Airbag ECU

[Marco]

Hi, I know this is a common fault and there are loads of posts on it but I needed to post a question. My airbag light is on and I have had one independent dealer trying to diagnose it with a generic ODB reader (but no errors were coming up). A mate of mine recently bought the cable and software from http://www.bmcables.com/ which seems to work fine as it can diagnose all other parts of the car but, when you try and choose the "Airbag" section, it fails to connect to the module.

This leads me to think that perhaps the entire Airbag Module (ECU) itself has gone (causing the airbag light to go on) and probably needs replacing?

Has anyone had any experience with this or similar incident? Also, anyone replaced their Airbag ECU? If so, where did you get it from and is it an easy part to replace?

Thanks......

 

[omar]

Timely as mine is being replaced right now! Afraid it's a dealer only part and is not cheap at about £350. Don't bother with breakers yard parts as you can't code a second hand module to a different car and you'll still have the light on and mot fail etc. Fairly hard to get to as it's under the centre console.

Get a proper diagnostic / confirm from a garage that it's the right problem before you shell out for the part though.

 

[omar]

Also check the instrument cluster fault codes as it will probably have some clue as to whether the light is from a reported ecu error or just a lack of communication.

 

[Anonymous]

Timely as mine is being replaced right now! Afraid it's a dealer only part and is not cheap at about £350. Don't bother with breakers yard parts as you can't code a second hand module to a different car and you'll still have the light on and mot fail etc. Fairly hard to get to as it's under the centre console.

Get a proper diagnostic / confirm from a garage that it's the right problem before you shell out for the part though.

My son's Z3 airbag ECU failed and had no communication and the light on, got a 2nd hand one for £50 off eBay and the local Indy recoded it to the car for a fiver. No further problems
but that was a Z3?....
There are companies that can repair ECU's (search on google), but not sure if that includes airbag ones.

 

[andrewr]

I had a spare Airbag ECU from a breaker car, I sold it to a member on here who coded it no problem - so it seems it is possible with the Z4.

Andrew.

 

[domsz4]

Timely as mine is being replaced right now! Afraid it's a dealer only part and is not cheap at about £350. Don't bother with breakers yard parts as you can't code a second hand module to a different car and you'll still have the light on and mot fail etc. Fairly hard to get to as it's under the centre console.

Get a proper diagnostic / confirm from a garage that it's the right problem before you shell out for the part though.

My son's Z3 airbag ECU failed and had no communication and the light on, got a 2nd hand one for £50 off eBay and the local Indy recoded it to the car for a fiver. No further problems
but that was a Z3?....
There are companies that can repair ECU's (search on google), but not sure if that includes airbag ones.

a giy called "george-the-greek" did this for me on my focus. he got them from so called reliable places. i just rocked up to his workshop and the first one of about 5 he tried worked fine.