I have a 1996 Mazda 323 Japanese import.
I pressed the horn twice at my friend who
jumped out of the car after a lift I gave him.
This started the Airbag light off in a 7 flash seqence.
7 flashes then a pause continuously.
Would anyone know what fault this is telling me.
I brought it to the mecanic who conected up his
fault reader but he could only access the engine
faults and not the Airbag one.
I have visited the website
http://www.auto-diagnostic-codes.com
But have had no luck gaining access to there database.
Thanks in advance to all who can help.

 

Ptotty, please see attached. It is from 626 workshop manual but should be OK for your car.

[IMG]local://upfiles/5111/61FF8686C00D4B8B9148F36D1591E042.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/5111/9C47E8BFC165456881EC6B2C795A20F3.jpg[/IMG]

 

Sirob,
Thanks very much for the post & manual.
I see in the workshop manual of the 626 it has
7 flashes = passenger side airbag module.
My Mazda 323 only has driver side Airbag.
What would be your guess???

 

Ptotty, are all your 7 flashes have the same length? As you see, there could be two long flashes & five short. It is also 7 flashes in total but it is DTC 25.

Also, we here face very often that the sensor which is inside front passenger seat becomes out of order. I attach a picture how this sensor looks like. I am not sure whether you have such a sensor as your car has only driver side Airbag. But you may in any case wish to check if there are any plugs under your passenger seat (if I am not mistaken, these plugs are usually yellow) and, if so, if they are well secured. Perhaps your friend who jumped out of the car broke the plugs or the sensor.

[IMG]local://upfiles/5111/5BEE4CAAB5A24323A4AA3C92BF2F7180.jpg[/IMG]

 

I have no sensor under passenger seat and there is no wireing.
I have checked for loose wireing under driver's side.
Do you think it could be the Airbag module?
After my friend I hit the car horn on wheel twice!

 

Ptotty, although it will most probably not help try the following:

- disconnect the battery negative terminal, and
- depress the brake pedal for 10, 20 or more seconds

That will clear all the ECU fault codes.

As to the airbag module I will try to find something on Monday and revert as soon as I can.

PS. All your messages received, thanks.

 

Ptotty, please have a look at http://protege5.ugly.net/08-10.PDF

 

My 97 Protege 323 had the same problem. SRS doing its scan, then flashing seven times..repeated. The Temic modules in this year don't hold accident data and don't give out common error codes, so you don't need go down the path of diagnostic tools or resetting services..Not required, it is a very basic unit. All you will ever get is airbag light flashing errors. So if light:
doesn't come on when you turn the key: problem with power supply or module.
doesn't turn off, on all the time: problem with earth, power supply or module:
six seconds test then flashing six times: problem with driver's side airbag or loom.
six seconds test then flashing seven times: problem with passenger side loom (coz it doesn't have an airbag on passenger side but the wiring loom is still there.)
Mazda dealer tested for codes (which weren't there of course) and were sure it was the srs module, ($AUD964 !!!). Got a second hand from wrecker...no difference.
Pulled module apart, no sign of damaged components or blown capacitors.
Downloaded manuals and found a wiring diagram for srs module, (after hours of searching, I'll insert it at end).
Seems that module expects to see 2 ohm resistance on any airbag circuit which shows that airbag is still intact.
Removed airbag, replaced it in circuit with a 2 ohm resistor, (as per manuals), and tested circuit at the srs plug (yellow/black, yellow/red). DON'T do this with airbag still in place...multimeter could set it off.
Driver's side fine, showing 2.6 ohm, which is about what you'd expect from a bit of wire and a 2.2 ohm resistor. Passenger circuit on srs module plug (yellow, yellow/green) showed 8 ohm which was way out of spec.
Figured Mazda must have left passenger side loom in place, even tho' not used in Australian model, and terminated it with a 2 ohm resistor so that the srs module would still think there was a bag there.
Pulled off passenger kick plate (LHS in Australia LHDrive) and there it was, a big blue 2 ohm resistor. Pulled it off and measured, expecting to see increased resistance, but it was fine, two and a bit ohms. Put it back on, re-assembled, and re-tested. Airbag light now worked perfectly. 6-7 seconds test then go out.
Figured that the resistor may have had corroded terminals, which accounted for increase of 6 ohms in line resistance, and it only took a good wiggle to fix it.
So there you go, if you're getting seven flashes on a model with no passenger airbag, go smack the 2 ohm resistor. If you get six flashes, pull off the driver's bag and test with a two ohm resistor on the plug it just came out off. If the light goes out, it's probably a dud air bag. If it doesn't, it may be a bad clock spring or contacts on the loom that goes through the steering column down to the srs module. Give everything a good wiggle and try again.
If either of those two sets of wires on the srs plug shows any resistance less than 1.85 ohm or more than 3.2 ohms when the wire pair is terminated with a 2 ohm resistor to dummy the air bag, then you'll have problems.
By the way, you only need to pull off the centre console kick panels to get to the srs module which is just near the firewall, in front of the ecu. Three nuts and it falls out. It's the one with the blue connector.
Hope all this helps someone else. If I get the time I'll put up a few pics on youtube under "Mazda 323 97 BA Protege / Ford Laser KJ flashing air bag light fix".
P.S. Was impressed with the quality of build on the Temic SRS module; fabbed in Mexico. Was very neat work and all covered in quality lacquer to protect from cabin dust. Really wouldn't expect too many problems with module, but could be wrong..sometimes am