Air Bag Light

My 02 taco is due for inspection this month and I need some help with a few warning lights. Thanks in advance for the advice!

1. Air bag light - This is on all the time. When I turn off the passenger air bag with the key it shuts off. What should my steps be to trouble shoot this further?

2. Parking brake light - Also on all the time. The parking brake doesn't hold the vehicle, it does engage and disengage. The entire parking brake assembly was replaced last year to pass inspection. How should I go about trying to tighten or adjust it so it holds the weight of the vehicle?

3. Check engine - This had gone off in when it was cold out during the winter but now that its slowly warming back up here in VT, the lights back on. I check the oil level often and it is full, any ideas on this one for things to look at?

Truck info: 2002 reg cab 4cyl manual 4x4 205k
Me: complete noob, got the truck to lean how to fix my own shit looking for advice

 

1) I have no experience to help you with there, but I'd guess it's related to that specific bag. There is a way to pull codes on air bag systems, but I don't know what that is for Tacoma.

2) adjustment can be at one of several points, or all of them. There is a star adjuster related to the rear drums and there are a couple of cable adjustment points. I'd search for 'parking brake adjustment', decide if you feel capable of doing that correctly, and go from there.

3) Oil level has nothing to do with CEL. You need to put a code reader into the OBDII port and read the code(s). You can report back the numbers that are pulled and get some help. You can also google the codes with Tacoma at the end and get some online descriptions.

 

Thanks for the response. One of the other newer posts also talked about the ebrake so I'll test out adjusting it tomorrow. Do you have any recommendations for a OBDII reader?

 

Air bag light ~ probably should be looked at by a Toyota mechanic.

Parking light ~ like the previous post suggested, search for parking break adjustments on here and see if you're able to adjust it yourself.

CEL ~ again, as previous post suggested, the check engine light has nothing to do with oil level sadly. The light can pop up for hundreds of reasons. You need to find exactly what code it's throwing to give you a better direction on what parts to replace. Go to an autozone or similar and they'll check the code for free.

Sorry to say it but you really shouldn't put things like this off since it could ruin the life of your vehicle. Fixing some of these problems your Tacoma might have might really add up in expenses. Hope you can get everything up to specs before the inspection.

 

cool i'll stop by NAPA tomorrow

 

Call before you go. Not sure if they do free scans. Never heard anyone mention NAPA as a source for this before. Doesn't mean they don't though. But many are franchise stores, so it could be discretionary?

Chain stores like Advance Auto, Autozone, Orielly's, etc. generally do have scanners and do free reads/resets.

WRITE DOWN THE CODE before they clear their unit.

DO NOT BUY THE PART they try to sell you to fix the code. Not yet. There could be a way to solve the issue w/o a part (like cleaning connections), or you may be able to find the parts at a better price.

 

Thanks for the heads up! There is also an Advance Auto right down the road as well.

 

There's lot of things that can cause the airbag light to come on.
What the SRS sytems does, each time you start the truck, is to check for electrical continuity in the system. If it finds out there's no continuity somewhere, the light will come on. Bad continuity is most of the time caused by a bad sensor:

Steering wheel clockspring (also known as spiral cable)
- Though when this one is going bad, it is usually accompanied by other symptoms such as horn not working, cruise control problems, turn signals coming on for no reason, and of course, the airbag light (one giveaway sign is when any of these problems happens especially when the steering wheel is being rotated)

crash sensors at the front of the truck (they sometimes corrode and go bad)

seat belt pretensionners

passenger airbag on/off switch

sensors under the seats

airbag ECU or airbags themselves, but it is very rare to see these failing

to be sure of which one it can be, get the codes pulled out of the truck. Though you're saying that the airbag light comes on when the passenger airbag switch is activated, so it could be the switch itself that is bad or a problem with the passenger airbag

About the parking brake, there is an adjustment screw at the junction between the font and rear e-brake cables. There is a pivot on the driver's side inner frame rail, under the cab. You should see a screw and a nut at the rear cable end, going through the pivot lever. Try adjusting that screw to tighten the e-brake. Also, check the adjustment screws on both rear e-brake bell cranks. About the light, there is a sensor for when the handle is pulled, might be a bad sensor, but could also be a bad cable adjustment, as I said

 

Update: Advanced Auto did the free ODBII test, and came up with 2 codes;
1. Bank 1 sensor 2 - O2 sensor, which needs to be replaced.
2. B0105 - he had never seen this one before and was not sure what this was for.

Also counted the # of clicks when I pull the ebrake handle, 30, so that defiantly needs to be tightened to get down to 12-18.

 

B0105 - passenger air bag

 

Now you know what all 3 issues are.

I'd leave the passenger bag off until you can resolve that.

Replace the o2, adjust the ebrake, clear the codes and you'll be all set to start the research needed to resolve the bag.

Good job!

 

thanks for the help

 

@Jimmyh

Any diagnostic thoughts here? Mine would be to start simple and jump the switch out of the circuit (always on) and see what the light does.

 

I need to see what my SRS light is on for too. So even if my cheap $15 OBD-II scanner says no codes, will a store like NAPA, Pepboys, or Autozone be able to? I guess I can call and find out...

 

It seems you have the information you need for the Air Bag and the Check Engine lights.

I just wanted to insert my two cents on the Brake Light.

This could be as simple as the brake fluid being low in the master cylinder. There is a float switch Normally Open that will close and illuminate the brake lamp on the dash. I would check this first. Even though you still need to adjust the parking brake cables and rear brakes.

The brake light doesn't know how many clicks it takes to engage the rear parking brake. It is a simple switch that is opened when you pull the parking brake handle ( manual trans) or push the parking brake pedal (automatic trans.).

Adjust the rear brake shoe clearance first, then the cables if needed after.

Rear brake shoe adjustment procedure from the manual:

ADJUST REAR DRUM BRAKE SHOE CLEARANCE

(a) Provisionally install the hub nuts. (To hold the brake drum in place)

(b) Remove the hole plug, and turn the adjuster to expand the shoe until the drum locks.

(c) Using a screwdriver, release the adjuster 15 notches.

(d) Install the hole plug.