Fred Duck Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 2004 2.0JTD. Air Bag light has come on and a diagnostic indicates an intermittent internal fault in the Air Bag ECU. I'm told that the unit is a 'use once' item and that it has to be replaced with a new one that then has to be coded to the vehicle. Fiat price is 'not cheap'. Anyone any experience of this issue and/or an alternative source other than the Main Dealer? The unit is located at floor level behind the plastic trim under the centre parcel shelf. When the trim panel is removed their is evidence of very slight water ingress from above and it may well be that this is the cause of the fault. Whilst there are firms that advertise an ECU repair service I suspect that if damp is the problem, then it may well be beyond repair. Fortunately, MOT does not expire until Feb 2013 so at least that's not a problem (correct function of air bag light is now an MOT item). FD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Hello Fred, First of all; I expect the source of the water ingress is a leaking heater matrix, and you need to get that looked into first, and it's a stinker of a job involving removing most of the dashboard. Getting onto the ECU I would advise caution as there can be all kinds of dangers involved with elcetrical connections on air bags and their controlling devices but if we assume that you or someone that has experience of this type of thing are going to follow the correct safety procedures, I would like to suggest the following; The ECU has a double plug and socket connection that needs to be unplugged. Check the connections; in particular the pins in the ECU itself for corrosion. It may be possible to clean this up and restore it to working condition but will almost certainly need the faults clearing by the Dealer and his diagnostic tool before your warning light will go out. I see from the parts disc that the unit (1328447080) is about £420 plus vat so if you are sure that you need one you might like to PM me because I have a used one in my hand at the moment..... If you do fit another one I would be highly surprised if it needed to be 'coded' to the vehicle in fact I would go so far as to say that is nonsense but you will still need to get the fault codes deleted as mentioned above before it has a chance of working correctly. Good luck, and let us know how you get on. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Duck Posted March 28, 2012 Author Share Posted March 28, 2012 Very many thanks, Nick. I really appreciate your expert comment. I've sent you a PM. FD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Duck Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 An update really. Further investigation proved that it was certainly the air bag ECU that had failed. It took a while for a new one to arrive - not the most common of parts that Fiat supply - but it turned up eventually. Supplied and fitted by the excellent Camper UK in Lincoln who only charged me for 0.5 hours labour for the initial diagnostic and a further 0.5 hours labour for fitting and deleting the error code. Part wasn't cheap though!! All now seems to be OK and a trip to the Isle of Man for the 'Manx Classic' went without a hitch. Particular thanks to Nick 'Euroserv' Fisher who was most helpful and generous with his advice and experience. FD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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