why did my airbag light come on after i finished my LT header install and oil pan gasket replacement. Any ideas?

 

Did you spin your steering wheel while you had the steering shaft off when putting on your headers? If you did, you ripped out the wiring for the SIR coil under the steering wheel. It only has limited slack to coincide with L and R turn radius of the steering wheel.

 

Helpful hint.... "LT1/LT4 Engine Tech" is only for questions about engines, not the airbag light. If you don't know where to post, after reading the forum descriptions, use "General F-Body Tech & Info".

Moving.....

 

yep thats exactly what i did. How do i get this fixed

 

If you pull the airbag/cover and the steering wheel, there's a "SIR coil" (aka "clock spring") that has a long wire that connects to a harness at the very bottom of the steering column, with a yellow connectors. That coil also has the connection for the airbag. The coil is broken and needs to be replaced.

 

Add this to "how not to lower your car off jackstands". It's a costly error.

GM PART # 26041005
GM LIST: $186.69
GM Wholesale: $135.92

If there is enough wire exposed, perhaps you can repair it.

 

yeah i hate myself. i'm adctually surprised it never said anything about that risk in any of the header installs i did

 

My ignition switch replacement guide that shows removal of the steering column has that warning included.

Sorry that header install guides to not include that tidbit.

 

My light is on too after an engine rebuild, and I am figuring this is why. So is this just something that causes the light to be on (no real need to fix it), or does it actually cause the airbag not to function (need to fix it) ?

 

If the light is on, the air bag system is disabled.

 

Great... Any chance of the airbag going off while trying to fix this?

 

Not if you pull the fuse, disconnect it under the dash and don't cause a static electricity discharge at the wrong moment.

 

I had the same problem when a local mechanic rebuilt my motor. but my blinker stopped working too. The light comes on but it doesn't blink. It only blinks when i turn the flashers on. i replaced the the flasher and checked the fuse. That did nothing. Someone told me that my air bag light being on and my blinker not blinking my both be caused by those wires being out of that coil? Is this true?

 

The directional signal wires do not pass through the SIR coil. They stop at the the lever on the side of the column. Since both sets of wires start at the base of the column, and run up the column, it would appear that there is wire damage further down the column.