What am I missing ?

[lr_defender]

Fairly recently purchased a 2.0 straight six which I have just finished repanelling. Lovely car but has airbag warning light on.
Spotted this tail hanging out the back of the offside (drivers ) seat.

Followed it back and its the pretensioner lead - problem is that it doesn't seem to have anything to connect to !

This is what I found under the seat ! a bit of a mess but contains seven wires and the twisted yellow/trace pair. the pair appears to have been joined to two black wires which connect to a yellow plug 0n the seat which have a red and white wire coming out of it.

the seven main wires are split four to black plug (not connected) and three to white plug (power to motors) there is nothing else........

passenger side has all of the above , but a blue twisted pair, (instead of yellow) going to red connector which enters a black and white box with blue writing on it which I can't make out at the moment (can't lift seat out til later -parkinsons !)

Questions are : what should the pretensioner plug connect to - is it another black box that I haven't got or have wires been cut out from the loom


any suggestions / help gratefully received

 

[Mario]

There should be a pigtail coming from the side of the seat where the seat belt buckle is with a cable al the way to the back of the seat that your plug should connect to.

 

[lr_defender]

Mario thanks for your reply - the only thing coming from the seat belt buckle side is the pretensioner but there is nothing to plug it into

 

[Brian James]

Looks to me like the seat belt tensioner connector is missing
Please see photo.
BTW the connection at the belt tensioner should also be held in place with a plastic tie wrap.
In the photo attached, the pink connector on yours may be yellow.
Hope this helps.

 

[t-tony]

Could the car have had Face-lift seats fitted in a pre Face-lift car, or vice versa? IIRC the wiring is different.

Tony.

 

[lr_defender]

hello Brian

I have 2 connectors coming out of the drivers seat in the location of the seat belt - one is the same as the pink one in your photo only its black - I think this is the pretensioner and has nothing to plug onto on the car side (this is the one that I cannot attach I've searched under the carpet and checked the loom else where to prove it hasn't been cut out.) the other connector is yellow and connects to a twisted pair of yellow wires on the car side one has a brown trace the other a red trace this wire goes up to the seatbelt buckle

here to prove it hasn't been cut out. the other is yellow and connects to a twisted pair of yellow wires one has a brown trace the other a red trace.

Could the car have had Face-lift seats fitted in a pre Face-lift car, or vice versa? IIRC the wiring is different.

Tony.

Tony the seats were facelift fitted to an earlier car . Can I retrofit these ?

 

[lr_defender]

I had an MOT booked for Tuesday may need to rebook !

 

[t-tony]

hello Brian

I have 2 connectors coming out of the drivers seat in the location of the seat belt - one is the same as the pink one in your photo only its black - I think this is the pretensioner and has nothing to plug onto on the car side (this is the one that I cannot attach I've searched under the carpet and checked the loom else where to prove it hasn't been cut out.) the other connector is yellow and connects to a twisted pair of yellow wires on the car side one has a brown trace the other a red trace this wire goes up to the seatbelt buckleView attachment 216769here to prove it hasn't been cut out. the other is yellow and connects to a twisted pair of yellow wires one has a brown trace the other a red trace.

Tony the seats were facelift fitted to an earlier car . Can I retrofit these ?

As I understand it BMW supplied a “loom” to convert one from the other. Use the search tab at the top of the page and look for seat conversion facelift to pre facelift. I’m surprised someone who has done this hasn’t spoken up. I haven’t done this myself.

Tony.

ps. I found these, there may be some useful info here.

Search results for query: airbag light fault

zroadster.org

 

[Brian James]

Hi,
The white and black connectors, I believe, are/were for the seat operation.
The yellow connector is the one used for the seat belt tensioner - the other end then connects into the seat belt tensioner device as per my previous photo.

I have attached some photos showing the different connectors under my seat - I have motorised seats but not heated seats so the black multiconnector does not couple up - it is the white one only that I believe powers the motorised seats. Perhaps the black one is then for using the seat heater functionality (if available).

Please be aware that the air bag warning light may also be illuminated should there be a seat belt tensioner problem ( or other ) with the passenger side. You will only now the exact location of the fault, I believe, with a scanner/code reader which has the capability of clearing fauklt codes.
I am unsure if the Creator 310+ will be compatible for your car as mine is a 1999 1.9 but I am sure someone will add to my comment to help you further.
Kind Regards
Brian
p.s. sorry cannot attach photos as files too large - will try to reduce and send later

 

[Brian James]

Hi
Tried to compress the photos so lets see if this works.......nope. ...sorry

 

[Greyhaim]

Hi everyone,
Having the pretensioner light problem and found nothing to plug pretensioner into on passanger car side wiring. Drivers side has White connector (power) and black connector (heated seat) and yellow for pretensioner, all working fine. Passenger side has the white and black (all working) but then also has small pink and small white connector that don't having anything on the seat to connect to? Pink connector has 2 blue wires (one with a brown trace and one with a pink trace), white connector has 3 wires (brown/orange, white/red and blue/pink). It also has wide yellow connector under seat carpet with 2 wire (white and brown.) I just need to identify which wires would be for the pretensioner?? Have attached pics of driver side and passenger side and the male pretensioner plug from seat. Any help greatly appreciated as MOT fail now due to air bag light aebcause of this!!

 

[t-tony]

Which car are you talking about here. Z3 or Z4? Some Z3 didn’t have passenger air bags. Have you used a code reader to locate the fault?

Tony.

 

[Greyhaim]

Which car are you talking about here. Z3 or Z4? Some Z3 didn’t have passenger air bags. Have you used a code reader to locate the fault?

Tony.

Hi Tony,

Its my 2000 plate Z3 2.0 straight six. Bought it last year off some sod who conned me really! So its been a project with new brake line, sills, eaxhaust etc but is looking great now. Just need to get this light sorted. I got some black leather heated sports seats for it and drivers side hooks up to wiring fine with power, heat and pretensioner. Passeneger side car wiring has the extra plugs and no identifiable pretensioner bit.
thanks

 

[Greyhaim]

Which car are you talking about here. Z3 or Z4? Some Z3 didn’t have passenger air bags. Have you used a code reader to locate the fault?

Tony.

code reader said passenger pretensioner and that is the one thing clearly not plugged in

 

[t-tony]

Does it definitely have a passenger airbag? If it wasn’t plugged in previously Im not sure why it is suddenly an issue?

Tony.

 

[Brian James]

If it has one, as per Tony's question, I would bet that the pink one is the seat tensioner as this is the plug I disconnected when I had the driver's seat tensioner issue.

 

[Greyhaim]

Yep, sure it has. Has the SRS Airbag embossed on dash above glove box and air bag sticker on passenger door frame.
Its a facelift widebody.

 

[t-tony]

I would try searching YouTube for Z3 airbag issues.

Tony.

 

[Greyhaim]

looks like i'm narrowing it down............
small white plug appears to be seat occupancy sensor that i don't think mine has, wide yellow plug is a side impact sensor which again i don't have and pink one is pretensioner. So, should just be a case of marrying the pretension wires (car side) to the pretensioner wires (seat side) and hey presto.......he says with hope and a prayer!

 

[Fender2004]

I was wondering if the seats have been changed by a previous owner? If so that could be why the connection doesn’t match up.