Newbi first post (Long)

[Victorj]

Hi guys,
Just got my first American car:wavey: . First a little background, I am a Brit working on a 3 year contract in the Middle East (I am a training Instructor Telecomms) I bought a 98 Firebird (3.8 Series 2 K code engine) This car has 65,000 miles on the clock and is my first none company car for many years.

The car was purchased off a student who bought it in the States as his college runabout and brought it back with him when he graduated. It was laid up in storage for 4 years when it developed a temperature problem. (The car is mint other than this problem) I had this fixed when I purchased the car by a none dealer garage, ( manifold gasket problem) Car is running and driving well but has a couple of things left to sort out that I would like some advice on. The engine Service light on and the airbag warning light remain lit on startup. The only other thing not working on the car is the radio controls on the steering wheel.

The questions

Is there a simple way to get the engine warning light reset??
Any ideas on the airbag or the radio controls. I have checked all the fuses and obvious connectors. I wonder as the controls and the airbag are on the column that it could be something related. The car is going to be my daily transport and a hobby project at the same time. I ordered a DIY service manual from Amazon but still waiting for it to arrive

Anyway a bit long for a first post, I am sure there will be other things I need to know in the very near future.

Regards to all
Vic

[kristen]

Re: Newbi first post (Long)

hello, and welcome. to get the code reset you can go to any autozone. if you ses light is on then they will scan for free. as for the airbag, i'm not too sure. i would think if the control on the wheel and the air bag are messed up, maybe it's aroudn the same problem. has the car been in an wreck and had the air bag pop out? maybe a wire got caught or pulled. i have a camaro sorry i can't be more help

[Victorj]

Re: Newbi first post (Long)

Hi Kristen and thanks for the early reply and the welcome:tup:

The car has never been wrecked or messed with before I had the engine pulled to fix the inlet manifold gasket. Probably a lot of things are due to the long period in storage. Things like the antenna and the windows were all seized up but a good clean fixed all of that etc etc. Where I live there is no such thing as autozone or anything similar . I will probably have to buy a reader for the codes myself if not too expensive.

Thanks again

Vic:tup:

[2K3800CAMARO]

Re: Newbi first post (Long)

Welcome ,
you can get just a Code Reader (which tells you exactly whats wrong for the OBD2 computer found in these vehicles 95-Up) , they are now only about $49 or so

[Lurieh]

Re: Newbi first post (Long)

Nor sure about your SES light. As suggested, it might be an old code from the previous problem. You could try unplugging the battery for a bit and see if that resets the SES.

Are you sure the vehicle hasn't been in any accidents? I'm suspicious as well that both the airbag light is on, and the steering wheel controls don't work. Could be the airbag deployed on the old steering wheel, and the owner just bought a new/used steering wheel and slapped it on without hooking up the wires.

Good idea getting a DIY manual. Check out how to remove the steering wheel. The manual should mention what wires/sensors need to be disconnected. Use that as reference, and see if those wires are indeed connected.

[Crispy]

Re: Newbi first post (Long)

First i'd disconnect the battery for a few minutes. Re-connect it and see if the SES and Airbag light come on again. If they do get the computer scanned for the SES code. They can also reset it for you so the light should dissappear, if it occurs again then you may have a problem. As for the Airbag light, I had a similar problem after I accidentally pulled that fuse instead of the one below while doing an install. It ended up going away on its own.

[CDNFB]

Re: Newbi first post (Long)

You had to pull the engine to fix an intake manifold gasket leak???

The steering column wiring harness sounds like it's been disconnected or damaged.

If your looking for more functionality that just reading codes you might want to look into some of the tuner programs that are available, like HP Tuners. For more info on this check out the Tunning section of this message board.

[Victorj]

Re: Newbi first post (Long)

Hi there,
Sounds strange but they said it was easier to pull the engine and to be honest not having any experience of this type of car I went with it. After looking at changing the plugs I thought you probably had to pull the engine to do anything:tdown: Anyway, I am on the learning curve now and will be posting here a lot. Labour here is dirt cheap it coat me $100 dollars plus the gaskets to get the work done. I will pull the steering wheel when I et the manual and have a look for any loose connections and I will be investing in a scanner of some kind.

Thanks again

Vic