Airbag light, CLOCK SPRING JUST REPLACED

I've got a 2000 4.0 with auto trans. I broke the clockspring a few months back while swapping out my steering box. Horn didn't work, cruise control didn't work, and I had an airbag light. I replaced the clockspring today (bought a used one from eBay) and now my horn and cruise control work but airbag light is still on.

I've contacted the seller and he told me that every part, including clocksprings, are operational checked before being shipped.

So my question is, how can I check this thing myself? Could there be something else that is bad, causing this light to constantly turn on?

I've done multiple searches but have come up empty handed. All the threads I've read mention the clockspring or claim that all gauges go dead with the airbag light, that doesn't apply to me as all my gauges are working fine and the clockspring was just replaced.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Maybe it has to be 'reset'. Have you tried disconnecting the battery and resetting the computer? I have no clue if that would work but it would be the first thing I would try.

fishinpolejoe said:

Maybe it has to be 'reset'. Have you tried disconnecting the battery and resetting the computer? I have no clue if that would work but it would be the first thing I would try.

Click to expand...

I had the battery disconnected for over 30 minutes. I can try again but I'm not very optimistic. Some folks say they've had luck cleaning connector contacts in the steering column or behind the gauge cluster. I'll give that a try also. I'll be sure to post my findings.

Thanks for the suggestion Joe.

kc_eiland said:

I had the battery disconnected for over 30 minutes. I can try again but I'm not very optimistic. Some folks say they've had luck cleaning connector contacts in the steering column or behind the gauge cluster. I'll give that a try also. I'll be sure to post my findings.

Thanks for the suggestion Joe.

Click to expand...

My pleasure.
I would try this method for the reboot. It sounds weird, but it's the way the factory recommends doing it from what I understand.

"Info from a JEEP Technician for the OBDII-

This very simple procedure will Erase the “Adaptive Memory” stored inside the PCM and allow a new “Adaptive Memory” to be developed.

After performing this procedure the PCM will re-learn and store into Adaptive Memory your engines performance characteristics.

Please perform these steps exactly as they are written, in the order they are written. This will cause the adaptive memory in the PCM to be erased and cause the PCM to go into Fast Learn Mode adaptive mode.

Disconnect the POSITIVE battery Terminal and touch it to ground for 30 seconds. (This is to discharge the PCM capacitors, which maintain the Adaptive Memory.
Reconnect the Battery Cable
Turn Ignition Switch to the “On” position but DO NOT start the engine
Turn Headlight “On”
Turn Headlights “Off”
Turn Ignition Key “Off”


The PCM Adaptive memory has now been flashed, or erased from the PCM.

When you start the engine it will be running off a set of pre-programmed tables that come with the PCM from the factory.

When you get the engine up to operating temperature the PCM will start to collect data for the “Adaptive Memory”.

The PCM will collect data for Adaptive Memory for the first 50 Warm-up Cycles."

I went to flash the PCM as stated above, BUT... my airbag light was off. I ran a couple errands and it stayed off the whole time. On my way home from the last errand, my airbag light came back on. I didn't have time to try the flash that day and haven't had time since. But every since that day, the airbag light either stays on the entire drive or stays off the entire drive. I'm going to try the memory flash tomorrow but I just wanted to share how strange this is. Its been going on/off for about a week now.

A PCM reset will not clear an Airbag light.

There is either an issue with the airbag, or with the airbag wire connections/wiring.

best bet is to test the clock spring yourself.

Disconnect the negative term to your battery
let sit for 15 munutes ( to make sure you dont get a face full of airbag)

Disconnect the harness at the input of the clockspring. The clockspring has a little tab that shorts the airbag tabs together for testing, the tab comes into place as soon as you unplug the harness.

With a multimeter (cheap on will work, $5 at Harbor Frieght). check continuity between the two pins at the airbag plug (the little yellow one). You may need a couple paperclips if your meter leads are not skinny enough.

If the continuity does not go to 1 ohm, then the clock spring is bad.

To make sure, look into the recepticle in the back of the clocksping and make sure the tab is there and engaged. Posting big pic so you can see the tab I am referring to. Also take a peek and see if both of those pins are there, who knows with used parts.


Last note the airbag plug should "click" when you seat it, or you will get intermittent airbag lights.

roggom said:

best bet is to test the clock spring yourself.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the suggestion roggom. I have a meter and tried to shoot the airbag connector prior to installing it but those holes are so f-ing small that my leads wouldn't fit. Besides, no matter what my findings (open or continuity), I wouldn't know which was correct anyway. So I guess I'll shoot it looking for continuity.

On the plus side, the airbag light has remained off every since my last post. I drove it about 5 times without issue. I ended up doing the PCM flash for the hell of it, and the light remained off during the 2 drives after.

On the down side, after the PCM flash, my CEL came one. FML... I cant win.

Yes, look for continuity(maybe 0-2 ohms), you have to unplug the harness side as well so the tab will short the opposite end as well. So you will check continuity from the two holes at the yellow plug. Yeah, they seemed small, so maybe a paper clip or take apart some stranded wire and roll a few strands together and stick them in there.

I had the one in my 98 replaced and the airbag light never went off and got in a wreck a few months later and the bags deployed. It's probably fine but it wouldn't burt to check continuity. I got one yesterday that I checked with my meter but just warning you its a little tricky getting contact on the air bag plug.

The gov reg about airbag reliability sets an insanely high standard. So the self-test for the air bag system is stupidly high to ensure the owner has to correct anything that is less than absolutely perfect in the airbag system. We are talking a circuit checks with a couple of ohms of extra resistance it will light the warning light.

That is why they recommended against using used clocksprings. The cable just has to be slightly degraded and it will cause an airbag light to go off.

Like jgshields said, you can have the light for a bogus problem and the airbag will still work. But you don't know if the light is on for a bogus problem or a real one.

Also, some airbag systems, once a code is set it will NOT clear even after passing the self test, it has to have the code cleared by the electronic tool at the Dealership. I don't know if that is the case for XJ airbags. And pulling the batter doesn't reset the codes in the airbag module. Other Chrysler vehicles, I have had the airbag clear the light itself after correcting the problem that caused it.

There are several threads about how to test and repair clock springs with cold solder joints or broken wires. Not many have results for live testing of the repairs.

The 97-01 XJ Cherokee airbag system is self testing, and will illuminate or shut off the airbag light if there is a problem or a proper repair. I have installed several previously owned airbag sets in Jeeps that had airbag deployment, and the light goes off. I have not yet live tested the previously owned system parts by hitting anything.

Tim_MN said:

...The 97-01 XJ Cherokee airbag system is self testing, and will illuminate or shut off the airbag light if there is a problem or a proper repair. I have installed several previously owned airbag sets in Jeeps that had airbag deployment, and the light goes off....

Click to expand...

So, that eliminates that, there must be a problem still existing in the air bag system. And sadly he doesn't know if the problem is from a bogus failed self test, thus the air bag is till very likely to function normally, or if the problem is a real problem that would prevent the air bag from working.

The cheapest thing to do might be to take it too a dealer or shop with the tools to read the airbag codes from the air bag module, so you know what is causing the light and can fix that problem.

Had mine replaced at stealership as I wasn't comfortable yet with dealing with airbags and they couldn't get my light to go out and blamed the airbag module for it. Like I said, it still worked fine but also like Rick said it could be a bogus or a real problem. The best thing to do is get the codes checked.

Thank you everybody for the input. I've kicked around the idea of an airbag control module. I've found them pretty cheap (used) on eBay and such. It would be 10x easier to troubleshoot this issue if the light constantly remained on. But it doesn't. Its either full on from the time I start the Jeep, or stays off the entire drive. There is nothing that "triggers" the light to come on as far as I can tell. I'll ask around and get pricing for a mechanic to look at it. I'll definitely let you guys know what fixes it. This thread may help someone else down the line.

kc_eiland said:

.....It would be 10x easier to troubleshoot this issue if the light constantly remained on. But it doesn't. Its either full on from the time I start the Jeep, or stays off the entire drive. There is nothing that "triggers" the light to come on as far as I can tell....

Click to expand...

It wasn't till about 2000 and later that Chrysler started to have the airbags communicate on the CAN Bus, so their standard scan tool could read the codes, up till then the airbags had their own diagnostic tools.

My '02 Caravan the light would go on and off, usually off when the interior of the car got below freezing temps, i.e. a metal connector contractd. I took all the airbags apart, cleaned all the connectors, nothing worked. When I got my autoegniuty scan tool (its plugs into my laptop) I was able to read the codes and discovered it was the connector to the passenger side airbag, couldn't find anything wrong with the connector, took the connector apart and bent the spring tabs inside it to put more pressure on contacts. The light went out for years. So it was one of those bogus self test, the slightly degraded connector increased the resistance slightly on the circuit, so it failed the self test, but if it ever had to fire the airbag, those couple of extra ohms wouldn't have kept it from firing.

My '99 Neon R/T, my auoenginuity scan tool couldn't read the airbag codes, it wasn't CAN bus, like I talked about earlier. Again I tried everything and couldn't find anything wrong. I probably should have brought it in and had the codes read by the dealer. But, since all the circuits and resistances checked out, including the clockspring as it was turned (keep in mind, the connectors on airbags have shorting/grounding bars in the connectors for safety, so the bars have to be defeated to be able to test the circuit, the connector shorts them as soon as you disconnect them, so the test will come out as a short unless you defeat the shorting bars). I bought a used airbag control module on ebay, that the seller swore the airbags had NOT been deployed on the vehicle it came out of. Sure enough, that fixed it. On my '99 R/T, the airbag light would come on sometimes, sometimes NOT, and it would be the entire time for that start. Eventually it came on permanently.

OH BTW, be very carefully checking resistance on air bag circuits. To check resistance the meter has to run electricity through the circuit. A very small amount of electricity, but its possible that it could fire the airbag. Its NOT likely, you can find youtube videos of people checking the resistance of airbags, but its still possible. Lets put it this way, I wouldn't check the resistance of an airbag with my face pressed up against it, I would do it at arms length.

I just ordered an airbag control module last night. I'll be sure to post my findings when it comes in and I swap it out. (fingers crossed)