Airbag light DIY or send it to the dealer?

[swathdiver]

Or something in between?

Here's the story: I bought this 2008 SSV last week, knowing it had a myriad of fault codes. I've gotten everything fixed and cleared up except the "service airbag system".

Option 1 (and what I would normally default to) is buy a Tech 2 scanner or similar and fix it myself.

The only reason I'm hesitant is a. zero experience working on this system; and b. not knowing if the system is just broken or if it's been tampered with. Case in point, a relative purchased another model Chevy used, only to find out later the driver's airbag had been removed and replaced with an incorrect part, and the perpetrator installed some resistors or some such to attempt to trick the computer into accepting the bogus part.
My SSV bounced around between auctions for a couple of years between when the cops retired it and I took ownership. Who knows what's been stripped off, stolen, or swapped in that time.

Given that with airbags, you don't get any practice runs to see if they work correctly or not, I'm leaning toward taking this to a dealer for a complete inspection and assessment of the airbag system.

Your thoughts or experience?

Thanks!

Get the Tech-2 and diagnose and fix it yourself. When it's all over, you'll still have the Tech-2 and learned something. If you take it to the dealer, they'll fix it and you'll know what women really want from a man from reading those magazines in the waiting room.

 

[Jason in DLH]

I really need to go to the dealer sometime. That has eluded me for decades.

 

[Bill 1960]

@swathdiver the waiting room is never going to happen, I have other vehicles to drive.

Now if we were talking about the local Chrysler dealer OTOH; they have cookies and coffee. Don’t ask me how I know.

 

[Bill 1960]

OK you guys sold me. Scanner on order. Foxwell NT630 plus.

 

[swathdiver]

OK you guys sold me. Scanner on order. Foxwell NT630 plus.

That's not a Tech-2! Well, I guess if it does everything the former does plus works on other cars that would be good.

 

[Fless]

If the codes point to this....

 

[Jason in DLH]

OK you guys sold me. Scanner on order. Foxwell NT630 plus.

Great! High five!

 

[Bill 1960]

That's not a Tech-2! Well, I guess if it does everything the former does plus works on other cars that would be good.

I decided to get something generic considering my faithlessness to any vehicle brand. My friends and family never know what’s going to show up next. Right now in the family we have Honda, Subaru, GM, Ram, Jeep.

 

[intheburbs]

On my ‘07 it simply turned out to be a couple history codes that I cleared and new front impact sensors which are very easy to install.

I can confirm this. I just replaced the two front impact sensors on my 09 Denali because the airbag light was on. My buddy, who's a 30-year ASE-certified mechanic and works on my cars when I get in over my head, confirmed it's a very common problem on the GMT900 trucks.

 

[Bill 1960]

So where are you guys sourcing your sensors? Looks like genuine GM is around $170 or Dorman $60-80. I expect anything in the recycling yard is probably crap.