 2014 20:59
Citroen Xsara Picasso 1.6i - Airbag light constantly off - mss1tw

Having had a similar fault-finding exercuse recently I can only share that feeling of "At last!" when it all comes together, and thank you for the update. It might help someone else one day.

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Tue 29 Jul 2014 01:40
Citroen Xsara Picasso 1.6i - Airbag light constantly off - Diguelo

To help anyone with Airbag lights stuck on or stuck off.

It appears having finally got hold of a circuit diagram, a proper one this time not that stupid Haynes excuse for a map.

When the ignition switch is kicked into life, the airbag circuit checks through a sequence of possible problems that may be the cause of an accident or a system fault. Yes the dodgy connectors are a bad idea and get a short 5v pulse, not enough to discharge the bag but enough to check the circuits first of all, then it checks the impact relays which may need replacing if the car has had a number of emergency stops, basically they are a ball or bar in Gel and move toward the contacts that triger the bags, the closer they get to them the resistance in the relay changes slightly after a point the ECU will declare them as unsafe because one more hard stop could set them off.

The next flash of inspiration came out of knowhere as I had left my meter connected to the brake lights whilst checking the voltage presence, kept getting a 5v spike recorded for a few milliseconds to check the circuit was functioning, logically, no brake lights liklihood of a rear end smack goes up a lot in its eyes, again it looks at resistance, so clean the contacts at least once a year and spray contact cleaner in the loom plug to clean the connection up, higher resistance on that can cause a trip of the fault sensor or in my case the complete absense of the 12V circuit put it in that class and again logically, if your going to be hit first reaction is hit the brakes, no lights to warn those behind and wham you have a multi car shunt.

Last system is the seat belt pretensioners, again these have issues along with the seat connectors of failing to contact, either bend the pins very slighty to force a connection or cut it off, solder the wires on and dont forget the heat shrink tubing and if possible a couple of wraps of insulating tape, if the system kicks off it throws 70 amps into the circuit and you dont want to have sparks around possible flammable stuff.

So if all the resistances are checked and joints seen to the bag system should work, but lets all hope you never have to find out the hard way. I hope this info helps you all out and thanks to those that posted on here about it.

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Sat 8 Nov 2014 20:20
Citroen Xsara Picasso 1.6i - Airbag light constantly off - davroc
I have this exact problem in my picasso. I tried the garage / main dealer and they want to change all the sensors, at an astronical cost! What's new?. So I am thinking of tackling it myself tomorrow. While not a mechanic, I am somewhat technical as I started out work as a radio officer if you know what that was? So on reading this helpful and informative post, if I disconnect the battery, it makes it safe,. And if anyone wants to send me a circuit diagram, I'll gladly take it. Any other advice also taken. Thanks.



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Sun 9 Nov 2014 10:01
Citroen Xsara Picasso 1.6i - Airbag light constantly off - mss1tw

First thing to do with Pug/Cit cars is a BSI reset procedure.

www.citroenownersclub.co.uk/bsi-reset.html

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