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Old 09-04-2011, 04:57 AM   #1
RedNeckerson
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Fredericksburg, Virginia
Posts: 18
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96 Blazer 4.3 4x4 Air Bag Light - FIXED!!!

Hi all, I'm new, but I've gotten a lot of info from this site already. Thought I'd share this perplexing issue I had. Tried posting under the Technical section, wouldn't let me. Anyway, bought this truck a year ago, nice looking truck. Was told by prev owner he had bought it damaged on front drv side as salvage. He's a body mechanic, the truck looked great, but it had a SIR light on(wopuld blink 6-7 times, then stay on). Had a brand new state inspection sticker, though, and he gave me a impact sensor for the front drv side, said it would fix it. I'm now curious as to how he got that inspection sticker, but oh well. I should have had him fix it, but didn't seem like a big deal at the time, and was a good deal on the truck. Anyhow, ffwd to last month when inspection came due this year, I still hadn't addressed the light. Nothing like waiting til the last minute. Anyway, the sensor was wrong. Looked the same, but was 4 wire instead of three. At this point, please refer to mt_2500's warnings on anything air bag related. A quick search of air-bag on youtube will show the dangers. I especially enjoyed the jack-wagon who sat on a bucket while his giggling buddy blew one off under it. Follow proper procedures, and you'll be fine. Luckily, the 95-97 years are about as simple as you are ever going to come across. Anyway, the dealership no longer stocks them for that age, and local salvage yards that sell parts won't sell air bag components, I assume for liability reasons. So a trip down to southern VA for a sensor at a pic-a-part was in order. I found a 96 that was in good shape and easy to work under(actually, there were so many 95-97 blzrs and jimmy's there it was a little disheartening). Oh hell, I'm going to wrap it up here. Bottom line, to clear it out, I made two trips. I got both front impact sensors, the arming sensor from the rear cross member, and the control module from the passenger kick panel. The original quote was 55 per sensor, 125 for the controller. I ended up paying 28 bucks for everything(except my time and gas, of course). Replaced everything and the code(whatever it actually was) went away. It blinks 7 times like it's supposed to and goes out. I'm leaving out a lot of the how, but this is getting long. Anyone wanting more info, I will be happy to get into details about where they are located, and how I removed and re-installed them. Bottom line, I have a new inspection sticker, and saved God knows how much had I done what my wife insisted and take it to a professional. (I had her help me by acting as my air bag blast shield while working around the steering wheel). I'm Kidding. Of course...
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