Intermittent airbag light

Lorenzo Altarocca

Lorenzo Altarocca

Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 14, 2021
Messages
46
Location
Roma, Italy
Hi everyone from Rome, Italy!
Just got another TJ few weeks ago, to keep company to my lovely 2.5L.
So this 2000 stock and beautiful 4.0L (built in Dec '98) has an issue with the airbag light on the cluster that comes on and off randomly when driving or sometimes when turning.
I'm thinking about the clockspring but horn is working, always.

Any suggestions?

Jerry and Chris, I've been following your advices for years here while rebuilding the other Jeep, give me a hint !

Happy new year to you all :)
Thank you!

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I'm not Jerry or Chris but I can offer help...it could be the instrument cluster pins not making a good connection. When it happens press gently on the cluster and see if the light goes out. If it does then you found the issue and you need to pull the cluster and very slightly and gently bend the pins and reinstall the cluster.
 
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The clock spring can be going bad and the horn still work. The connections for the horn and the airbag are separate. I replaced my clockspring due to the airbag light coming in and the horn not working. That fixed the airbag light but not the horn. Turns out the relay was missing.
 
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I had the same issue. When it came on a simple slap on top of the dash would make it go off, so I figured it was a bad connection. 20+ years of dust can wreck havoc. I pulled the cluster and cleaned all of the connectors to the back of the cluster. Problem solved.
 
For me, the intermittent airbag fault seems to have been a malfunctioning passenger airbag indicator bulb. I'm referring to the bulb just in front of the shifter and the center console. The one with the key slot for deactivating the passenger airbag. Apparently, that bulb is part of the validation loop for the airbag system's health. In my case, the bulb's filament was broken just enough that it occasionally made contact and completed the circuit and would even light up. Then it would get bumped or heat up and break the circuit and I'd get an airbag fault in my dash gauges.

I had to pull that switch mechanism out, desolder the old bulb, solder in a new bulb, and it's worked perfectly since then.

Oh, and that clockspring...I had a very difficult time locating one for '01 TJ. I did finally find one that was being sold as non-working...and I did repair that one. I also repaired my old one successfully and I'm now running my original, repaired clockspring. The other one is now a spare as fixing those things are tedious to say the least.

More on both of those issues are on my build thread if you are interested in more details.
 
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Thank you @BKBrowning and really interesting build !
I've known about that bulb btw.. but nowadays I'm pretty sure it isn't the case of:
I just drove it again straight on the highway for long (airbag light was off) and if it's off and I go straight, it remains off.
Almost every time I turn the steering wheel it start to pop on/off randomly.. clockspring or connections it appers to be..
Interesting thing is, this airbag light goes off whenever it wants, suddenly.
I'll take a look soon when I can!
Do you guys know about if the light is on the airbag system is not working? Or just a warning light on the cluster?
 
Did you end up solving your airbag light issue? My 03’ is having the same issue when I make sharp turns and when I straighten out the wheel the light turns off.
 
adb597 said:
Did you end up solving your airbag light issue? My 03’ is having the same issue when I make sharp turns and when I straighten out the wheel the light turns off.
Click to expand...

Nope, same intermittent airbag light when turning (at least 1/2 of the steering wheel). No other issues btw, just lazy on replacing the clockspring.. but not so lazy to repair and upgrade the Jeep with soo maany mods 🤩🤩

2 years later..

jeppona aperta.jpg
 
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Probably your ignition actuator. Happened on my TJ. First assumption was the clockspring (which I replaced when I bought the jeep due to an always-on airbag light, and that problem was solved) because of the airbag light turning on intermittently, and some wonky turn signal behavior that had actually been creeping up for a long time. My buddy borrowed the jeep and said I had a bad ignition actuator switch, and he could tell just by the way the key behaved in the ignition. He replaced it for me (they're not super hard to swap, apparently), and my airbag light's been off ever since. My turn signals have stopped doing their weirdness, too. (one used to have the dash light stay on randomly and refuse to turn off, and sometimes I had to fiddle with things to get a turn signal working.
 
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