Passive Seatbelt not working?

Joe90SC

Registered User
I have a 90 SC, and for no reason the passive seatbelt stopped working in the forward position which is doing me no good if I was in a wreck. I first checked the fuse under the hood, but that was fine. I am assuming that the motor died and wanted to know if anyone has experience working on the passive belt and how difficult it is to work on? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Joe Russo
 
I am playing with mine right now. The motor is fairly easy to get out, I have not looked in the area where the slide thingamajig runs yet. Take the rear seat out and down low you will find a sort of square access panel and a rectangular one below that. Remove them and you will see 3 nuts holding the motor in. You can also manually return the belt holder by turning the override knob on top of the motor clockwise. Really high gears so it will take quite awhile to do it by hand. Let me know if you remove the above the window trim and let me know what you find in there.
 
I have come to the conclusion that my drivers side motor runs in one direction only.....out, does anyone know why?
 
If the door ajar light works will that mean the switch is working right? When I open the door the passive motor runs in the direction it is supposed to. But with the door closed and I turn the ignition on the motor also runs, but in the wrong direction, it did it to the point that it completely ejected the track, when I manually put the track back in, it just pushes it back out. There must be somekind of reversing switch in the motor.....that is just speculation on my part.....Thanks.
 
Apparently everyone is as cluesless about these effin' passive restraints as I am. If that clown at the tranny shop that cut the wiring were available he could probably tell me where the 2 grey about 22 gauge wires he cut were supposed to go.There are 4 wires coming out of the motor, 2, 16 gauge that plug into the harness, and then the 2 grey ones that run under the carpet towards the front of the vehicle. Do any of my pals here know where they are supposed to go?
 
markadeck said:
If the door ajar light works will that mean the switch is working right? When I open the door the passive motor runs in the direction it is supposed to. But with the door closed and I turn the ignition on the motor also runs, but in the wrong direction, it did it to the point that it completely ejected the track, when I manually put the track back in, it just pushes it back out. There must be somekind of reversing switch in the motor.....that is just speculation on my part.....Thanks.
If the door ajar light goes on and off when you open and then close the door, or if the seatbelt moves when you open or close the door, it means that the door ajar switch is working.
There is no reversing switch in the motor; the passive restraint module switches the direction of the current supplied to the motor.

markadeck said:
Apparently everyone is as cluesless about these effin' passive restraints as I am. If that clown at the tranny shop that cut the wiring were available he could probably tell me where the 2 grey about 22 gauge wires he cut were supposed to go.There are 4 wires coming out of the motor, 2, 16 gauge that plug into the harness, and then the 2 grey ones that run under the carpet towards the front of the vehicle. Do any of my pals here know where they are supposed to go?
The two wires that were cut are for the rear limit switch in the B-pillar.

markadeck said:
I have come to the conclusion that my drivers side motor runs in one direction only.....out, does anyone know why?
If both the A and B-pillar switches are open, i.e., the module thinks that the seatbelt is at the A and B-pillars at the same time (because the seatbelt is at the A-pillar and the B-pillar switch wiring has been cut/disconnected), then when you close the door and turn on the ignition, the module will try to find a logically acceptable state by first going towards the A-pillar, causing the belt to be ejected.
 
Thanks buddy, now where is this module? So putting a new motor in will do me no good at all? There is nothing wrong with my old motor except it runs in one direction only. That makes sense, the module confusing the motor, that is why the clown cut the wires cuz the slide thingamajig was stuck in the middle and could not make up its' mind which way to go. It was just kind of jerking around in one place.
 
Joe90SC said:
I have a 90 SC, and for no reason the passive seatbelt stopped working in the forward position which is doing me no good if I was in a wreck. I first checked the fuse under the hood, but that was fine. I am assuming that the motor died and wanted to know if anyone has experience working on the passive belt and how difficult it is to work on? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Joe Russo
A number of things could have gone wrong. Try the following and observe what happens:-
1) Open the door, manually turn the knob on top of the motor so that the seatbelt moves a couple of inches, then close the door and turn on the ignition.
2) Close the door, turn the same knob again, and then open the door.
 
markadeck said:
Thanks buddy, now where is this module? So putting a new motor in will do me no good at all? There is nothing wrong with my old motor except it runs in one direction only. That makes sense, the module confusing the motor, that is why the clown cut the wires cuz the slide thingamajig was stuck in the middle and could not make up its' mind which way to go. It was just kind of jerking around in one place.
The module is immediately to the right of the inertia (fuel cutoff) switch in the trunk on the driver's side fender. It is a gray box with a metal base. The base will face you when you peel back the trunk carpet and remove the optional black plastic module cover. Your motor is fine. Check the B-limit switch inside the B-pillar. It is near the rearmost position of the motorized seatbelt. You never said anything about the wires being cut on purpose until now. What exactly was the original problem?
 
Last edited:
J.D. said:
A number of things could have gone wrong. Try the following and observe what happens:-
1) Open the door, manually turn the knob on top of the motor so that the seatbelt moves a couple of inches, then close the door and turn on the ignition.
2) Close the door, turn the same knob again, and then open the door.

When it first quit working properly it was in the tranny shop and the guy that fooled with it has since been fired so I do not know exactly what happened. But what it was doing whenever the door was opened it would extend the belt but when the door was closed it would not retract it. Somehow it got struck in the middle and after a couple of openings of the door the plastic track runner was extended all the way out. I am guessing the tiny grey wires that the clown cut must go to the door ajar switch, or one of the pillar switches. Yesterday was the first I had ever heard of a module, and now I know it is in the trunk. So I guess all I really need to know for now is where in the hell do the grey wires go. Thanks again.
 
markadeck said:
When it first quit working properly it was in the tranny shop and the guy that fooled with it has since been fired so I do not know exactly what happened. But what it was doing whenever the door was opened it would extend the belt but when the door was closed it would not retract it. Somehow it got struck in the middle and after a couple of openings of the door the plastic track runner was extended all the way out. I am guessing the tiny grey wires that the clown cut must go to the door ajar switch, or one of the pillar switches. Yesterday was the first I had ever heard of a module, and now I know it is in the trunk. So I guess all I really need to know for now is where in the hell do the grey wires go. Thanks again.
The plug/connector near the motor has four wires on either side:-
At the motor side, two wires go to the motor and two run up the B-pillar to a little plug that plugs into the B-limit switch.
At the other side of the plug, three wires run to the module (two for the motor and one for the B-limit switch), and the fourth wire (ground for the B-limit switch) connects to other ground wires somewhere in the car.
Your problem is probably the B-limit switch (open all the time) or possibly the module itself.
 
Thank you JD, you're the man! One more thing, I presume the B pillar is between the side windows. Sorry for the dumb question, but I think I read yesterday, or was it 50 years ago, the only dumb question is the one you did not ask.
 
J.D., is there any chance those grey wires were pinched somehow and broke themselves right up there near the switch. They look cut, but I can not imagine how anybody could be so dumb as to go to the trouble of pulling that panel loose and just cutting the wires right at the plug.
 
I've about decided the problem I am having is in the module in the trunk. I have two '90 SC's here made within a month of each other and they're different in the trunk area where the modules are supposed to be mounted, Have attached photos of each, the red one I have had since new so I know it has never been touched. The grey one I do not know the history on. I need to know which one of these modules controls the passive restraints, please. I was surprised to see there are more things in the red than the grey, and the best I could tell neither one has had the carpet pulled away until I just did it right now.
 

Attachments

  • DSC00001.JPG
    DSC00001.JPG
    161.6 KB · Views: 82
  • DSC00002.JPG
    DSC00002.JPG
    171.8 KB · Views: 214
markadeck said:
J.D., is there any chance those grey wires were pinched somehow and broke themselves right up there near the switch. They look cut, but I can not imagine how anybody could be so dumb as to go to the trouble of pulling that panel loose and just cutting the wires right at the plug.
Maybe someone pulled on them and they broke off at the plug/connector to the switch. I don't remember how thick the wires are so I'm not sure if this scenario is possible.
 
markadeck said:
I've about decided the problem I am having is in the module in the trunk. I have two '90 SC's here made within a month of each other and they're different in the trunk area where the modules are supposed to be mounted, Have attached photos of each, the red one I have had since new so I know it has never been touched. The grey one I do not know the history on. I need to know which one of these modules controls the passive restraints, please. I was surprised to see there are more things in the red than the grey, and the best I could tell neither one has had the carpet pulled away until I just did it right now.
The module is the light gray one that appears in both photos, about a couple of inches to the right of the fuel cutoff switch.
 
Thanks J.D. I was a little slow to take it out cause there are so damn many wires coming out of it. Must control both sides, huh? How come the red car has that extra whatever it is attached to the black plastic cover and the silver SC doesn't even have the black cover? I have a lovely girlfriend in Park City ya know, a former Miss South Dakota, probably before you were born though.

Mark
 
Back
Top