kombifan

Hi Everyone,

Long time reader, first time poster. You all have been a great help on both this GL, and my W163 ML in getting all kinds of various niggles and issues fixed.
Thanks!

Unfortunately another issue has reared its head.
On friday the SRS light popped on in the dashboard as a passenger sat in the front seat with the warning, Presafe inoperative and a SRS issue, please take for service.
As it was friday evening, I drove to our dealer to see if it was something that could be quickly reset or if it could be an intermittent fault, no luck because SRS issues are usually quite serious. Booked for a monday morning appointment and thought I would wait.

(Un)fortunately, I like to tinker....So I found myself under the passenger seat and found a loose/cut wire stemming from a yellow connector; of which there were two under the passenger seat accessible from the rear.
I was able to disconnect the one that was broken (most likely from an erratic kick) and was able to jiggle it loose. Got it loose and came up with with this part # A 041-545-03-28 The parts dept was still open, but the part wasn't in stock. The parts tech and our long time service tech (Dennis from Euro is great!) both agreed that while this is the connector is the part, they wouldn't know if it is attached to a longer part/dongle until they look at the car. but for $3.02 I ordered this little part just in case..

Whilst I usually get the car and any repairs done covered under warranty by a company highly recommended by Doug Demuro......

They usually balk if there is even a hint of user caused/damage. (I already had to replace the rearview mirror in this car due to depressed homelink buttons that was attributed to user damage :P )
And I really don't want to pay what could very well be a 200+ repair

I'm having trouble finding seat diagrams for this part, and otherwise having trouble finding any reference to this part at all. Would anyone know what this connector is attached to or have encountered this issue before.
Again, its one of the two yellow connectors under the passenger front seat which is accessible from the second row.

Any help or guidance is great appreciated! It's the family grocery getter and hauler and its usually filled with 5+ grown boys (4 kids) so any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks again!

Kombifan

amerc

The SRS in GL is very 'sensitive' and any disruption in power supply will always produce a warning light. It is always advisable to disconnect the battery on the negative terminal for some time (I do it for 30 minutes) before fiddling with any SRS connections. I had to visit the dealership to reset the SRS warning light after inadvertently disconnecting the main yellow plug under the seat.

Based on your description, I would replace the broken plug and ask the dealer to reset the warning light (It won't go away on its own!). If the warning light still isn't re-settable, then there could be other issues. Alternatively, with an advanced OBD scanner, you could try resetting the warning light yourself.

kombifan

Thanks for your advice.

Unfortunately I'll have to wait till Wednesday for the part to get in.....and my basic OBD scanner doesnt even read the current SRS code.

kombifan

The little plastic part arrived today and installed the bits where it came from.
Unfortunately the light is still on; so I will have to bring the car in tommorow and pay the amount necessary at the dealer.

Bummer.

amerc

The SRS warning light does not go away until it is reset with a SRS capable OBD scanner. Most people don't own such advanced scanners and that is why a dealer reset is usually the option. Most dealers would reset the SRS warning light for free (if you talk to them nicely). The only way to avoid this warning light is to disconnect the battery before working on anything SRS. In your case, the warning light was already on.

Having said that, it is still possible the actual cause of the warning light hasn't been fixed with your 'fix'.

kombifan

So I brought in the car to the dealer this morning, when the techs tried to reset the srs light it kept popping up for them as well.

Apparently, when the connector broke, there were pins inside that snapped off as well that needed to be replaced. Because I hadn't installed/was made aware of these pins the fault of course kept coming back.

Unfortunately the pins are as elusive as the connector. They have to be ordered.....and will not arrive until tommorow.

The sa would have waived the fee if it had cleared right away, unfortunately it required some investigating that it needed pins as well. Cost for me will be $200 because of my warranty deductible. Fun.
The mastertech who worked on the car was extremely helpful and knowledgeable, I have no doubt this isnt something that comes across regularly but is something that pops up every so often...but even he was suprised they didn't stock the pins or the connectors. He tried retrofitting different pins but it just wouldn't work.

Also, I had mentioned to our SA that a rear brake tail light led (1)/16 was burnt out; unforunately TheWarrantyGroup won't honor or pay for a taillight assembly for a broken led.....Really dissapointed.
Guess I'll drive around with a winking brake light.

kombifan

An update to the original question, I ended up bringing the car to the dealership last week thursday and got the car back today.

Two different connectors and pins were replaced as well as two harnesses. Also, my warranty also ended up paying for the rear taillight despite their initial resistance; fixing my single led out problem (not a problem).

If anyone is interested I can upload the final bill, totalling around $1300 in total...about $500 for the SRS issue and $600+ for the tailight.

Fun!