My girlfriends 1994 Saturn SL2 crapped out due to a discontinued part - the Restraint System Module - located under the center console. As others have stated, coke (or acidic beverage of your choice) leaked down and into the Module housing, corroding part of the circuit card, shorting out, and melting about a dime sized area. Poor design/location on Saturn''s part, but hey, 14 years ago I wouldn''t have known any better either... [img]smileys/smiley14.gif[/img]

The garage said theres nothing they could do, so me being an engineer, i asked for the module to try and clean it up. Since its obvious there was a short and small fire on card, I am going to wire jumpers to bypass the damage, get a new resistor to replace the one that blew up, and salvage the entire car from the scrap yard - for one silly module...

The short/fire smoked about 5 traces, 2 of which i have identified and can terminate. The other 3, I cant figure out where they need go...

OPTION 1:
Would anyone possibly have access to the engineering PCA/CCA circuit card drawings for this module so i can jump the correct solder joints and restore this module and save the car?

OPTION 2:
If someone has a 94 SL2, it would be a tremendous help if they could (confidently knowing how of course so not to damage their own car!), pull the module from under the center console (real easy - as there are quick connectors securing the wiring), and taking a digital pic of the circuit card - prefereably one that hasnt caught fire before

Asking for a lot but worth a shot...i hate to have to scrap a whole car for this silly thing that im very close to fixing.

THanks guys!!!

 

Have you thought about contacting the local u-pull-it yards to see if you could locate a card in their inventory ??

 

I will see if I can google one nearby in seattle somewhere, never been to one before but definately worth checking out....would love to fix what i have its kinda fun too haha

Thanks Archer!

 

Hee, hee, hee ...


Being a retired spark chaser in my own right, I will look locally and see if there is one in my area. I am surprised that these boards were not treated with some type of coating to resist such happenings ...

 

Well dang thanks!!

Yea I am suprised too, the card is in a semi robust plastic box, secured by 4 screws, but not hermetically sealed by anymeans. And coke does have some amazing destructive/corrosive properties when left to self destruct over time...big winning combination there haha

 

dang...junk yard - no luck....Saturn mechanics show, no luck - "they dont let us get into that detail of circuitry cards"....expected, but oh well...im workin with one of my EE buddys at Honeywell to help pick the most probably routing...we shall see i guess!

 

OK ...


Found one here kinda local (about 30 miles away in a u-pull-it yard).No price quoted as yet.


Keep us informed to your progress ...

 

IF I remember correctly, these cars came from the factory with two seatbelt latch "hooks" that hook into the tracks, one at the end of the top of each track for situations just like these where the PRM is not functioning. You have to manually latch and unlatch the belt to it (or leave it attached in the "door closed" position) but this is a small price to pay to still have seat belts.

The latch hooks came in the glove box.

If they are not there, you might also look in the glove boxes at the scrap yards as most people don''t even know they existed. Longshot, yes.

Also watch the boards for people parting out these early Saturns. You can probably pick up the module or the hooks pretty cheap.

Edited by: derf

 

I wouldnt even try to fix it. Especially since its a $5 part at the junkyards. I come across these all the time at the junkyards. I may even have a few in one of parts bins.

 

Or he could swap over to a fixed belt config (as you pointed out in the other current post)....if a functional part can''t be located...