Just wanted to report back on a minor success !

[thebiglad]

When I bought Rudy (1998 3-door TDi 300) about 6 weeks ago, there were a number of electrical gremlins which I have been gradually working through.

The most important problem was that the horn wouldn't work. I eventually tracked it down to a faulty rotary coupler as per attached photos.

These things have various part numbers depending on age/type of vehicle, airbag or not, cruise or not and radio controls or not. My car is a '98 TDi 300 with airbag but no cruise or radio controls. Part number is YRC100350. This part also fits Disco 2's as well.

As hopefully can be seen from the pics the existing one is completely broken up and useless - the guy who tried to repair it glued it stuck fast which is why all the locating pins are broken.

So, having studied the Haynes manual for a while and having found the right component on Ebay for £15 instead of a new one via LR for £160 !!! I started work this morning.

It went remarkably easily !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I followed the instructions to the letter and all went well - no exploding airbags or anything wrong. Still feeling a bit giddy at having gotten away with it, but just wanted to share with you.

For general info, the key elements seemed to be following the correct procedures re electrics, ie:

1. before disconnecting the battery, slacken BUT DO NOT REMOVE the battery terminal bolts, get an assistant to turn the ignition on then off and remove both terminals within 15 seconds;

2. Leave the car and go have a coffee for 30 mins to allow the airbag-system capacitor to discharge.

The rest is as per Haynes.

This is the old one:

http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k457/thebiglad_photo/Rotary%20Coupler/P1000881.jpg




This is the old one with the broken contacts exposed:

http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k457/thebiglad_photo/Rotary%20Coupler/P1000882.jpg

[cipx3]

..........

1. before disconnecting the battery, slacken BUT DO NOT REMOVE the battery terminal bolts, get an assistant to turn the ignition on then off and remove both terminals within 15 seconds;

2. Leave the car and go have a coffee for 30 mins to allow the airbag-system capacitor to discharge.


Where do the quoted 'procedures' come from, Haynes comics book?

The procedure is this:
- ignition off
- disconnect battery, negative first as per any other vehicle/battery/reason for disconnecting it and then the positive
- open the access panel under the steering wheel
- locate and disconnect the yellow airbag connector (yellow wire coming down from under the steering wheel and going along the steering column) -> now the driver's airbag gets completely disconnected from the circuit
- remove airbag
- ....

No need for the both battery terminals mambo-jumbo and certainly no reason to drink so much coffee :)

[thebiglad]

Where do the quoted 'procedures' come from, Haynes comics book?

The procedure is this:
- ignition off
- disconnect battery, negative first as per any other vehicle/battery/reason for disconnecting it and then the positive
- open the access panel under the steering wheel
- locate and disconnect the yellow airbag connector (yellow wire coming down from under the steering wheel and going along the steering column) -> now the driver's airbag gets completely disconnected from the circuit
- remove airbag
- ....

No need for the both battery terminals mambo-jumbo and certainly no reason to drink so much coffee :)

1. I don't know why you felt the need to be so aggressive to another poster, who is only trying to share information to HELP others.

2. You are actually incorrect. The reasons why there is the "mumbo jumbo" - as you put it - when removing the battery terminals is to ensure two things: one, you don't set the alarm off, and 2, whether you like it or not, agree with it or not, there is a potential danger when dealing with airbags, so the prudent person follows advice given to ensure, to the best of their ability, that they avoid unpleasant outcomes.

Do us all a favour, if you can't post helpful/useful/friendly comments, don't post.

You didn't score any points buddy, you just made a fool of yourself.

[DiscoTdi]

nice work Dave, thanks for posting the info, this would be a great inclusion in the tech archives section.

[cipx3]

Actually not all D1s have BBUS's or they don't have no alarm at all so no need disconnecting the battery within 15 seconds from ignition on-off. You made it sound as being a key element to remove the airbag and it isn't. Further more, even if they have alarms, there's no requirement to disconnect both terminals at the same time like you said. Disconnecting the negative within 15 secs and then the positive is enough.
To eliminate any possible danger upon removing the airbag from the steering wheel, regardless you wait 30 mins or not, you need to disconnect it from the circuit first, which you didn't say.

I don't post to score as this is no game here and certainly I don't do favors on request. You are out of line as your attack is addressed directly to my person as opposite to my reply which was addressing the oppinions/procedures in your post. I suspect the procedures come from the Haynes manual which I consider to be a comics book compared to the workshop manual and that's all is to be read as criticism in my post. Usually users get banned or sent on 'vacation' for attacking people instead of the ideas they post , in case you didn't know.