Need an airbag control unit replaced

R

rogward

New member
Hi. I have a Z4 E85 Z4 2.5i auto, with an airbag fault. Tried several things from info on here. Fitted a new battery (old one went flat, and was over 7 years old, and showing 12.04V cold). Cleaned connectors at battery and under passenger seat. Tried a passenger seat bypass module, but that didn't work. I can reset the airbag light but it comes back, sometimes straight away, and sometimes next day. The C110 code reader I have is showing a code of 9867 Control Unit Fault. Crashdata.co.uk reckon it's likely a replacement unit is required.

Anyone know of an independent that could fix this for me in the East/West Sussex area? Many thanks.
 
mine got water in it last week when i left the roof down, youll need a new module from a breaker or an eyewatering £630 from BMW. take yours out and see if you can find one with the same part number, then it'll need coding to the car
 
Had the same issue. Be interesting to know if you bought it with that problem or if it materialised?

As said the module is between the rear compartment and the handbrake in the centre console.

I whipped mine off. I say whipped but it probably took an hour or so going carefully as I didn’t know what I was doing and didn’t want to break anything. Then you can get access to the module. If you use the same process as an airbag, disconnect the module and leave it sit for 20mins or so. Disconnect the module then refit ensuring it’s fully clipped up maybe that will sort it for you.

Otherwise you’ve got the part number on the module, BMW if you need it right away. Otherwise look for a second hand module. This will need programming to suit the new VIN etc that your car has.

I’m about to get mine coded so can update you later this month if all goes well.

Kis
 
Thanks all. It does look like 'whipping it off and having a looksy' is fairly involved, if https://tinyurl.com/z4console is anything to go by.

I've had the car for about five years, and it has been pretty good, although it did overheat a couple of years ago and needed a new rad. Electrics went bonkers then, with dash lights coming on and off randomly, but came right when it was running at the proper temperature.

It feels like a bad connection thing, as once I've cleared it the light stays off for varying times, and numbers of restarts, so I might have a go at removing/cleaning/reseating it.
 
I had this issue with my wife’s beetle convertible and had the module reprrammed by these guys- https://www.crashdata.co.uk/bmw-airbag-module-repair-reset-crashdata-co-uk-s/1843.htm
Fast and efficient and best of all cheap!
 
Try uninstalling then reinstalling. Hopefully this sorts it for you. Mine (with the new module) would reset just fine but when the engine was powered down it would come back on the next cycle. So if yours is varying like you say maybe it’ll be a quick fix. I think Jamie took his out and dried it because it got wet. Maybe WD it and then leave it to completely dry before installing again. Best of luck mate :thumbsup:
 
Where abouts do you spray the WD?

I've removed my module and all previous electrical gremlins are gone, as soon as I reconnect the module, they're back. No sign of any water or rust or damage?
 
I’m sure that’s what Jamie had. WD and leave to dry...

I’m sure I opened mine up, it’s got some screws of some sort on the back? Otherwise just spray in the connection port area... the metal case is just that, a housing for the ECU. But maybe worth inspecting the internals for signs or damage or burned components?
 
Update. I had bought a passenger seat airbag bypass module as stated above, and that didn't work, so I took it off and reinstated the original connector. Problem still present. I took that off again and liberally soaked both male and female bits with contact cleaner, left it for a bit, and re-assembled. Turned the warning light off with the C110 unit, with ignition on, but not the engine running, and it stayed off for the rest of that day. And the next. And the next, and hasn't come back since. It seems that the contact resistance of that particular unit is critical, as lots of posts refer to jiggling it about to see if it fixes the problem.

MOT today, and it passed. Very pleased, obviously. Many thanks to all on here for help and advice, and hopefully this will help someone else in the future. :-)
 
Just for future reference the old thread I was using has been updated: see here. This concludes my issues with my Airbag Control Unit / Module / ECU.
 
I had the same problem with water damage, managed to get a perfect serial number match of a spare unit. The replacement unit will need recoding to the car, as has been said in this thread and diagnostics reports it as different chassis number. - Any ideas/ instructions on how to do this please?

Cheers

Phil.
 
Unclepip said:
I had the same problem with water damage, managed to get a perfect serial number match of a spare unit. The replacement unit will need recoding to the car, as has been said in this thread and diagnostics reports it as different chassis number. - Any ideas/ instructions on how to do this please?

Cheers

Phil.
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Depends where you are mate? I used a place in Kingston which is relatively local to me. If you're local then I can PM you all the details? Otherwise there's a place called Crash Data (based in Liverpool) I also looked into and almost used them. If you post them both modules they'll be able to transfer details from YOUR one to your REPLACEMENT one. This was a similar price but would need to remove the module (whichever one is in there) from your car. In the end I just wanted it done there and then and going somewhere local would just have been easier all round then faffing with posting. I also don't know if you can use the car without any module fitted? Even if you can then potentially no airbags which could be problematic if you did need them.
 
Thanks, I am in Northampton, but would be interested in the Kingston details please. I assume they hooked it up to a computer to make the changes?

Phil
 
Yes mate hooked up to computer. Used INSTA+ and Tool32 I think. I'll PM you his details now.
 
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