Date: 25 Feb 2002 13:33:52 -0800 From: ptimlinnopsamo.com (Patrick Timlin) Subject: Re: Electrical Help- '88 900
Charlotte Henson <charlottenopsamme.wi.mit.edu> wrote ... > This car has major electrical problems. First the sunroof went out and > then the passive restraint seatbelts. > > We suspect that one or the other is responsible for the constant battery > drain we've been experiencing. We've installed a battery disconnect, > which helps some. However we are still having problems and it is SUCH A > PAIN to lift the hood and disconnect the battery every time we stop the > car (even just to get gas/petrol)!!! Sounds like the passive seatbelts. My car has a manual sun roof, so I have no experience there, but with the passive seatbelts, I can add plenty! My car is a 1988 900S with the passive belts. When I bought the car used, it already had about 121k miles on it. Belts worked ok. But within the first 6 months or so, they started acting up. Kept getting stuck at various points in the belt travel say in the forward position or half way or whatever. The problem is, when they get hung up, there are still some relays activated waiting for them to properly seat themselves all the way. The coil of these relays slowly drain your battery. Typical symptom is you car will start no problem if you start it within a few hours of a stuck belt, but if you leave it overnight or longer, you may not have enough to start the car anymore, especially on an older or weaker battery. > We asked the mechanic if it were possible to remove the fuses for the > seatbelts or the sunroof and he said no, but didn't have a good reason > and I'm not confident he knew what he was talking about. Well guess what, he didn't know what he was talking about. At least not about the belts. There is a control box under the back seat and it has two fuses. Pull those and you disable the system. The trick is, try to catch the belts when they decide to go ahead and seat all the way back in the driving position. If you get into the car and they both settle all the way to the back, dive in the back, pull up the seat, and yank the fuses. Now you simply have to unbuckle or buckly two belts in the car. First the shoulder belt (there is an orange button to release it at the track) then the lap belt. I have been doing it for years now (my car is almost at 200k). Just remember that the orange release button faces in towards you when you try and snap the belt back over your shoulder when you get it. The only pain in the ass part of this is you have to explain and sometime help passengers unfamiliar with your car with getting buckled up. > The car is great in every other respect so I hope we can get this thing > road-worthy again. I wonder if you can convert the sun roof to a manual model? I converted my driver's side window which was powered, to a manual crank when it started to fail. It would be nice to be able to do that to your sun roof. Patrick
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