1996 Airbag warning light is on, how to reset or disable it?

I live in Oregon and have vehicle inspection in a couple months to get tags. Airbag warning light has been on for months (not sure I would trust 26 year old airbags anyway). Every thread I've read says this is a very expensive fix. Don't know if that airbag warning light will keep me from passing inspection, any idea how to reset or disable the thing (I'd be happy to pull a fuse to get rid of it)?

Also, looks like I got a bad or burnt wire from my gas tank sending unit because the gauge is stuck on full even when the key is out. How can I access the sending unit wires without pulling off the tuck bed or lowering the gas tank?

Dose the gas gauge have its own individual fuse that might be blown?

 

I'd take a 26 year old airbag over no airbag...

As for if it's going to fail because of that, I'd contact your local DMV and ask or at least look around on the website. I'd suspect that'd be a fail, but I'm just some rando on the internet.

Not sure on the gas gauge thing...

 

What you wrote both paragraphs are based on guessing. This is not how you repair a car.

Airbag light tells you that there is something wrong with the airbag system. You need to read the code (not from ECU but from the airbag computer) to see what's it is complaining about. Only then you can tell if it is expensive or not. If you don't want to do it "right way" you can always pull the airbag bulb from the dash. Of course anybody with the basic knowledge will immediately find out because the airbag light should show up on the turning the key and in a second or two go away. If it is not on after the turning the key it means the airbag system was tampered with or it is FUBAR.

Gas gauge will always stay in the last position when you turn the ignition off. The gauge has some mechanical lock to not move it when the power is off. Showing full all the time can be for many different reasons, and only few of them can be inside the tank. So dropping the tank without full diagnostic on the circuit (including the gauge itself) would be total waste of time and money.

 

Thank you. I am super poor (which I why I drive a 26 year old truck lolz), so to survive I have to get through inspection and get my tags any way I can so I can keep driving to work. Fixing it "right" is not a factor.

Good info that gas gauge does not move even when power is off.

 

I fixed the airbag light problem in my 1996 by following the steps in the original post in this thread. Cost me the price of the Deoxit D5 contact cleaner spray ($15).

 

Also, dropping the tank is not trivial on this truck. It was one of my least favorite things I've done on it. Very much a PITA.

 

Great point.

OP, have you even read the code yet to know what's actually wrong?

As said above, you need to figure out what the actual issue is before deciding if it's impossibly expensive to fix.

You could always try and grease the palms of whoever is doing the inspection, but it's probably going to be cheaper (certainly less illegal, lol) to just fix it.

If you still can't afford to fix it, you can always sell it and buy some other shitbox that you're more than likely going to need to sink at least as much money to get it to run.