Air bag control module 2000 Z3 Roadster

[LannVouivre]

So I can only assume it was the tensioner. I still have the used one, but I am unwilling to try again for proof.

I can send you my old module if I ever find a replacement. Mine is fried already but the light comes on intermittently.

[Tib]

There's two wires that definitely appear to be pulled straight out of the SES module connector. It's a blue/white wire and a yellow/white wire. Any idea what they do?
Attachment 588109

61106914295 is a Wiring Repair Kit, for the side airbag wiring in a Z3.


It replaces the blue/white wire pin 20 and a yellow/white wire pin 21 in plug X74 and has a common ground.

[Vinniebase]

Try running INPA "As Administrator" (if on Win10).

Then make sure the OBD.ini file and USB Serial Port COM ports match.

Then if still not working, then get a USB VAG KKL cable, or BMW K+DCAN.

Bought a USB VAG KKL cable on EBAY and INPA works. Can read all modules on my Z3.
Got the replacement Airbag unit coded with NCSExpert, and cleared the errors. Light still on, remains one error code: 23 MRSA front right, communication error. I assume that its broken?
Then gonna find myself a replacement.
Still happy, i have made a lot of progress.
Replacement Airbag ECU is not dead...
Thx for your help.

[baomashifu]

Just bought a 2000 Z3 2.8 roadster with water damage (looks like it's submerged somehow). Previous owner spent $$$ and got car back to running condition but still had some electrical issues left and ran out of money and interest. Just like the initial post, it has airbag light on with F0 internal error, side air bag error etc. The airbag control module is 65778386192 and I can't erase any code using my MaxiDAS DS708 with ERROR_ECU_REJECTED. Did a lot of research and can't find anything that's related to diagnose/test the module using multi-meter etc. So I guess I need to get a replacement. New one is $500 and can't find any used one on eBay. So I'm keeping an eye on it. If anyone has an airbag control module laying around and interested in selling, please let me know.

I also had great difficulty removing the car seats because all the motors are shot due to water damage so I can't move the seats. Even with the manual approach (take out front motor and use drill to drive the spindle) I wasn't able to move the seats all the way to the front to get easy access to the back bolts. The bolts are rusted also. So what I did was to use a propane torch I bought from Walmart to heat the bolt for about 30 seconds, then spray some water mist to the bolt, this will shrink the bolt and also burn off some of the rust. Then it becomes almost easy to loose the bolts. WD-40 doesn't help in this case because it can't penetrate the bolt with the big bolt head on top.

[Schreier]

MINOR UPDATE: SEAT SHENANIGANS

I don't remember posting anything about this earlier, but if you're going to remove the seats to take care of either of the crash sensors (or both, in my case), you might as well take care of the seat bushings. My seat bushings had vaporized, so it needed to be done anyway.

Before:

20170419_190257.jpg

After:

20170419_193248.jpg

One of the most useful guides for this was X8R's own YouTube video on taking out the seat and installing the bushes. Great stuff.

The other attempted fix on the seats was to try to get the driver's side seat un-stuck from the downward most position. Using the button to move the seat up or down does nothing -- you can't even hear the motor working when you press the button.

One of the most useful posts on how to troubleshoot seat height on the Z3's seats shows a photo of the bottom of the seat, including the aluminum housing. On my seat, the open end of the aluminum housing was pointing upward to the bottom of the seat. It was hard to work with this aluminum housing because after I removed the 10 mm bolt, I simply could not wiggle the housing free of the arm. Just not enough clearance.

In fact, it seemed impossible at first to get the seat to raise even manually. Then I inspected the arm and the shaft it was welded to, and followed the shaft over to one of the sliding rails that allow the seat to move forward and backward. One of the arms with hinges (which are supposed to move the seat up or down) seemed to be pinched and stuck on the rail. Apparently you can lower the seat enough that the arm and hinge will get smashed against the rail.

Here's a photo of the arm and the rail. If you look closely enough, you can see bare metal where the arm was lodged against the rail.

20170513_173718.jpg

Threading a hefty screwdriver through the gap, prying one end down on the rail and the other end up on the pivot, actually got the seat to move upward! It was the first time I've ever managed to get this seat moving up or down.

With the seat moved up from the most downward position, the aluminum housing fell out of contact of the arm, and I was able to rotate it freely to get at the worm gear. There was no resistance, and the housing wasn't binding on the worm gear or exceeded the appropriate length of travel on the worm gear, but I applied some lithium grease anyway as was suggested. Then I re-assembled as I found it, albeit with a little more length unwound to make up for the increased seat height.

Then the seat went back in. Forward-backward motion still worked fantastically, but the seat still would not go up or down on its own. I suppose the previous owner must have burned the motor out attempting to do the same thing that I just did with a well-placed screwdriver.

Didn't matter in the end, though. Since I was able to manually adjust the seat height, the seat was in a "good enough" position for me to call it a day.

Still haven't purchased a replacement side impact sensor. I've looked for one all over ebay, but the prices only seem to be going up. What's more is that it seems to be one of the most expensive side impact sensors of all the ones BMW has ever made.

Anyhow, more when I actually pull the trigger on a sensor.

[Schreier]

GOOD NEWS.


After patiently waiting a couple of months for a good, used side impact sensor to appear on eBay, one showed up, and I bought it immediately. Pulled the passenger seat out again and installed it. They go in upside down on the passenger side, but orientation is not a real issue, because there is a nub on the bottom of the sensor that finds a hole in the floor such that there's no other way to install it.

pass_impact_sensor_fixed.jpg

If you're in a situation like mine where a previous tech had installed new wiring to the impact sensors, the new wires usually can be spotted because they have a BMW part identification tag somewhere near the connector. The part number on the tag matches the one called for in the document for the official BMW fix.

There was one small problem with the install. I missed the wires going to the seat occupancy sensor when I was disconnecting everything from the passenger seat, and as a consequence, the connector broke in half when I yanked out the seat. Whoopsie.

pass_occupancy_sensor_connector_broken.jpg

This was somewhat of an issue because, as far as I could tell from RealOEM, this part of the seat wiring loom is not sold separately as a replacement part. So I did some sleuthing and found out that the same seat occupancy sensor is used on the E46, meaning the same connector is on the E46. And on the E46, the seat wiring loom is much better designed. The loom terminates in a single connector, not four connectors like in the Z3, which meets a junction on the bottom of the seat.

From that junction, wire 52108240500 connects to the seat occupancy sensor. So I went to my friendly neighborhood Pull-A-Part, and found an E46 325i with MANUAL SEATS (!!!), and unclipped that wire from right under the seat. Plenty of room. I cut off the old connector, cut the other end off the replacement wire, stripped both ends, and soldered the new wires and connector right in.

The E46 uses a slightly different color pattern for its seat occupancy wires, but they're generally the same as in the Z3. Solder white to white, brown to brown, and purple to purple. Of course make sure to heat-shrink the wires.

pass_occupancy_sensor_fixed.jpg

With everything connected again, I cleared the errors from the airbag controller. The impact sensor error disappeared (yay!), but I kept getting an error about the seat occupancy sensor circuit. That error eventually disappeared, but only after I thoroughly cleaned the connection to the wiring loom with contact cleaner.

The seat had been sitting on cold concrete in a drafty garage for a week, and I suppose some residue had developed on the open connector. Or perhaps it was the junkyard E46's connector that was dirty. Either way, I chalked it up to a bad connection. INPA eventually cleared the errors and they haven't re-appeared after ~100 miles of driving.

Problem solved!

A big thank you to everyone who helped in this thread. I would especially like to thank 328 Power 04 for his keen advice in this process.

[ColinRauch]

[QUOTE=328 Power 04;29515001]A used module will work, but it HAS to be from the same date range Z3 (M or non M)


When you say date range, do you mean same year or preface lift or after face lift?

[328 Power 04]

You should be going by parts system guidance for your VIN and production date specifically https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sel...ct=P&archive=1 Type in the last 7 of the VIN in the Serial Number box.

[JWLZ3]

I believe the 2000 and other years BMW are the subject of an airbag recall campaign. Is there any additional info on this?

[rf900rkw]

It's very specific air bags. For instance my E46 is recalled for the passenger front, but not the drivers or any side bags. And more information is readily available. Go to the BMW site. or NHTSA. Or your mailbox. I can tell you from experience that if you have a recalled car, you will get notices. LOTS of them.