SRS ECU replacement

Hello there! First post in landyzone from a proud owner of facelift freelander TD, disco 3 and disco sport.

So around two weeks ago, had a minor crash with my freelander. After replacing the AC radiator as well as coolant radiator (AC compressor and broken hood opening cable as well - since the radiators were removed), the car is now in a working condition, but the SRS light is now on a dashboard, even though the airbags didn't go off. Tried to remove the battery cables for several hours, also checked all the fuses, SRS is still there. Took the car to diagnostics, and 3 ''current faults'' were displayed - crash front; left beltpretensioner resistance too high and right beltpretensioner resistance too high. It was quite weird, since i was the only person in the car during the crash, so there was no reason for right pretensioner to ignite. Also, checked both pretensioners, and they seemed to be well - had not exploded. So i figure out, that the problem is within the SRS ECU, since it is supposed to be permanently dead after crash and has to be replaced.

So the question is - where is this SRS ECU located, and what would be the things to take into account when swaping it? I did read, that the battery has to be changed and the new srs ecu should be connected only when it is tightened to the surfice.

Thank you a lot, and best wishes for the new year.

blaster1232 said:

Hello there! First post in landyzone from a proud owner of facelift freelander TD, disco 3 and disco sport.

So around two weeks ago, had a minor crash with my freelander. After replacing the AC radiator as well as coolant radiator (AC compressor and broken hood opening cable as well - since the radiators were removed), the car is now in a working condition, but the SRS light is now on a dashboard, even though the airbags didn't go off. Tried to remove the battery cables for several hours, also checked all the fuses, SRS is still there. Took the car to diagnostics, and 3 ''current faults'' were displayed - crash front; left beltpretensioner resistance too high and right beltpretensioner resistance too high. It was quite weird, since i was the only person in the car during the crash, so there was no reason for right pretensioner to ignite. Also, checked both pretensioners, and they seemed to be well - had not exploded. So i figure out, that the problem is within the SRS ECU, since it is supposed to be permanently dead after crash and has to be replaced.

So the question is - where is this SRS ECU located, and what would be the things to take into account when swaping it? I did read, that the battery has to be changed and the new srs ecu should be connected only when it is tightened to the surfice.

Thank you a lot, and best wishes for the new year.

Click to expand...

Have you checked the length of the buckle? If the pretensioner has fired, the convoluted section will be bunched up.

Also check the under seat connectors, as those are a known issue.

The airbag control module is under the heater fan unit, and is a PITA to get at.

Nodge68 said:

Have you checked the length of the buckle? If the pretensioner has fired, the convoluted section will be bunched up.

Also check the under seat connectors, as those are a known issue.

The airbag control module is under the heater fan unit, and is a PITA to get at.

Click to expand...

Thank you Nodge for your reply. I did check the lenght of the buckle, checked the under seat connectors, no luck. The pretensioners have not fired, therefore my bucks are on SRS ECU, as they are single-crash things. I already did order a new one, so I am trying to figure out the replacement strategy. I understand from what you have said that it will indeed be a PITA, but still - is there a step by step guide for replacing the srs ecu? Didn't find it in RAVE. If i had to do it today, most probably i would remove the glove box, and then try to work my way from there. (steering wheel on left)

Sorry for bringing an old post back, but i feel that it is necessary to comment on the most PITA part of replacing the SRS ECU. It is really hard to get this unit out, since the air blower is located so that you cant really unscrew the 4 torx bolts that are holding the ECU unit in place. I went very creative with this, even tried to weld some individual instruments/wrenches in order to access the torx bolts, but no luck. So in the end what i discovered is that you can undo them in a quite primitive way. Just pick a 9mm wrench, and the round end of the wrench (sorry for not knowing the english terms) will fit nicely on top of torx bolt, which will make the unscrewing process much easier. Of course, since the wrench does not have a torx end per se, it is not a perfect fit, but by being gentle, you can undo the bolts without rounding the torx head of the bolt.

Thanks for the advice! Glad you sorted it.

In the U. K a spanner either is called 'open end' for the fork shape and 'ring' for the circle end.
Good English!