Rear seat air bag pigtail help please

[Audifan]

This air bag pig tail connector is damaged. I ordered a replacement connector (8D0971974, pictured below) thank you steamship

How do I remove the two wires from the old connector and install them into the new connector?





Also what is this white connector that's next to the air bag connector? Here is another picture showing the end of the connector.


Just a reminder, my S8 is a 2001 and these oxblood seats came out of a 2003 S8. I don't recall disconnecting this white connector when I removed my black rear seats.

[Adrian E]

There are barbs on the wires that need to be pushed down to allow the pin to be pulled out - you can usually do this (carefully!) with a small precision screwdriver, but there are also tools designed specifically to get them out damage-free.

Is it my eyes, or has someone pushed new pins into the new connector block without wires attached?

Failing that approach, given the plastic is the bit that's knackered, you can use side cutters or anything else to cut the plastic case off. That'll leave you with undamaged pins which should then slot into the new block. Note they are directional so should only lock in properly if correctly oriented

[MikkiJayne]

Do the wires even need removing? Just put the existing connector in the new shell.

The white connector is a ground. If your new seats don't have it then ignore it.

[steamship]

Originally Posted by Audifan

This air bag pig tail connector is damaged.

Indeed it is. Something got me thinking about that connector in your other thread and your new photo nailed it for me. The entire pig tail has been replaced at some point with two core electrical wire. That might also explain the state of the connections to the pins. On the two airbag connectors on the rear seat, one side has brown and yellow wires (on your other thread where you compare connectors) and the other side (the broken connector) should be brown and white.

Originally Posted by Audifan

How do I remove the two wires from the old connector and install them into the new connector?

In terms of tools to remove the pins, you can get tools like those in the attached image below. There are also cheaper ones where you get a bunch of around 20-30 of them for less than a tenner. As Adrian noted, if you have precision screwdrivers small enough, they'll do.

Further to that, as MJ noted, if the wiring is okay, you only need to use the outer coverings of the new part (the two parts on the right side in your image). I have my suspicions, but to me it looks like the wires have been attached to the pins on top of the connector block, and not fed through from the back, and as a result they couldn't put the cover back on. I'd be inclined to slide off the white cover on the other side and check how those two wires are attached to the connector block.

[Audifan]

Originally Posted by Adrian E

Is it my eyes, or has someone pushed new pins into the new connector block without wires attached?

I'm not sure what it is. In this picture, you can see where the wires go in are empty.

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

Do the wires even need removing? Just put the existing connector in the new shell.

I really don't know. If you think just reusing that existing connector is safe enough to use for the new shell, I'll just put on the new shell.

Originally Posted by steamship

Indeed it is. Something got me thinking about that connector in your other thread and your new photo nailed it for me. The entire pig tail has been replaced at some point with two core electrical wire. That might also explain the state of the connections to the pins. On the two airbag connectors on the rear seat, one side has brown and yellow wires (on your other thread where you compare connectors) and the other side (the broken connector) should be brown and white.

Here is a picture of the other side connector. I think the reason for the different color wire is because the oxblood back-rest is from a 2003 car and my car is a 2001.

[steamship]

Originally Posted by Audifan

Here is a picture of the other side connector. I think the reason for the different color wire is because the oxblood back-rest is from a 2003 car and my car is a 2001.

Sorry, I should have clarified about the wire colours. The colours I mentioned are what is described in the official wiring diagram. See page 143 of the following PDF (in the D2 Tech Dump thread), and the wiring for N201 and N202:

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...8&d=1420349196

From the new photo of the end of the connector, I stand by my suspicion that they just basically attached (soldered?) the wires to the existing pins from the top, and not bothered to fit them properly through the back, possibly because they couldn't get the pins out. That being the case, the outer covering won't fit in it's current wiring state.

[Audifan]

it's ok, no worries. I just installed the new covers on the current connector as stated by MJ. I've never been good at reading and understanding a wiring diagram.

[steamship]

Originally Posted by Audifan

I just installed the new covers on the current connector as stated by MJ.

So they fitted fine, brilliant. Saves more faffing around.