Another Auto Seat Belt Thread

[Skysm182]

Hi everyone,

 

I recently bought a 91 Loyale Wagon, 4WD, Manual. I got most of the kinks worked out in it but I need help with the passenger auto seat belt.The seat belt light is always blinking when I drive. The driver side auto seat belt works, the relay by the passenger side seat belt motor works (I unplugged the relay and the drivers side seat belt stopped working, I plugged it back in and the drivers seat belt worked again), when I open the passenger door the interior light does come on so the door dinger button works. I unplugged the passenger side motor and plugged it into the drivers side connection and tried to test the motor that way but the motor drive wouldn't spin, so I think the motor is bad. Would a bad motor trigger the seat belt light on the instrument cluster? Also, I am able to grab the seat belt connector and move it along the track with some resistance.

 

I am going to a local pick n pull to get some stuff on this Saturday, so before I go I want to try/check everything I can before I start just replacing parts.

 

Where should I check next? Is there anything under the dash? under the seat?

 

I want to permanently fix this (no unlatching the belt to get in and out and no replacing the belts with non auto ones).

 

feel free to ask me any questions and thank you for your help and input.

[Skysm182]

Bump... please help

[NoahDL88]

There is probably a sensor at the far end of the travel of the seatbelt motor rail that is either dirty, broken or knocked out, give it a check and that may fix it. If you do install a new seatbelt make sure you torque the bolts well and use loctite, a loose bolt with greatly reduce overall total strength of the restraint system.

[markjw]

I think your on the right track by testing the passenger side motor. I would pull the harness plug at the motor and directly put 12V to it by way of jumper wires from either a spare car battery or I'd pull the battery out of the car your working on and get it right down there by the seat belt motor.

 

I'm almost certain that running a pos. to one terminal and a neg. to the other will make the motor work in one direction, and reversing the pos. and neg. will make the motor work in the other direction.

 

Obviously, if the motor isn't responding to the 12 volts, then replacing the motor is a good next step.

[skishop69]

Yes, there is a sensor for the belt that turns the light off when it's all the way back/up. If it's in that position and the light is on, the switch is bad. You say you can move the assembly by hand? If that's the case, the whole thing is toast. The way these things are set up, you can't move it by hand. Kind of a bummer. To see if you can replace the auto belts with standard, you will have to take the B pillar trim off that side and see if there is a threaded bolt whole up by the roof line. If there is, you're in business as that's where the upper section of the shoulder harness bolts. If not, you're kind of stuck for a couple of reasons. You can't just drill a hole and stick in a bolt. Strength/rigidity of the mounting area would not be the same as factory and therefore not nearly as safe. Secondly, the car came with shoulder belts so it has to have them if someone is riding in the seat. Thank the NHTSA and DOT. You could be pulled over and ticketed for the violation, though I doubt any cop would actually ticket you for it. Add to that that with lap belts only, the risk for serious head injury in a moderate to severe crash increases drastically. I suppose you could tack weld a nut to the back side of say, 1/8" plate steel, drill the hole in the B pillar and then stitch weld the plate in place. It'd be stronger than just drilling a hole and bolting.

[Skysm182]

thanks for your replies, I will test the motor via car battery. I will most likely end up getting a used rail/track and motor(if it is bad) from the junkyard tomorrow.

[Skysm182]

I tested the motor using a 12v car battery charger and it works great. So the motor isn't getting power. Should I use a multimeter and probe the plug harness? Should I pull the passenger seat? Could a bad rail/track sensor cause the motor to recieve no power?

 

Where should I check next?

[skishop69]

I don't have access to the schematics for the Loyale, but the Legacy system is almost identical. In looking at the schematics and the way the control module reads the limit switch, yes, if the limit switch is either bad or stuck, the module will not power up the motor. Unfortunately, the switch is integral to the rail assembly. I imagine you could get a look at it and it might be possible to remove it, but I doubt it. It would be in the rear half of the rail behind the B pillar trim. You could jumper it for testing ONLY. You can't bypass it, because it's what tells the motor when to stop at top and bottom of travel. It's going to be a small micro switch with a little metal arm that contacts the actual switch. The arm could be bent or broken, or the switch stuck. If it's stuck, you could try a small screwdriver and electrical parts cleaner/lubricator to work it free. If it is removable, you can order a replacement from Radio Smack or some other online electronics supplier.