|
Jim Grant's Tech Tips
94
Ford Escort, Airbag Light Blinks 3,2 Sequence
Q: I’m not finding much on the Internet,
so thought I’d give this a try. When it's cold, my ‘94 Escort airbag indicator
light starts flashing when I start the car. It flashes 3 times, then 2
times, then there is a delay of about 5 seconds, and it does it again.
It keeps this up until I start the car again, when it’s warmer. Should
I be worried about this? The dealer says it has something to do with the
steering column "slip ring", but they also advise that the horn will not
work. It works fine. Any ideas as to what might be at the root of this
problem? ...Paul
A: When
your vehicle’s air bag computer senses a system fault it will light the
warning indicator. To communicate the problem to us humans it will flash
the warning light in a series of flashes and pauses. The series you’ve
described are for a Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) 32. DTC 32 means that
the computer senses too much resistance in the wiring from the computer
to the air bag and back again. With that said it doesn’t get easier. The
most common cause we’ve seen for this problem has been the clock spring
assembly in the steering wheel and the horn doesn’t always stop working.
If it should then it is the likely culprit The problem has to be diagnosed
to be sure that the right part gets replaced.
|
|