Newbie with a few questions

I've done an internet search on my issues but all I find are answers for different years or models, so I'm hoping this site will shed some light on my particular truck.
I purchased my 96 tacoma many years ago from my ex-son-in-law who lived in Florida. He purchased it new and when I aquired it, it had 43000 miles. It now sits in New York and has 110000 miles on it, 100% original and hasen't seen snow. It's a 4 wheel drive, 4 cylinder, standard cab w/ bench seats and no extra options other than air. First question: How do you go about removing the carpet? I've tried in the past but can't figure out how to remove the shift console without breaking something.
Second question: For the last several years I've been having a hot start issue. When cold it starts immediately. If the engine is hot and I stop for maybe 10 minutes there's no problem restarting but any longer and it acts like it's flooded. after several failed attempts it will then start. Once it restarts it runs fine. One mechanic told me the injectors are leaking by and causing excess gas into the cylinders. If so, is it a major job to fix?
Question 3: This just began.On occassion my air bag light comes on. If it doesn't go off after startup it will stay on the whole time the truck is running. It may or may not come on after a restart. If it stays off after starting it never comes on while driving. Never know when it will come on. If the light is on is there a built-in failsafe that will deploy the bag in the event of an accident?
Thanks in advance for any light any of you can shed on these issues.

 

welcome to Tacoma World

Question 1
here's a thread about this :
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...t-in-a-first-gen-tacoma.478435/#post-14547925

Question 2
I can't help you as I never experienced this problem on my truck

Question 3
The airbag light means there is a problem with your airbag (SRS) system. While it does not prevent your truck from running, it causes a potential safety issue for you or anyone driving the truck as the airbags might not deploy during a crash. There is a lot of things that can cause the airbag light to come on.

What the SRS system does, each time you start the truck, is to check for electrical continuity in the system. If it finds out there's no continuity somewhere, the light will come on. Bad continuity is most of the time caused by a bad sensor:

Steering wheel clockspring (also known as spiral cable)
- When this one is going bad, it is usually accompanied by other symptoms such as horn not working, cruise control problems, turn signals coming on for no reason, and of course, the airbag light (one giveaway sign is when any of these problems happens especially when the steering wheel is being rotated)

crash sensors at the front of the truck (they sometimes corrode and go bad)

seat belt pretensionners

passenger airbag on/off switch

airbag ECU or airbags themselves, but it is very rare to see these failing

to be sure of which one it can be, get the codes pulled out of the truck. Though, you're saying that the airbag light comes on ocasionally, so it could be the clockspring that is starting to get bad or a loose connector

Hope it helps

 

Hi Tom,

No idea on your questions there just wanted to say HI and welcome in! That search function has saved my ass a bunch, you might even try Bing/Google and then click on the TacomaWorld entries. I've found the search function better that way actually when nailing down an issue/answer. You will love this forum.

Looks like @onakat at above has done a great job and getting you started.

 

Thank you both for the timely replys and for me it takes time to navigate around a new site, I'm not computer savey.
I'll be checking out the site regarding carpet removal but I'll respond to my third question on the air bag lite.
my horn does work when the light is on as do my turn signals. I don't have cruise and I've looked around the seatbelt retractors and don't see any wiring going to them. I presume the pretensioners are part of the retractors correct? My son had a scan tool and hooked it up to the truck but it showed no codes had ever been set in the computer, never! Can you direct me close to where the crash sensor is located? I assume it's in the front, but is it accessable from the engine compartment or do I have to remove the grill and break all the plastic clips? The truck only runs about 300 miles a year so corrossion could well be an issue. Can you test a sensor to see if it's good or bad?

 

What type of code reader did you use? Normal ones only read check engine codes. You need a specialized code reader to read SRS codes. So you either have to go to the dealership or to a garage that has one that can read this type of codes

Yeah, the pretensioner, is part of the retactor. There is no wires and what goes bad in them is the small explosive charge. Pretensioners are hidden behind the plastic panels of the cab, right below the slot where the seatbelts go into the panels. So you'll have to take off these panels to get to them

The crash sensors are in the engine bay, on the frame. No need to take off the grill or anything. Just follow the yellow wires
One is below the battery tray, and the other one is on the other frame rail, at the same level.

Before doing anything, I suggest you get the codes, as it can save you some work and money.

 

Ah yes, now that I think about it, there is another way to get the code

You'll need the airbag light to be on for it to work
In the engine bay, there is a small plastic box with "DIAGNOSTIC" written on it. Turn your ignition to the ACC or ON position then wait for about 30 seconds. Take a paperclip or a wire and connect the terminals Tc and E1 together (the layout is written on the inside of the cover). Make sure you have the right terminals, as it can cause some damage.
The airbag light will flash in a pattern, telling you the code

for example: airbag-airbag-airbag-airbag----airbag--------repeats pattern (indicates code 41)

If you can manage to get the code this way, tell me the result you got, then I might be able to tell you exactly where the problem is

 

Onakat:
Thanks for the information. All I know about the code reader is it was a craftsman. I'll attempt to retrieve a code the way you explained and see what develops. if unsuccessful maybe I can get the local dealership to extract it as a courtesy.

 

Update on air bag light:
Had to go to the store for the wife so I took the 96. Air bag light stayed on after starting. Drove 9 miles and light never went off. Stopped at Auto Zone to see if they could check an SRS code, no dice. Restarted and light went out. Stopped at Advance Auto, same answer, no. Restarted and no light again. Did the shopping and decided to try another auto repair shop and they had one that could check. Mind you, the lite is still off while he checked. Reader showed no codes existed. He seemed to think that the old computers didn't remember codes and the light would have to be on for a code to set. Does this seem right? So if I jumper the terminals with the light off no code should show. If I start the engine and the light stays on is it ok to jumper the terminals while the engine is running?

 

yes, you need to have the light on for the reader to be able to pick up something.
When the light stays off, it's like eveything is normal, so that's why you can't get the code. When it stays on, it means the truck is currently detecting a problem and that is when you'd need to hook up the reader.

Yes, if you jump the terminals when the light isn't on, you aren't going to get anything, for the reason above.... The procedure doesn't tell anything about having the engine running... but I guess you'll have to try this method while it is running, as the light seems to reset everytime you turn your key off. Just make sure you have the right terminals

 

When you get the light, what about turning the key to the ACC or the ON position instead of OFF? Then jump the terminals.

I think the light will stay, allowing you to pull the code, as long as you don't put the key in the OFF position

 

Finally, the airbag light came on and I took it to the dealership. Left the engine running and the mechanic checked the code and it indicated #31. Made a stop at the store and upon restarting the engine the airbag light went out as normal. As I mentioned earlier, when the light comes on it stays on and when the light goes off it stays off. Just depends what mood it's in I guess. Where do I go from here?

 

code 31 indicates a malfunction within the airbag sensor assembly, which is the airbag computer/ECU (electronic control unit). Would explains why it erratically lighs up and why it resets everytime the truck is turned off

Was there any other code? sometimes another underlying problem can trigger a malfunction in the computer.
Has the truck ever been involved in a crash?
Also, how is your battery? A malfunctionning or dying battery can sometimes cause all sorts of weird problems

Also, just curious, have you noticed if external temperature affects how the airbag light comes on or not?

 

Onakat:
No, other codes came up and the truck has never been damaged. As far as the battery goes it's not new but has never given any problems starting etc. Being that the truck is out of service the whole winter I can't say what would happen when it's cold out. When I began using it this spring it did see days in the upper 40's but now it's in the 70's or 80's and seems to come on when I first start it up. Once it's warm and restarted it doesn't usually throw the code. I'll have to pay more attention to it and see if I can pick up on any kind of pattern. If the ECU is the little box under the ash tray on the hump behind a plastic cover, I was already there. I removed and reinstalled the yellow cable connector which I believe came down from the air bag just to see if there was a connection problem but that didn't correct it. Can the ECU be checked some how?

 

Just to correct few things for this 96 truck as it looks like in equipment it is quite similar to my 95.5.
It does not have pretensionners in seat belts. Seat belts are simple like in cars in 80-s.
It does not have front crash sensor. The sensor is inside the ECU box (the box under the ash tray).

I would be very, very careful when working with airbag connectors. If you do anything that might be related to the airbag circuit, disconnect the battery first and wait at least 30 seconds.

I had similar symptoms in 92 Mercury Sable airbag. Light goes on after starting the engine that was sitting overnight. It was enough to stop the engine and restart it for the airbag to go to normal. I think these units are design to not turn off the airbag light once it is on even for a moment, till you disconnect the power (killing the ignition).

For my airbag problem it was something related to capacitor inside the control unit that did not hold the charge (capacitor was used to provide the power to deploy the airbag even the battery exploded the crash). Nothing can be done except replacing airbag control unit. Ouch $$$.

 

Yes, the ECU is the box under the ash tray, below and behind the plastic center piece of the dash, with the heater controls and radio. With a yellow connector with a yellow wire coming out of it. Here's the test procedure for it, scanned from the repair manual


Very important to disconnect the battery before working on the airbag system and wait for a few minutes, to make sure all capacitors are empty. But in this case, you need to leave the battery on, as you can see, as you need to check voltage going to the ECU. The preparation step it reffers to at the beginning says to disconnect negative cable from the battery, remove steering wheel airbag (don't think you need to go this far, though), then pull out the ECU connector.

Then, to clear the code, on step 3, you need a code reader again...

Unfortunately, I don't think the ECU is something you can open up to change any part or piece of it. You'll have to change the ECU
Try ebay or junkyards, because at the dealer it is going to be quite pricey $$$$.

The part number for a 1996 airbag ECU would be: 89170-35010

*EDIT*This part seems to be discontinued and not avalaible for purchase at dealerships

 

contact @mechanicjon to see if he can help you with an airbag unit.

 

checking

 

Thanks for all the information all of you above have provided. I am going in for eye surgery and not sure when I'll be back to checking this problem out. As soon as I am able to see and function again I'll do as much testing as I feel safe doing. One good thing, I don't have as many components to deal with as I had feared.

 

Got back to checking my air bag issue. Truck sat for several days, so upon starting the air bag light came on. Shut off and restarted, light went off. Restarted, light back on. Shut off, restarted,light went off. This happened 4 times. Several days later upon starting the light came on and stayed on. I let engine run about 1 minute and then shut off. Each and every time I restarted the engine the light went off. I'm beginning to think that RysiuM may be correct in that a capacitor(s) may be at fault. I was always lead to believe that a capacitor was either good or bad, nothing in between, but given a short recharge time allows the unit to function normally but the capacitor must drain enough over time to cause the fault. Since I've owned the truck, it has sat for 8 months at a time without running or even a battery in it and it's never lost it's capacitor charge. I guess I'll be scouring the junk yards to see if I can locate a replacement ECU. Does anyone know what years or models would use the same ECU?

 

By ECU you mean SRS Control module, right?. You probably need the one without dual airbags and belts tensioner - meaning old. 95, 96. By wiki "A passenger-side air bag was added in July 1997" so probably 97 and newer have different SRS control module.