AIRBAG CODE 36 even after looking a clock spring and plug under drivers seat

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Sivioke

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Hi there - I have a problem that I'm hoping your collective wisdom can help me solve!

A little back ground... my steering wheel buttons, cruise control, horn all stopped working and my air bag light came on steady (not blinking) a couple of months ago. At the time I did some research and found the most likely culprit to be the clock spring, so I went out and purchased one from the local Ford dealer. I finally got around to installing it over the weekend and although I was VERY happy to have my horn, buttons and cruise control all working again, my air bag light was now flashing code 3-6. Previously, as mentioned above the air bag was not blinking but lit up...

Anyway doing a little research, LVC pointed me to the connector under the drivers seat. Sure enough, one of the wires had broken (must have happened after the clock spring because the air bag light was not blinking before the clock spring went bad). I went ahead and disconnected the yellow air bag plug and cut the remaining wire off a few inches up. With the plug out I was able to pull the red retaining clip from the middle of the plug to release prongs and attached new wire which I then spliced back into the wire pack.. I figured this would solve the problem, however when I went to start the car, I am still getting code 3-6.

I've tested the plug and wires I installed and they seem to be conducting power so I don't believe it to be my patch job.


I'm now at a loss for what else to check/do to make the air bag light quite blinking.

Is there any other areas I can test easily to try and narrow it down? I did not remove the seat in my attempt to fix this issue so I'm kinda limited on what I can access under the seat. I did visually inspect the connection under the air bag (and will probably test continuity of it after dinner tonight)

Is there some process I need to do to reset the code/light now that I've patched the plug?

Anyway please help! :) Any feed back/thoughts would be appreciated.


Oh also... one other thing I forgot to mention. My passenger side front door is torn apart at the moment and everything is disconnected as I am waiting a new window regulator to arrive tomorrow. The computer is saying the door is open even though it's not.. again, I've got all the electronics in the door disconnected so I'm assuming that's the reason for that message... could having this door apart have anything to do with the airbag code 3-6? My understanding is that the code is alluding to an issue with the drivers side so I don't think so but thought I'd just put all the details out there just in case..

Thanks again.. any and all feed back would be greatly appreciated.
 
IIRC there's also a yellow plug under the passenger seat that can cause an issue on rare occasions
 
Yes, I would guess its the door. For the clockspring the message is 3-2 if i remember correctly
 
Thanks for the quick replys.. however, I just checked the plug under the passenger seat and all appears to be in order. I also pluged in all the electronics on the passenger door.. the air bag light is still flashing code 3-6. :(

any other thoughts/tests I can do ?
 
Nope, not the door.
It could be the connector at the bag itself in the seat.
If you have side curtain airbags, it could be the bag in the ceiling.
It could be you didn't get the connector under the seat correctly repaired.
It could be that you didn't get the steering wheel airbag correctly plugged into the clockspring.
It could be that either of the two (three if you have side curtains) bags on the driver's side have failed.
 
Sivioke said:
Thanks for the quick replys.. however, I just checked the plug under the passenger seat and all appears to be in order. I also pluged in all the electronics on the passenger door.. the air bag light is still flashing code 3-6. :(

any other thoughts/tests I can do ?
Click to expand...

I have been at war with the 3-6 code for a few years. I will get it to go away, but it comes back after a few months. So far:
- replaced driver side airbag and pigtail to that airbag (dealer did this). fixed the problem for 6 months.
- spliced around the yellow underseat connector (i.e. hard-wired it). fixed the problem for 5 months.
- re-spliced all the connectors the dealer had done when installing the pigtail. fixed the problem for 3 months.
- replaced connector pigtail to the driver side airbag and soldered all the prior splices in the seat back (they had been butt connectors). fixed the problem for 6 months
- replaced the butt connector under the seat with a soldered connection. fixed for two months (so far)

Check the connector to the side airbag and it's pigtail. Triplecheck that underseat connector.
 
regiment1 said:
I have been at war with the 3-6 code for a few years. I will get it to go away, but it comes back after a few months. So far:
- replaced driver side airbag and pigtail to that airbag (dealer did this). fixed the problem for 6 months.
- spliced around the yellow underseat connector (i.e. hard-wired it). fixed the problem for 5 months.
- re-spliced all the connectors the dealer had done when installing the pigtail. fixed the problem for 3 months.
- replaced connector pigtail to the driver side airbag and soldered all the prior splices in the seat back (they had been butt connectors). fixed the problem for 6 months
- replaced the butt connector under the seat with a soldered connection. fixed for two months (so far)

Check the connector to the side airbag and it's pigtail. Triplecheck that underseat connector.
Click to expand...

It's probably too late now, but dealer repairs are warrantied for 12 months or 12K miles.......
 
LS4me said:
It's probably too late now, but dealer repairs are warrantied for 12 months or 12K miles.......
Click to expand...

You're right. I was just so fed up by that point since it took them three months of in-and-out-of-the-shop and I decided to try and solve the problem myself. It's been an education, at the least!

I forgot to mention in step 5 of my saga I also replaced the airbag again, to be sure that the airbag itself wasn't damaged by a faulty connector.
 
So I've gone ahead and tested a number of point with a multimeter (what good it might have done I'm not so sure about)...

1. Took out air bag and tested clock spring air bag connector - Did not make a complete circuit - I think this is what I was wanting to see and would mean I am ok here.. I also made sure the airbag was connected correctly
2. Tested repaired yellow plug (male end) under the seat - seems to be conducting with both wires that I replaced so I think this repair is good and I am ok here..
3. Tested contact points of the female end of the yellow airbag plug under the seat. I was able to make a circuit, which I don't think is a good sign in this case...

Anyway thought on any of the above and or if any of that testing means anything? I'd really like to get this airbag light to go off with out taking it in somewhere... is there any posts that might be recommended for the connections that are actually in the seat and/or about how to test the side airbags?

Thanks again - I know I'll be able to figure this out with your help!! :)
 
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