1993 to 1995 passenger airbag wiring

[whiteknight]

I searched here for info on the wiring colors, but did not find any info.

I am just finishing up a long, drawn-out swap of my 1993 MTX SHO into a 1994 LX body. This included installing a black interior from a 1992, but I was hoping I could get some help.

The 1992 airbag (black dash) had a different pigtail than the 1993 harness I used for the swap (grey dash and grey passenger airbag), and I need to solder the connector from the 1993 SHO pass airbag onto the 1992 airbag. I don't want to paint the grey airbag cover black, the color or texture is never quite right.

Does any one know which color wires would go where to do this? Does it matter? If I'm wrong (50/50!) will the airbag deploy when I connect the battery, or turn the key?

Thanks


Can anyone help me out on this and let me know if one of the colors in each pigtail is power and one ground? And if so, which ones I need to connect to solder the black connector on the left, to replace the grey connector on the right?

Just need some finishing touches, like the black side view mirrors, rocker moldings, and center caps, and she's going to go out for an alignment!

 

[thegreatbriguy]

if they are both two wire you may not need to solder. you can take the terminal out of the pigtail on some connectors. there is a little tab you have to depress with a screwdriver and then you can pull it out through the side the wires goes into. as to the proper wire I would be guessing.

 

[whiteknight]

Thanks Briguy- they are both two wire connectors, but one is a blade type, and the other is a pin type, so they are physically different.

I am really hoping someone can answer the color question... Or if it matters. I did read on one post on this forum regarding the steering wheel airbag that "it's not like a motor that can turn in reverse- that you won't deflate it if it's hooked up backwards "... But if I remember correctly from when I swapped a black '93 wheel into my old Gen 1 SHO, the wires were the same color.

But I am deathly afraid of doing wiring wrong- especially if it can blow up in my face- or worse... Ruin an OEM black airbag !

 

[zoomlater]

I have a 95 EVTM manual that maybe the same as the 93, but without that manual, you wouldn't know for sure. Looks like you would also need a 92 EVTM manual as well (I looked in my 92 Helms manual, but there are no wiring details for the airbag). I can scan the air bag pages and email them to you. Send me your email in a conversation if you would like the 95 pages.

 

[sperold]

Something does not look correct about that black connector. I am pretty sure that wire on the right is LB/O (instead of GY/O). Do not connect this wire into your airbag system if it is LB/O.
You claim you are putting a 92 black airbag in a 93 SHO dash that is installed in a 94 LX car.

AirBag connector for 92 - C202 Grey 3 terminal (maybe only 2 used in all 3 cases)
AirBag connector for 93 - C202 Grey 3 terminal
AirBag connector for 94 - C202 Grey 3 terminal
No matter what combo you are doing, all the connectors are the same.

Further info: This happens in all 3 years.
Wire 616 PK/BK goes to AirBag module pin #9. (only)
Wire 614 GY/O goes to a splice which takes it to pins 8 & 11 on the AirBag module, to pin 1 on the safing sensor and also to the clockspring.

Look for broken-off connector wires in your harness, because if you do not have a grey connector on your harness, you should have. It should be near your glove box light wire.

If you want to think of it as + or -, pin #9 on the airbag module is termed air bag return, which means (I think) the PK/BK (pink wire with the black stripe) is ground, to the best of my reasoning.

There is an AirBag delete plug that is black, but it only has 1 terminal, and it takes the wire to ground.

Did any of your cars have a digital dash?

It is not a left over (or mistaken) wiring from a 91 (92 car built in late 91) as there were no passenger airbags in 91.

I am more puzzled than you are.

 

[whiteknight]

Well, the black connector ('93) on the grey airbag ('93) plugs into the dash harness ('93)- they are not just the same year, they are the parts that came out of the '93 donor SHO and (obviously, since they are mates) plug into the dash harness ('93) that is now in the black dash from the '92. So the pigtail I am wanting to use to plug the black airbag unit into is the correct pigtail for the harness. And it's black. I just need to solder it onto the black airbag.

Whew! That is not meant to be sarcastic- just to clarify where everything came from!

The grey connector is still connected to the black airbag ('92). The one wire you refer to is fact grey with an orange tracer, not brown.

The car the black dash came from may have been an early '92. It belonged to a friend of mine who still has the car.

The wiring from the '93 came out of another running car that I bought from another friend, cause it was rusty. It ran like a champ until I parted it out.

None of them had digital dash.

The wiring in all my later SHO's ('93, couple 95's, '94 SHO wagon) all have the black plug on the passenger airbag- all have only two wires, not three at the connector, going into the airbag. Same as the steering wheel- 2 wires. When you say "3 terminal", I'll look when I get home, but maybe they are three terminal plugs, with an unused pin?

I did speak to a friend of mine who is an experienced Ford mechanic, (former multiple SHO owner, and a member of this site) and he said it doesn't matter which wire is hooked up where, because neither get any power until the crash sensor sends a signal, which is a dead short that will set off the airbag. I literally trust him with my life, He is the first one to admit when he doesn't know something, then goes and looks it up and finds the right answer.

But I'll have to look at the red wire in the grey connector out of curiosity to see if it has a black tracer as well. 'Cause if it does, it has that in common with the pink one from the black connector. The other two wires both have an orange tracer, so I'll bet they are the "same' between the two years, and if the other two have black tracers, it makes sense that that's the case for them as well.

Hope I don't blow myself up.

 

[sperold]

I don't get it. There should not be a black airbag connector anywhere on you 93 harness, it should be grey.
The wire I am referring to is on the right (not left) of the black connector, and it is light blue with an orange stripe. That does not look like a wire colour for the airbag system.
The 3 terminals means there are places for 3 wires, but in this case only 2 are used.
I give up.

 

[sperold]

How about this, what colour are the plugs on the other 2 passenger airbags that you have in stock (93, 94).
The 92 black passsenger airbag has the correct wiring colour and connector colour, from what I can tell from the photo.
And what colour are the wires in both the 93 and 94 airbag connectors.

 

[whiteknight]

OK- so I double checked the harnesses, and connectors. I know which wire you were referring to...

The picture above with the two connectors are (from left)- the '93 airbag (dark connector with the light blue with an orange stripe you were speaking of) and on the right, the grey connector which is still on the black airbag from the '92,with the grey/orange and red wires.

I give up.

I don't think you should "give up". Anybody who owns a SHO is not the type to give up!

You were correct in that they are both 3 prong connectors, but both only have two wires used, with an empty, unused slot. The newer one uses 2 pin connectors- the older, larger, grey one uses 2 blade connectors.

There should not be a black airbag connector anywhere on you 93 harness, it should be grey.

Maybe you'd sleep better if I just called the above connector "Dark Grey"?

I can't compare the other newer harnesses to confirm the connectors right now- the '94 LX dash is in storage to make room in my garage, and I won't pull the one out of the the '95 because I don't want to damage the dash by prying off the two dash covers on the left and right of the airbag to pull it out. It's cold here, and the skin of the dash with the foam underneath will be more brittle now. (Since you have to pry under those covers for access to the front airbag screws.)

But going from memory, all the ones I've worked on have been like the "Dark Grey Charcoal" colored one on the left, in the pic above. I've changed dashes and airbags before, all '93 or newer, including my '94 SHOwagon with the donor being a '93 MTX.

The light grey with the blade connectors shown above right in the picture is the only one I've ever seen like it.

 

[sperold]

The reason I am harping on this is...... if you cannot trust the wiring diagrams, then we are doomed, as that is all we have to make sense out of the mess of wiring in every car. The wiring diagrams have been dead accurate in my diagnosis of air bag blinking lights in my GenI and GenII cars.

There does not seem to be a "SHO Only" qualifier in any of the AirBag schematics, or anything else (like Canada only) to suggest there were different wiring colour coding among models. In the case of the cars involved, the 92, 93 and 94s have identical wiring schematics. And as far as I know, they were all made in Atlanta (despite some references to Chicago in Clockspring literature).

If that black connector in the first picture is hooked into an airbag from a 93 dash..... then I stand corrected.
Very troubling.

 

[whiteknight]

Oh- I see now why this is more of an issue...

I wonder if it's possible that the grey airbag is aftermarket? The black connector with the blue/orange wire was cut off of the '93 SHO airbag (by me, last weekend). It was original to that airbag as best as I can tell, with no signs of soldering or new shrink wrap, etc. But maybe the airbag cartridge was replaced by a previous owner after an accident??

I have the wiring diagrams from the '95 EVTM (thanks again Zoomlater!) and you are correct that (at least for '95) that wire should be grey/orange.

I will look at the dash of my LX/SHO tonight, which has the wiring harness from the '93 SHO, and I will reply back here on the colour of the wires that go into the other side of that pigtail connector. (I'll bet they are grey/orange.)

Maybe it's as simple as a replacement airbag. Then there's no worries that you can't rely on the EVTM.

I'll let you know.

 

[sperold]

That wiring in your 95 EVTM sheets is exactly the same as the 92, 93, and 94 models.
If that light blue wire with an orange stripe is in a dash harness, I would say to. not hook it up to an airbag system.
Look for a wrapped over connector on your harness body that has the correct wires. If you cant find one, then look for the airbag delete connector, but if I remember correctly, it may have a brown wire associated with it.
Good Hunting.

 

[whiteknight]

If that light blue wire with an orange stripe is in a dash harness, I would say to. not hook it up to an airbag system.

Lol !! imagine if that wire was wrong... like as in it was supposed to be hooked up to the power antenna or something!!

Good news, though- you were right about the wires in the car, and the difference is not in the car harness, it's ONLY on the airbag side of the pigtail

Car dash harness has the grey/orange wire as you'd expect.
Above is the stock 1993 SHO driver's airbag that was in the donor car- same connector, same grey/orange wire.
Close-up of the driver's airbag pigtail. Here is the airbag fron the 1993 SHO, with the clip I cut off. You can see it's the right clip, but clearly has a blue wire with the orange tracer, not like any other airbag I have from a gen 2 SHO...

Weird, huh?

 

[whiteknight]

...And here is one with the two plugged in... this is exactly how it came out of the 1993. As I said before- it might be explained if the airbag was replaced after deploying. They both have Ford part numbers on a sticker. (Didn't check to see if they are the same, now that I think about it.)

There should not be a black airbag connector anywhere on you 93 harness, it should be grey.

So going back to this comment- does the EVTM tell you what color the actual pigtail connectors should be?

Because ALL the Gen 2 connectors I've looked at recently are black with pin connectors, with the exception of the black 1992 airbag which is larger, and grey with the blade connectors.

Oddly enough, on the airbag side of all the "NORMAL" gen 2 pigtails, the second wire IS NOT a pink/black wire along with the grey/orange one like it is in the car harness side of the pigtail. On the airbag side of the pigtail the second wire is always red... On the the odd clip from the '93 airbag, it DID have the pink/black wire on the airbag side which coincides with the car harness. So in both cases, one wire is the same on both sides of the pigtail.

weird. for sure.

So I'm not worried about the connection anymore- but I think I will clip a connector from the mocha driver's airbag I have from a previous swap, so the wires are the same as factory when I'm finished and the wiring will be as it should be.

Thanks for all the input guys!!

 

[whiteknight]

ignore this...

 

[sperold]

I lost track of this thread until now.
Glad you got a resolution, just not the one I would have imagined.
Can't imagine how this developed, but here it is.
Hope it all goes well.