Hope someone can help me with this...
I purchased my 93 as a stolen recovery. It had the steering column punched, but appeared the VATS saved the car (which I don't know why they sold it as a stolen recovery because all that was wrong was the column)
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But here's the question....
I purchased a replacement column. I had no trouble installing it. Prior to replacing it there were no errors on the Driver Information Center. However after replace it, now I get a Infl Rest error which stays on constantly. All connections were double checked, and all were connected.
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In the service manual, 9J-A-5, it refers you to Chart C. I check the fuse and it's good. Since I don't have the tools called out in the manual (specialized equipment) I'm stuck....
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So, my thought is the stuff worked prior to replacement of the other column. Then only thing I can think of that would be causing the failure is the SIR Coil (the thingy under the air bag), which was in the replacement column. The Air bag itself came from old column, and like I said was working when I removed it.
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Right now, the Air Bag is disconnected under the dash (yellow wire). So I don't deploy the air bag, I truly don't want to connect it until I have a better idea from you guys.
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Can you short out the plug (under the dash going to the car) and make it think the bag is present? or should I suck it up and just swap my old SIR coil from my old column?
Any Ideas?????

 

I think you can use a resistor that has the same ohmage as the airbag to make the system think the airbag is there.

 

Would the light not come on because the harness to the airbag is unplugged? The fact that the light is on should not make airbag deploy when you plug it in. why not disconnect the battery and plug it in and see if the light goes off?
Remember the SIR system stores it's own current so it can deploy with the battery disconnected under the right conditions so follow the FSM recommendations on recommecting the circuit.

 

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Sorry, but I kind of confused by your statement. This is normal for me. I sometimes need something explained a couple times (sorry).
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The light will never turn off. When everything is restored to normal (As if I never did anything): When starting the car, the light will blink 7 or 8 times, then the Infl Rest light remain on (never turning off). By disconnecting the battery, it does turn off (I assume, because it has no power). What would cause the light never to turn off? and is there a way to bypass the wire going up the steering column to the air bag to see if the light goes out?

 

There are two sensors that bolt to the chassis on either side close to the bulkhead.

They are black boxes about 2 inch X 2 inches and they need to have a proper ground through the mounting screws to the chassis.
Bolt both of them off and clean then and the chassis with sandpaper and reinstall them with some dielectric grease.

The circuit for these sensors have to have a good ground in order to work and if either one of them has corosion the light will stay on.
This is usually the cause of the light being on on the 92 and 93 vettes.

 

Thanks You.... I really appreciate it....
These 2 inch boxes, are they on the inside of the car, or in the engine compartment? Just trying to find them in the Service manual...

 

The are insode the engine compartment, under the battery and the AC evaporator.
If cleaning these do not cure the problem, you should pull the codes for the SIR and report the codes and I can look them up for you. Depending on the code you may have to take it to the dealer to fix it as testing circuits to the SIR can result in the airbag inflating.
To pull the codes, use a paperclip and bridge terminals A anf K and turning on the key and counting the flashes on the DIC light.

Report codes here.

 

You can short a couple pins on the ALDL to get the light to flash a code and then look it up. It's possible that there is nothing wrong. The air bag light does not reset itself once the problem is fixed. You have to reset it. My light was coming on in my car because I had the DIC removed from the car when I started it so it thought the airbag light was burned out. Does the seatbelt light stay on also? On myine I had to reset my light. Not an easy thing to do. There is a tech article on it.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/techti...D=46&TopicID=2

 

Thanks for the good info... For some reason when I seached on Infl Rest all I get is 3 items (not the one you found). When you used the search button, what key word did you use? Thanks

 

Didn't use search function. Went to the drop down menus - Other, Tech Info, C4. I used the 'wait for the ligth to start to flash' method and instead of using a paperclip I used a remote starter button to make/break my ground contact.

 

Here is the codes that spit out....
C12
H28
H72
That's it.....

 

In order for the car to think the airbag is present and working, two things must occur:
The connector must be reconnected. (there is a "shorting bar" built into the connector that tells the car if the connector is connected.)
A resistance that is equal to the resistance of the SIR coil then must be introduced into the circuit.

I just went through all of this yesterday in my own '96.

Larry
code5coupe

 

If I am understanding this correctly, your airbag is unplugged and you don't want to plug it in because if there is a fault in the system you don't want it to deploy.

First, the reason the light is on is probably because the airbag is unplugged. An airbag squib is a resisor, the airbag controller will check the resistance with a very low current to make sure that:

The airbag is plugged in
There are no shorts in the wiring
The inflator is not damaged

If any of the above conditions are true (among several other things), the light will be on.

The reason it comes on and flashes is to show you that the bulb is not burned out. You'd never know you had a system fault if the bulb didn't have a test mode.

Lastly, it takes a specific crash pulse to fire the bag. The only way to cause a deployment is to apply a high current across the feed and return pins of the inflator (1.2 A in current cars, don't know about older ones). So unless your wiring is really messed up, or your airbag controller has an internal short (both unlikely) you will not get a deployment. Just don't put your face near the bag when you plug it in...you never know.

 

Sorry about the confusion. My car worked fine, until I replace my steering column. Once I replace the steering column, now the light
will not turn off. So, you start the car, the light flashes 5 or so times, then it remains on.
Like I said, everything worked fine with the car (ie the light would flash, then turn off) prior to replacing the column. Now it flashes, then remains on. So, I'm worried that it might deploy accidently, so I have unplugged it at the bottom of the column (yellow wire). So don't confuse me disconnecting it as causing the problem, it doesn't matter if its plugged in or not, the light remains on.
Thanks for reply.

 

The light is on because the key got turned on while hooking up the wires to the new steering column before the airbag wire was connected.

You will need to go to the "other" heading at the top of this page and go to tech tips and look for the article on how to reset the light.

The Infl Sert light will not go out by disconnecting the battery and has to be corrected as discribed in the article.

Do all this while the airbag blug is connected.

 

Thanks again Jerris... I just needed to clarify this for the member... I have lots of info now... Thanks again for everyones input... I will keep you guys posted on what I've found....