Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and jakquezz
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2016
- Messages
- 2
- Vehicle Year
- 2004
- Transmission
- Automatic
Hey guys, I had a problem with my airbag light, so I thought I'd write a thread about my problem and what I did to fix it so that others can search for it and maybe find a solution to their problem.
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Trouble started when I bought my truck. It's a 2004 Ranger with the 3.0 V6 and an automatic transmission. It comes up in carfax as being an XL, but it has all the XLT features.
Anyways, when I bought it, the airbags had been deployed, and the airbag light on the dashboard (Light Flash Code; LFC) was showing a code 19. This, I'd read, signified that the Restraints Control Module (RCM) crash memory was full; just as it should be.
After getting a quote of ~&1700 at Ford for new airbags and new seatbelt pretensioners, I searched for a cheaper alternative. I found a salvage yard in Sacramento that dismantles only trucks, and luckily, they had a 2004+ truck that had all the airbags/pretensioners that I needed for $450.
I then took it to ford to get the inflator modules replaced due to a recall for Takata airbags. While replacing, they ran a diagnostic on the airbag light, pulling a code (DTC) b1231, which really just corresponds to the LFC 19. They recommended that I purchase and have them install a new RCM at $698.31 including 1.5 hours of labor (this job takes, literally, 10 minutes).
Again I searched for a cheaper alternative. Many recommend sending your RCM out to myairbags.com or the like to have the memory formatted so that the RCM can set off the airbags again in the event of a crash. Many others also caution that doing so is not a guaranteed way to have a fully functioning RCM, citing that the RCM is pretty much one time use. The cost of sending it out is right around $50, so I kept it as a possibility. Luckily, in the Bay area of NorCal, I have a lot of junkyards at my disposal (pun intended). I was able to find a 2001 Ranger in the area and went to retrieve the RCM, checking to make sure the truck hadn't been in an accident yet (as that would have yielded a LFC 19 RCM again).
After getting it, I halfway installed it in my truck and was presented not with a LFC 19, but with a LFC 21. Thinking I'd been defeated, I checked what the code 21 signifies, which is RCM High Resistance. Forum search results told me to fully bolt down the RCM, which I hadn't done yet to get rid of that code since apparently there is a ground in the mounting bolts that completes the RCM circuit. Once fully installed and I turned my truck on, NO MORE CODES!!
I saved myself a lot of money and potential injury after having solved this mess, and I'm really glad I'm done. Onto the next.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Trouble started when I bought my truck. It's a 2004 Ranger with the 3.0 V6 and an automatic transmission. It comes up in carfax as being an XL, but it has all the XLT features.
Anyways, when I bought it, the airbags had been deployed, and the airbag light on the dashboard (Light Flash Code; LFC) was showing a code 19. This, I'd read, signified that the Restraints Control Module (RCM) crash memory was full; just as it should be.
After getting a quote of ~&1700 at Ford for new airbags and new seatbelt pretensioners, I searched for a cheaper alternative. I found a salvage yard in Sacramento that dismantles only trucks, and luckily, they had a 2004+ truck that had all the airbags/pretensioners that I needed for $450.
I then took it to ford to get the inflator modules replaced due to a recall for Takata airbags. While replacing, they ran a diagnostic on the airbag light, pulling a code (DTC) b1231, which really just corresponds to the LFC 19. They recommended that I purchase and have them install a new RCM at $698.31 including 1.5 hours of labor (this job takes, literally, 10 minutes).
Again I searched for a cheaper alternative. Many recommend sending your RCM out to myairbags.com or the like to have the memory formatted so that the RCM can set off the airbags again in the event of a crash. Many others also caution that doing so is not a guaranteed way to have a fully functioning RCM, citing that the RCM is pretty much one time use. The cost of sending it out is right around $50, so I kept it as a possibility. Luckily, in the Bay area of NorCal, I have a lot of junkyards at my disposal (pun intended). I was able to find a 2001 Ranger in the area and went to retrieve the RCM, checking to make sure the truck hadn't been in an accident yet (as that would have yielded a LFC 19 RCM again).
After getting it, I halfway installed it in my truck and was presented not with a LFC 19, but with a LFC 21. Thinking I'd been defeated, I checked what the code 21 signifies, which is RCM High Resistance. Forum search results told me to fully bolt down the RCM, which I hadn't done yet to get rid of that code since apparently there is a ground in the mounting bolts that completes the RCM circuit. Once fully installed and I turned my truck on, NO MORE CODES!!
I saved myself a lot of money and potential injury after having solved this mess, and I'm really glad I'm done. Onto the next.
