Resetting airbag warning light 1996 E36

Hi,

I have a nasty feeling from one of the previous posts that this is
going to be a dealer visit with the credit card, but I thought I'd ak
just in case...

Recently I've had an annoying creaking sound when I turn the steering
wheel, dry parts rubbing together, so I've just had the wheel off,
given all the parts that rub a little wipe with some grease, and now
the creak has gone...

Unfortunately during the fiddling about, I turn the ignition on and
off several times so I could rotate the wheel, and I didn't have the
airbag unit installed at the time, so now the car things the airbag is
broken, even though it's all now back in. (It's the later style E36
bag that didn't have the warning light on the wheel, it's on the
dash).

Can anyone tell me how to reset this light, it's already annoying me
and I only did it an hour ago!

Cheers,

Dodgy.

"D0d6y" > wrote
> Unfortunately during the fiddling about, I turn the ignition on and
> off several times so I could rotate the wheel, and I didn't have the
> airbag unit installed at the time, so now the car things the airbag is
> broken, even though it's all now back in. (It's the later style E36
> bag that didn't have the warning light on the wheel, it's on the
> dash).
>
> Can anyone tell me how to reset this light, it's already annoying me
> and I only did it an hour ago!

The airbag light is a dealer-only reset, although if you can find
an independent with the diagnostic computer they can do it, too.

FloydR

On Mon, 15 May 2006 08:39:18 -0700, "Floyd Rogers"
> wrote:

>"D0d6y" > wrote
>> Unfortunately during the fiddling about, I turn the ignition on and
>> off several times so I could rotate the wheel, and I didn't have the
>> airbag unit installed at the time, so now the car things the airbag is
>> broken, even though it's all now back in. (It's the later style E36
>> bag that didn't have the warning light on the wheel, it's on the
>> dash).
>>
>> Can anyone tell me how to reset this light, it's already annoying me
>> and I only did it an hour ago!
>
>The airbag light is a dealer-only reset, although if you can find
>an independent with the diagnostic computer they can do it, too.
>
>FloydR

Damn, thought as much.

If in future I have to remove the airbag, will disconnecting the
battery before I start pulling things apart stop it from triggering
again?

Dodgy.

D0d6y wrote:
> On Mon, 15 May 2006 08:39:18 -0700, "Floyd Rogers"
> > wrote:
>
>
>>"D0d6y" > wrote
>>
>>>Unfortunately during the fiddling about, I turn the ignition on and
>>>off several times so I could rotate the wheel, and I didn't have the
>>>airbag unit installed at the time, so now the car things the airbag is
>>>broken, even though it's all now back in. (It's the later style E36
>>>bag that didn't have the warning light on the wheel, it's on the
>>>dash).
>>>
>>>Can anyone tell me how to reset this light, it's already annoying me
>>>and I only did it an hour ago!
>>
>>The airbag light is a dealer-only reset, although if you can find
>>an independent with the diagnostic computer they can do it, too.
>>
>>FloydR
>
>
> Damn, thought as much.
>
> If in future I have to remove the airbag, will disconnecting the
> battery before I start pulling things apart stop it from triggering
> again?
>
> Dodgy.

Yes. Also, you are kind of lucky that you did not set the air bag off.
That would have been (at the very least) scary, or you could have
gotten hurt.

In the future, disconnect battery and wait a good long while before
disconnecting. Make sure everything is reconnected before re-attaching
the battery.

--
-Fred W

On Mon, 15 May 2006 14:17:06 -0400, Fred W
> wrote:

>D0d6y wrote:
>> On Mon, 15 May 2006 08:39:18 -0700, "Floyd Rogers"
>> > wrote:
>>
>>
>>>"D0d6y" > wrote
>>>
>>>>Unfortunately during the fiddling about, I turn the ignition on and
>>>>off several times so I could rotate the wheel, and I didn't have the
>>>>airbag unit installed at the time, so now the car things the airbag is
>>>>broken, even though it's all now back in. (It's the later style E36
>>>>bag that didn't have the warning light on the wheel, it's on the
>>>>dash).
>>>>
>>>>Can anyone tell me how to reset this light, it's already annoying me
>>>>and I only did it an hour ago!
>>>
>>>The airbag light is a dealer-only reset, although if you can find
>>>an independent with the diagnostic computer they can do it, too.
>>>
>>>FloydR
>>
>>
>> Damn, thought as much.
>>
>> If in future I have to remove the airbag, will disconnecting the
>> battery before I start pulling things apart stop it from triggering
>> again?
>>
>> Dodgy.
>
>Yes. Also, you are kind of lucky that you did not set the air bag off.
> That would have been (at the very least) scary, or you could have
>gotten hurt.
>
>In the future, disconnect battery and wait a good long while before
>disconnecting. Make sure everything is reconnected before re-attaching
>the battery.

I did toy with disconnecting the battery, but the stereo is such a
pain in the arse at the best of times, and I didn't fancy
reprogramming everything... I was vaguely worried about the airbag, so
i made sure the ignition was turned off when I reconnected it, and I
was not in the drivers seat, but crouched outside the car reaching in
through the open door just in case it did have an instant space hopper
moment!

Oh well, news things I have learnt today... :-)

Dodgy.

"D0d6y" > wrote in message
...
> Hi,
>
> I have a nasty feeling from one of the previous posts that this is
> going to be a dealer visit with the credit card, but I thought I'd ak
> just in case...
>
> Recently I've had an annoying creaking sound when I turn the steering
> wheel, dry parts rubbing together, so I've just had the wheel off,
> given all the parts that rub a little wipe with some grease, and now
> the creak has gone...
>
> Unfortunately during the fiddling about, I turn the ignition on and
> off several times so I could rotate the wheel, and I didn't have the
> airbag unit installed at the time, so now the car things the airbag is
> broken, even though it's all now back in. (It's the later style E36
> bag that didn't have the warning light on the wheel, it's on the
> dash).
>
> Can anyone tell me how to reset this light, it's already annoying me
> and I only did it an hour ago!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Dodgy.


Find an independent BMW service center to do the reset. There is no need for
anybody to investigate the integrity of the system, you DEFINITELY set the
light off when you remvoed the steering wheel and turned the ignition on.
The Reset activity takes less time to do than it took to type this reply.

"D0d6y" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 15 May 2006 08:39:18 -0700, "Floyd Rogers"
> > wrote:
>
>>"D0d6y" > wrote
>>> Unfortunately during the fiddling about, I turn the ignition on and
>>> off several times so I could rotate the wheel, and I didn't have the
>>> airbag unit installed at the time, so now the car things the airbag is
>>> broken, even though it's all now back in. (It's the later style E36
>>> bag that didn't have the warning light on the wheel, it's on the
>>> dash).
>>>
>>> Can anyone tell me how to reset this light, it's already annoying me
>>> and I only did it an hour ago!
>>
>>The airbag light is a dealer-only reset, although if you can find
>>an independent with the diagnostic computer they can do it, too.
>>
>>FloydR
>
> Damn, thought as much.
>
> If in future I have to remove the airbag, will disconnecting the
> battery before I start pulling things apart stop it from triggering
> again?
>
> Dodgy.


The problem you're having is that you cycled the ignition switch while the
airbag was removed. Assuming all you need is the mechanical stuff when you
turn the ignition on, then yes, disconnecting the battery would prevent this
issue for you. But, if you need electrical stuff when you turn the ignitiion
on, then you'll trigger the airbag light if the bag is disconnected.