I dont think the airbag light will go on. It will just reset all your radio settings and clock. You may not even really have to diconnect the battery, but since the manual says so, might as well do it. After taking the door panel off, i'd just disconnect the clip on the window motor and leave the battery plugged.
1994 Camry - Door trim panel/battery/airbags?
Hi all,
I'll get to the real question, but first I need to give a little background, so bear with me.
I am not terribly experienced with working on cars, but recently I have been trying to do more things myself or with free assistance from others, as hiring a mechanic to do the work is expensive...
Anyway, the left front window regulator and motor in my '94 Camry died recently, and I have obtained a replacement part for it. I also have the Haynes repair manual for 92-96 model Camrys, and tonight my father-in-law is going to give me a hand in replacing the part. He is an experienced mechanic, but hasn't worked on a Toyota before.
I was going over the procedure for replacing the window glass regulator, and there is a note about disconnecting the battery before doing the work. It says,
"On 1993 and later models, the airbag system will be disabled if the battery is disconnected for more than a brief period. If the airbag light comes on and stays on after the battery is reconnected, the vehicle must be taken to a dealer to have the system reset with a special tool."
It's not clear exactly what a "brief period" is... so what I'm trying to figure out is how long that "brief period" is, and what I could do to prevent the airbags from being shut off. Obviously I would like to avoid taking my car to the dealer if possible.
Thanks!
I'll get to the real question, but first I need to give a little background, so bear with me.
I am not terribly experienced with working on cars, but recently I have been trying to do more things myself or with free assistance from others, as hiring a mechanic to do the work is expensive...
Anyway, the left front window regulator and motor in my '94 Camry died recently, and I have obtained a replacement part for it. I also have the Haynes repair manual for 92-96 model Camrys, and tonight my father-in-law is going to give me a hand in replacing the part. He is an experienced mechanic, but hasn't worked on a Toyota before.
I was going over the procedure for replacing the window glass regulator, and there is a note about disconnecting the battery before doing the work. It says,
"On 1993 and later models, the airbag system will be disabled if the battery is disconnected for more than a brief period. If the airbag light comes on and stays on after the battery is reconnected, the vehicle must be taken to a dealer to have the system reset with a special tool."
It's not clear exactly what a "brief period" is... so what I'm trying to figure out is how long that "brief period" is, and what I could do to prevent the airbags from being shut off. Obviously I would like to avoid taking my car to the dealer if possible.
Thanks!
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Thanks for all of the info! It sounds like I probably don't need to disconnect the battery anyway, so I will not do that and save myself the potential hassle of having the airbag light come on. I will let you all know how it goes tonight!
Just FYI everyone:
Did the removal/replacement tonight with help from father-in-law. Everything went pretty smooth. The window now goes up and down properly, though it does make one loud click just as it's going down. It didn't do that while we were testing it out with the panel off, and we tested it a few times with the panel on, so I'm not sure what the problem is. The window seems to go up and down fine regardless of the click. I will try to make minimal use of the window until after next week when I get back from a trip. Then I might take it apart again and see if there is something that could be adjusted.
Also, the window is pretty fast going down, but going back up it seems a bit slower than it used to be. Maybe it's the quality of the aftermarket parts I bought or something. We did grease up the regulator track, so I don't know if that makes any difference...
BTW we did not disconnect the battery and that didn't seem to cause any problems. I guess it's just more of a precaution in case the parts get wet or you do something dumb like stick a screwdriver in a socket.
We also did not follow the manual's entire procedure for removing the window glass before changing out the regulator and motor. They wanted us to take the whole window glass out and remove the window run and moldings around the track, but we figured we could just do it by having one person hold the glass up while the other removed and installed the parts. A clamp of some sort probably could have also been used if there was only one person.
Thanks again for your pointers and I'll be sure to come back here again!
Did the removal/replacement tonight with help from father-in-law. Everything went pretty smooth. The window now goes up and down properly, though it does make one loud click just as it's going down. It didn't do that while we were testing it out with the panel off, and we tested it a few times with the panel on, so I'm not sure what the problem is. The window seems to go up and down fine regardless of the click. I will try to make minimal use of the window until after next week when I get back from a trip. Then I might take it apart again and see if there is something that could be adjusted.
Also, the window is pretty fast going down, but going back up it seems a bit slower than it used to be. Maybe it's the quality of the aftermarket parts I bought or something. We did grease up the regulator track, so I don't know if that makes any difference...
BTW we did not disconnect the battery and that didn't seem to cause any problems. I guess it's just more of a precaution in case the parts get wet or you do something dumb like stick a screwdriver in a socket.
We also did not follow the manual's entire procedure for removing the window glass before changing out the regulator and motor. They wanted us to take the whole window glass out and remove the window run and moldings around the track, but we figured we could just do it by having one person hold the glass up while the other removed and installed the parts. A clamp of some sort probably could have also been used if there was only one person.
Thanks again for your pointers and I'll be sure to come back here again!
Another update:
I was getting concerned about the clicking sound the window was making as it went down, so I took the door panel off again last night (using a tip I found here to get the handle bezel off: http://www.talkaboutautos.com/group/alt.autos.toyota.camry/messages/33306.html ). I examined all of the nuts and bolts and other connections, and I discovered that we had forgotten to fully tighten the bolts holding the window glass itself on to the regulator! Whoops! I tightened that up, and then checked all the other bolts for tightness, and put it all back together. Works much better now, no clicking, and a bit smoother.
I was getting concerned about the clicking sound the window was making as it went down, so I took the door panel off again last night (using a tip I found here to get the handle bezel off: http://www.talkaboutautos.com/group/alt.autos.toyota.camry/messages/33306.html ). I examined all of the nuts and bolts and other connections, and I discovered that we had forgotten to fully tighten the bolts holding the window glass itself on to the regulator! Whoops! I tightened that up, and then checked all the other bolts for tightness, and put it all back together. Works much better now, no clicking, and a bit smoother.
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