Intermittent 8-5 "Internal failure of the SRS unit" error

Hello all,

I've had my (UK) 97 Accord Wagon for quite a while now, and early on I used
to get the SRS light staying on occasionally, but a single clear of the
memory using the MES connector usually sorted it out for a few months.
About a year ago my SRS light came on and I didn't bother clearing it, so it
was probably on for about 9 months before I bothered to do anything about
it. At that point the SRS light would still clear, but would often come
back on after a week, so I quite often left it on for a while to avoid the
hassle of clearing it. It seemed to be more prone to staying lit on cold
wet mornings.

Just recently I found that sometimes the SRS light would not clear at the
first attempt, sometimes taking up to 3 or 4 attempts. It always clears in
the end, and I have found it clears more often if I actually start the
engine instead of turning the ignition to II while initiating the clearing
process.

Throughout the time since I bought the car the only error code reported by
the SRS unit is 8-5 which I believe is "Internal failure of the SRS unit",
but it is obviously not a complete failure as this code is only reported
intermittently (although more frequently in recent weeks) and the light will
always clear eventually. Previously someone suggested to me that the power
supply from the battery to the SRS unit may be the cause of the problem,
although I haven't had any other battery-related problems recently. If I
wanted to check this, what voltage should I look for across the battery
terminals with the engine off? Is there somewhere near the SRS unit end I
can check the voltage? (I'm a little wary of messing with the SRS unit end
in case anything goes off)

Does anyone have any other thoughts on this? The car is too old to replace
the SRS unit, but if there's anything I can do to stop the light staying on
quite as often (short of removing the bulb) then I'd like to give it a go.

Thanks in advance,
Al Reynolds

How old is the battery? The battery can be bad not showing signs in starting
etc allowing excessive noise in the electrical system. They have been known
to cause those types of problems. Also make sure all the electrical grounds
and connections are good and battery posts and connections are clean.

"Al Reynolds" > wrote in message
...
> Hello all,
>
> I've had my (UK) 97 Accord Wagon for quite a while now, and early on I
> used to get the SRS light staying on occasionally, but a single clear of
> the memory using the MES connector usually sorted it out for a few months.
> About a year ago my SRS light came on and I didn't bother clearing it, so
> it was probably on for about 9 months before I bothered to do anything
> about it. At that point the SRS light would still clear, but would often
> come back on after a week, so I quite often left it on for a while to
> avoid the hassle of clearing it. It seemed to be more prone to staying
> lit on cold wet mornings.
>
> Just recently I found that sometimes the SRS light would not clear at the
> first attempt, sometimes taking up to 3 or 4 attempts. It always clears
> in the end, and I have found it clears more often if I actually start the
> engine instead of turning the ignition to II while initiating the clearing
> process.
>
> Throughout the time since I bought the car the only error code reported by
> the SRS unit is 8-5 which I believe is "Internal failure of the SRS unit",
> but it is obviously not a complete failure as this code is only reported
> intermittently (although more frequently in recent weeks) and the light
> will always clear eventually. Previously someone suggested to me that the
> power supply from the battery to the SRS unit may be the cause of the
> problem, although I haven't had any other battery-related problems
> recently. If I wanted to check this, what voltage should I look for
> across the battery terminals with the engine off? Is there somewhere near
> the SRS unit end I can check the voltage? (I'm a little wary of messing
> with the SRS unit end in case anything goes off)
>
> Does anyone have any other thoughts on this? The car is too old to
> replace the SRS unit, but if there's anything I can do to stop the light
> staying on quite as often (short of removing the bulb) then I'd like to
> give it a go.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Al Reynolds
>

"Woody" > wrote:
> How old is the battery? The battery can be bad not showing signs in
> starting etc allowing excessive noise in the electrical system. They have
> been known to cause those types of problems. Also make sure all the
> electrical grounds and connections are good and battery posts and
> connections are clean.

This could be the issue - I have been getting intermittent interference on
my radio recently, and wondered if there was a general problem with the
ground connection somewhere. If I want to check the ground connections are
secure, how many am I looking at? Are they all over the place.

Could someone tell me what battery voltages I should expect at the battery
posts when the engine is (a) off (b) idle?

Thanks,
Al