$#@#$ Air Bag Light ! Came On Why!

[914lps]

I did do some searching but did not find what I’m looking for. Why is my Air Bag Light On!

I have a 91 LS 400. It was blowing white/blue smoke. So I knew the Idle up valve on the power steering went bad. I pulled the vacuum lines where they attached to the intake and plugged everything. Great. No more smoke, but now I was loosing even more PS fluid?? So I pulled the vacuum hoses from the valve and made short hoses with plugged ends. Still had a leak. Gave up gave it to may mechanic. He tells me that my short lines were leaking. So he made new plugged lined and put them on. Great until he turned the steering wheel. The pressure ripped the hose open! I have never head of that much pressure come out of a failed valve. Yes he used a good line. He used some high pressure fuel injection line. We could not find any hydraulic line that small. So next he pulled the broken valve out and just plugged it with a bolt. Car test drives fine. I go to pick it up. Take a test drive every thing is fine. Park the car. Just before I turn it off the radio starts to turn on and off by itself??? I’m getting no dash warning lights. Car goes dead. Well not restart. We test battery. Dead. We jump start, test alternator. Dead! Power steering fluid killed it! I had hoped I had fixed it in time. Today I pick up car with new rebuilt alternator in it. Now my air bag light is on??? Why???? I did see how to do the “wire dance on lesLS to turn it off. I will do that. But why did it come on. And if there is an issue with the air bag system if I reset the light will it come on again?????? And again when the car died, I never got a battery warning light???

All my warning lights come on when I test them on start up.

A0SyD

[90LS400Lexus]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune.

I had a similiar problem with my 1991 LS400 recently. I had the smoke on startup and the leak. My dad put the 14mm bolt in the pump to block the valve, but thankfully no fluid got on the alternator. Then we re-routed the vacuum lines. Well, I still had the power steering leak (I thought it was the valve that was also causing the leak but it wasnt), but it turned out being the return line that comes out of the back of the reservior. It had been leaking for 2 years and all this time it was a $1.80 hose. I thought it was the pump itself, which is why I had stalled on fixing it, but oh well.

Unfortunately, something has happened since then, as my steering has become hard to turn most of the time. I thought it was the screen on the pump or rack, but one mechanic said it didnt have a screen, which I know is wrong.

As far as your battery light only not coming on when the alternator failed, is a mystery. The electrical sysem warning on these cars (older Toyotas in general) can be strange sometimes. I had a 81 Cressida and when the battery came loose one time, instead of the battery light coming on, other random warning lights came on. I have also heard that sometimes on these LS400s, that when the alternator starts to fail, the "brake" warning light may come on dimly when the car is running. Mine did this about a year ago, then it stopped coming on when the car was running, so I guess it was something else? Strange.

I am guessing that the airbag unit may have to be reset since the car was totally powered down. I dont think anything would have happened to it that would have messed it up.

Good luck... I know I am going to need some myself. <_<

I did do some searching but did not find what I’m looking for. Why is my Air Bag Light On!

I have a 91 LS 400. It was blowing white/blue smoke. So I knew the Idle up valve on the power steering went bad. I pulled the vacuum lines where they attached to the intake and plugged everything. Great. No more smoke, but now I was loosing even more PS fluid?? So I pulled the vacuum hoses from the valve and made short hoses with plugged ends. Still had a leak. Gave up gave it to may mechanic. He tells me that my short lines were leaking. So he made new plugged lined and put them on. Great until he turned the steering wheel. The pressure ripped the hose open! I have never head of that much pressure come out of a failed valve. Yes he used a good line. He used some high pressure fuel injection line. We could not find any hydraulic line that small. So next he pulled the broken valve out and just plugged it with a bolt. Car test drives fine. I go to pick it up. Take a test drive every thing is fine. Park the car. Just before I turn it off the radio starts to turn on and off by itself??? I’m getting no dash warning lights. Car goes dead. Well not restart. We test battery. Dead. We jump start, test alternator. Dead! Power steering fluid killed it! I had hoped I had fixed it in time. Today I pick up car with new rebuilt alternator in it. Now my air bag light is on??? Why???? I did see how to do the “wire dance on lesLS to turn it off. I will do that. But why did it come on. And if there is an issue with the air bag system if I reset the light will it come on again?????? And again when the car died, I never got a battery warning light???

All my warning lights come on when I test them on start up.

[914lps]

Your power steering system has two screens in the system. one in the resivor tank and one on the selonod valve on the rack by the drivers side. Years ago i did a very extensive post on how to take care of those screens. Do a search if you can for posts by me. You should then see it.

[billydpowell]

THIS MIGHT HELP.

SRS Airbag Warning Light Reset Procedure

To Reset the SRS Airbag Warning light on a 90-94 LS400 (maybe other models too):

1. Make two jumper wires, each about three feet long. 18 gage, insulated, solid copper (doorbell wire) works best for this procedure. Strip about 1/4" of insulation at each end of both wires.

2. Find the OBDI connector (it's in the center of the engine bay next to the intake) It is black plastic about 2-1/2 inches long and 1-1/2 inch wide.

3. Open it up, it is hinged at one end, and find AB & TC sockets. There is a socket diagram on the inside of the lid that tells which pins are which.

4. Plug a jumper wire into each socket. Be careful to keep the other ends of the wires from touching other stuff, or each other, at this point.

5. Turn the ignition switch to the ON position.

6. Now, touch the other ends of the wires (one wire at a time) to the negative battery terminal, alternating TC, AB, TC, AB at about one second intervals.

Continue for about 10 - 15 seconds.

Note: I am told that if it doesn't work, try either speeding up or slowing down the TC, AB, TC... routine.

While doing this, have someone observe the SRS airbag light from outside the car. It should start blinking slow at first, then faster and faster until it goes out. It may take several tries, but it does work.

[90LS400Lexus]

Your power steering system has two screens in the system. one in the resivor tank and one on the selonod valve on the rack by the drivers side. Years ago i did a very extensive post on how to take care of those screens. Do a search if you can for posts by me. You should then see it.

Thanks! I definitely will!

[914lps]

THIS MIGHT HELP.

SRS Airbag Warning Light Reset Procedure

To Reset the SRS Airbag Warning light on a 90-94 LS400 (maybe other models too):

1. Make two jumper wires, each about three feet long. 18 gage, insulated, solid copper (doorbell wire) works best for this procedure. Strip about 1/4" of insulation at each end of both wires.

2. Find the OBDI connector (it's in the center of the engine bay next to the intake) It is black plastic about 2-1/2 inches long and 1-1/2 inch wide.

3. Open it up, it is hinged at one end, and find AB & TC sockets. There is a socket diagram on the inside of the lid that tells which pins are which.

4. Plug a jumper wire into each socket. Be careful to keep the other ends of the wires from touching other stuff, or each other, at this point.

5. Turn the ignition switch to the ON position.

6. Now, touch the other ends of the wires (one wire at a time) to the negative battery terminal, alternating TC, AB, TC, AB at about one second intervals.

Continue for about 10 - 15 seconds.

Note: I am told that if it doesn't work, try either speeding up or slowing down the TC, AB, TC... routine.

While doing this, have someone observe the SRS airbag light from outside the car. It should start blinking slow at first, then faster and faster until it goes out. It may take several tries, but it does work.

I thank you for the onformatiom, however as I stated, I had this information allready. LexLS has this info on his great web site. What I'm trying to find out is WHY it came on ? And if there is an issue with the system will it retriger the light after I reset it?

Anyone know?

[914lps]

Anyone now anything about the Airbag issue? I know how to reset the light, but what made it come on?

[steve2006]

A common cause is removing the dash then switching on the ignition but in your case this does not apply, but disconnecting the battery could cause an electrical glitch and another possible is was the drivers seat moved for some reason.

There are electrical connectors under the seat related to the SRS and if someone adjusted the seat position it could have upset the connections with them not having been moved for some time.

The only way you will know is to reset the airbag system and then see if the light reappears.

If you want to read the stored code before resetting the system follow this link.

http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/intro/codereading.html

[RDM]

Your mechanic could have also damaged the spiral cable. It's not designed to be turned past a certain point, it's possible in fiddling with the steering system he disconnected the steering shaft, that would allow the wheel turn freely past it's maximum point and break the cable. I've seen lesser skilled people do that before, it's always a good idea to lock the wheel before removing the shaft from the steering rack.

Once you reset the light you'll know for certain. As mentioned, it could have been as simple as the airbag being unplugged with the key on, he may have tried to remove the wheel to center it, you never know what all went on. Again, just speculation, you won't know until you pull up an actual code.