flashing CEL and airbag light on 5-speed swap
 

5-speed install is now complete on my SVX. But I now get a random flashing CEL light while driving and the airbag light is always on. Also my Mechanic can't figure out how to get the cruise control to work. He also couldn't get the exhaust in tight enough because of the tranny crossmember and it now has an exhaust leak. I'm getting the exhaust redone at a exhaust shop monday. We also used the spacer for the driveline from the small car kit. Don't really like the angle it puts on the drivline CV Joint and while accelerating the driveline is rough and vibrates. Has anybody else with 5-speed swaps had these problems and have and suggestions for fixes.

Never heard of the CEL or Airbag light issue before, but my write up tells how to make the cruise control to work.(click in my sig)

The spacer shouldn't change the angle of the driveshaft, so you must have gotten the tranny mount too high or too low to change the angle, as the spacer only moves the drive shaft forward 2", it doesn't move it up or down, so it can't change the angle.

Hope you get it all lined out soon.

Yeah you have. ;) Huck actually had the same problem on his 5-speed (now mine). When I bought it from him we reconnected the airbag (Huck had it disconnected because he doesn't like them) the light did not go out as we figured it would. Not sure of the cause, and not sure if it is an issue effected your car and mine or if it effects other 5MT swappers, but my solution was to take apart the instrument cluster and remove the airbag light. Heck, I'm not even sure if the airbag will ever go off if needed but I wear my belt (lap belt too when I remember it) so I'm not too worried about it. :rolleyes:

Johnny

I'm about 98% certain that you'll find that the ribbon cable going to the airbag in the steering wheel is busted. The cable is wound like a clockspring and resides in a cylindrical box underneath the steering wheel. When people remove the steering column to install the pedals, they lose track of the orientation between the steering wheel and the steering column. The column gets re-installed, and the first time the car is driven, the ribbon cable gets snapped when the steering wheel is turned too far in one direction. This is what happened with my 5MT swap. Luckily enough, I was able to solder the ribbon cable back together. Don't know if you'll be that lucky. Pics of my soldering job are in my locker. If you are going to solder the cable back together, be sure to properly set the steering wheel orientation relative to the ribbon cable, and properly wind the ribbon cable. And if you are going to solder the ribbon back together, make sure you don't have any shorts between the wires. I imagine the airbag would fire upon reconnection if the wrong wires were shorted together.

As for the driveshaft vibration, there's a good chance that the driveshaft is worn out. And sometimes, its not obvious from a visual inspection of the driveshaft that its gone bad. The u-joints or center CV joint can feel ok, but the driveshaft will vibrate badly. There's also a chance that the tilt of the engine/tranny was not properly set with the custom tranny x-member.

I never removed the column when I did my swap, so that's not the issue with my (CigarJohnny's) 5-speed.....but the Airbag was blown when I got the car, I replaced the bag, but never pluged it in till Johnny came to get it...

ok. I was replying to the original poster.

Are you sure the vibration is in the driveshaft and not where the exhaust might be hitting the transmission crossmember?

the exhaust has been solved. I had the cats removed and new pipe made to clear the tranny cross member. The exhaust shop said one of the O2 sensors was unplugged but it didn't solve the check engine light problem. I think the carrier bearing is bad on the driveline because it isn't sitting in the center of the bearing. it feels like the AWD is kicking in hard while acelleralting or decellerating and I feel it kicking at lower RPM's. If I'm cruising down the highway it is smooth.

That almost sounds like a mis-matched set of diffs.....

I was thinking that too. A mismatch would also explain why his speedometer is not reading correctly.

Might also just be a bouncy driveline from a flexy crossmember.

When an airbag deploys it triggers the Airbag light. Replacing the airbag will not turn the light off.....the SRS system has to be reset. We do this for body shops all the time. Your light was probably on just as a reminder that the system needs to be reset.

Just a friendly reminder to those with an Airbag light on: when the light comes on the SRS system shuts down. The airbag will not deploy if the Airbag light is on, regardless of why the light is on.


Dave

Just replacing the airbags on the 95 Impreza I re-built turned the airbag light off on it.

Not every Subaru will need to have the system reset after deployment.




Dave

I checked for codes and got a code 31 throttle position sensor or circuit. What could have happened during the 5-speed swap to get this code. What do i need to do to fix it?

It either moved, wasn't properly set or is unplugged. Check the voltage at idle. If you're unsure how there's countless threads here with instructions.