e46 problem

[arcdef]

my mum recently got her hands on a nice clean e46 touring, everything is fine except 2 things, firstly when she put on the heated rear screen the radio turns to static until she turns it off again when it returns to normal,

the other being that intermittently the airbag light will stay on for varying amounts of time whilst she drives and may even turn back on if she stops at any point, what could the cause of this be as i knwo generally when that light is on the airbag isn't type of thing

any help would be great

cheers

[march109]

Airbag probs are related to complex sensors and ECU, get it down the dealership. Sounds as if the ariel is shorting across the rear screen, as per the radio though.

[stuartgallafant]

The radio is recieving interference from the heated rear screen, because the rear screen is the radio aerial! The only remedial action for this is a new rear screen. Sometimes its a diversity box problem, but 9 times out of 10 its the screen.

Regarding the airbag, its more than likely the belt tensioner and loom thats causing this issue. Very common on these cars, but usually would of been dealt with by now. Basically, there is too mu resistance in the loom going to the belt tensioner. When the MRS4 control unit activates a self test, it can not pick up the tensioner and therefore brings up the light. I think this is more than likely the case here, although front passenger seat mats are also common

hope that helps

[Heyho]

I'm pretty confident when I say that the heated screen/radio problem is a partially broken element on the rear screen heater. You have 2 choices - either replace the rear screen, or locate the offending element, and make the partial break into a clean break. The second option is obviously cheaper, but you'll lose at least 1 element of the heater.

The second problem (airbag) could be many things, but is most likely to be either a seat belt pre-tensioner loom/connector, or a passenger seat occupancy detector mat. You'll need to have the fault codes read to be sure though.

[daimlerman]

Dad had this airbag problem on his E46.It was a sensor that was faulty.When he was telling the tale he commented that it was 'a bit expensive'...dad is 84 BTW...

[arcdef]

Well she took out a warranty with the car so that should cover it I hope (touch wood) I'll let you know what the garage says thanks for the help