Air Bag Light on DASH after front brake and other service

[searcherrr]

Today I brought the Windstar in for exhaust adjustment, oil leak fix, coolant pressure test and front brake repair.

The front brake passenger side caliper was replaced because it was sticking. Is there an air bag/srs electrical connector there that they may have not plugged back in?

The exhaust piping mount points were severed and rewelded to proper areas.

Oil was changed due to oil leaking from filter.

Cooling system pressure test - found nothing wrong with coolant system even though I'm losing coolant slowly over several weeks of driving. Ruled out head gasket leak.

Mainly, if anyone has a clue, why the air bag light would be on when it never was EVER before the past 75k miles, after those things were serviced it'd be a big help. I'm betting there is something by the brake caliper that wasn't reconnected for the SRS/air bags system.

What ya'll think? Where ma boyz at? lol

[searcherrr]

After careful study, the air bag light sequence is blinking a code 12. After it blinks this sequence 4 times, it goes to "stay on" solid yellow.

I found this: http://www.ehow.com/how_5700543_rese...-windstar.html , but I'm not sure if I can rely on that web site or not. Lost battery feed to me would sound like there was a connector that got disconnected during the service at the shop yesterday.

Can anyone confirm the ABS brakes and Air-Bag system are linked?

Trying to figure out if it was the brake work or other work that led to the air bag light coming on.

EDIT:
Found some more help here at these sites:
http://www.fordforum.com/forum/gener...ag-code-15942/
http://www.fordforums.com/f610/air-b...e-12-a-144185/
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forum...roduction.html

[Grabber5.0]

I can't confirm any of that, but I can't imagine anything related to be airbag needing to be unplugged to change a caliper. That makes no sense to me. Your van is a 95 right?

[tempfixit]

Does the horn, cruise control work???? Possible clockspring issue. Have you checked to make sure the airbag sensor on the front bumper did not get unhookesd somehow.
You may want to get the airbag codes read.

[searcherrr]

Brought it back to shop today to let them mull it over while I went to work. I like that feature where you PAY BIG $$$ and let someone else fix the problem they caused.

Apparently (an old days problem) the tech working on the car left the hood up while doing other work on the car and the hood light bulb (is what they figure) ran down the battery to below 12 volts and they claim this caused the Air Bag light to come on. They say my battery is bad because it ran down too fast and shouldn't have run down that fast from just a hood light bulb.... however I know that my door lock switch gives me fits with turning the cabin lights on and off continuously sometimes in certain weather conditions.... so it could've been that. Either way I'm gonna test the battery again (which I've had done recently before already) and see if the battery is really bad.

Can a battery be on its way out (edge of life) and still pass the battery machine test?

I ask that because this battery is 6 years old, but I kept from buying a new one till it really were to croak on me.

[northern piper]

i dunno if you got to the bottom of this or not but a battery check is pretty easy to do. Clamp on a meter, test voltage and do a load test. Most auto parts places will do this for free. If your battery is 6 years old, it is likely due for replacement. I've got a 2000 and haven't worked on a 95 so I can't speak to airbag sensors and calipers on YOUR van, but mine doesn't have any. I wonder if there's a sensor that stems from the bumper area which got bumped, or has a rubbed wire jacket or something. I'd be trying to narrow down which sensor it is (if you can get the airbag code read) and then start there. If the battery is flaky enough to cause an airbag light to come on, I'd be expecting other odd things to be happening too. When my 2000's battery was on the way out I had gauges and bells doing all sorts of crazy things. A battery will still read proper voltage with a volt meter, but will generally fail a load test when tested with an actual battery tester.

[Searles Lewis]

Originally Posted by searcherrr

After careful study, the air bag light sequence is blinking a code 12. After it blinks this sequence 4 times, it goes to "stay on" solid yellow.

I found this: http://www.ehow.com/how_5700543_rese...-windstar.html , but I'm not sure if I can rely on that web site or not. Lost battery feed to me would sound like there was a connector that got disconnected during the service at the shop yesterday.

Can anyone confirm the ABS brakes and Air-Bag system are linked?

Trying to figure out if it was the brake work or other work that led to the air bag light coming on.

EDIT:
Found some more help here at these sites:
http://www.fordforum.com/forum/gener...ag-code-15942/
http://www.fordforums.com/f610/air-b...e-12-a-144185/
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forum...roduction.html

I can't, but my stepson disconnected the windshield wiper water jets from where they seat, and when he later depressed the button for spraying, it flooded and would not stop leaking, poured al lover the relays. We had the same problem, until I replaced all of the cheap blue and yellow fuses in the relay box, and then wiped down, with a dry rag, the electricla stuff sticking out of the doors where they contact the door frame, and it stopped. Although, despite being at perfect level with my brake fluid, the abs luight does come on ,when it's cold, on that last hill before home.

It's ford, their electronics and electrical wiring are bad. I replaced, and then just put up with it. My mother has a plymouth, the airbag light goes on all of the time, despite her getting the dealer to service it for that purpose numerous times per year for the past 4 years, AND they charged her 300-400$ for replacing the disk brake pads.
hey told they were worn, so it would be more expensive. No kidding they got away with that.

I priced the same at autozone, like it'd be about 80$

[olopezm]

I agree with the battery but also check the fuses, man, maybe they tripped something.

When the condition has been fixed the airbag light should either flash code 52 or stop flashing at all.

Oscar.

[searcherrr]

Has anyone ever figured this out?

Air bag light is still on till this day.

[scubacat]

On the same battery? Did you get it load tested? It may need a dealer level scan tool to clear that code. If the battery drops below 8V according to the workshop manual, it can set that code. I'll try and read a bit more to see if there's a way to reset that diagnostic monitor.

A short can cause it as well. See if there's a ground wire somewhere that's not screwed down.

[searcherrr]

Long long time ago I posted about this... and its been sitting as a problem I'd like to resolve ever since.

I finally got some time with the van, because despite all my work on this van and nearly restoring every part of it, I had to let my father/mother have it after their home flooded out in 8/2012.

So, I checked the fuse for the Air Bag stuff and it was popped/BLOWN. I replaced the fuse and IMMEDIATELY as soon as I turned on the van, the new FUSE BLEW out too.

I have not had any time with the van aside from that because I looked at this on a visit at their house.

What's the most likely culprit if that fuse keeps blowing out?
Is this common or is this my electrical gremlins coming back to haunt me?
-IE: there is some problem with the grounding on this van that I could never figure out.

Thanks to all... and HELLO to the Windstar Gods if you are still here.