Airbag Warning Light

[darchard]

Following your advice I managed to undo the bolt and disengage the plug from the frame.
I pulled the lever on the end of the plug but was unable to separate the two halves, perhaps due to corrosion??
I'm going to have another go so want to check what I should do when I manage to separate the two halves.
I'm assuming the plug consists of a number of pins with corresponding holes.
Should I just clean the pins with some fine sandpaper and then put the two halves back together again, or is there something else?
Is there a trick to separating the two halves or should I just keep jiggling it until it surrenders?
Many thanks!

 

[enuff_zed]

Following your advice I managed to undo the bolt and disengage the plug from the frame.
I pulled the lever on the end of the plug but was unable to separate the two halves, perhaps due to corrosion??
I'm going to have another go so want to check what I should do when I manage to separate the two halves.
I'm assuming the plug consists of a number of pins with corresponding holes.
Should I just clean the pins with some fine sandpaper and then put the two halves back together again, or is there something else?
Is there a trick to separating the two halves or should I just keep jiggling it until it surrenders?
Many thanks!

The lever can be stuck quite hard sometimes. If you pull too hard you can snap it, so try a bit of contact cleaner to lubricate it. Or prising it up from each side, a little bit at a time.
The pins are extremely fragile. Contact cleaner and then very gentle cleaning with a soft brush. The female portions are much harder to clean (Oh, I do hope Pondy doesn't read that!!!). Best bet is to spray with contact cleaner then fit and remove the other half of the plug several times to try to clean it all out.

 

[MikeyH]

The lever can be stuck quite hard sometimes. If you pull too hard you can snap it, so try a bit of contact cleaner to lubricate it. Or prising it up from each side, a little bit at a time.
The pins are extremely fragile. Contact cleaner and then very gentle cleaning with a soft brush. The female portions are much harder to clean (Oh, I do hope Pondy doesn't read that!!!). Best bet is to spray with contact cleaner then fit and remove the other half of the plug several times to try to clean it all out.

Mmm, suit you sir.

 

[darchard]

Am I likely to damage the pins if and when I manage to separate the two halves of the connector? I mean, if they are corroded are they likely to snap when I pull the two halves apart? What's your experience?

I'm a bit concerned as I guess I would then need to replace the connector, which would be a bit of a pig given the lack of space between the door and the A pillar. Have you had to do this before? Are the parts available?

I guess my alternative would be to live with the warning light and reset the fault codes before giving the car in for MOT (after a reset the light seems to stay off for a couple of days). Not ideal of course but maybe better than a major headache replacing the connector.

Any thoughts?

 

[enuff_zed]

If the plug is corroded then there is a chance you may break the corroded pins, but then they weren't working anyway.
I've not had any break myself but I think someone on here did recently.