How does this light work? I've never seen it turn on, and am trying to have everything working on my car. Where do i start?

 

First thing I'd look at is probably the bulb in the dash. Usually when there's a wiring problem, the light stays on all the time. I'm guessing a previous owner just didn't like wearing a seatbelt, and as a result, the bulb burned out over time.

 

lol, mine usually chimes in 10 miles down the road and at the most random times..

 

Isn't there a relay for the chime?

 

The chime comes from the same unit when the key is inserted in the ign or lights on with ign off.Thats in the convenience center.There's a pigtail on the lower seatbelt retractor w/ the female plug in the harness along the door sill, if its unplugged the light will not work, nor will the buzzer.

 

Have a pic to see how it looks exactly? Thanks

 

That's not in the original location, but very close.Its the brown box, but ive seen them in black too.

 

Ok i have that same box in black but where can i find the pigtail or wire to see if it's connected

 

You have to remove the lower seat belt & lift it out.The the pigtail is there, you will see it.Its permenatly attached to the retractor & the female side is on the factory harness.
I don't have a pic for that.

 

In here?

 

Yes.

 

It might be there because i bought the car with 4th gen seats but i installed the factory

 

Anything here?

 

Underneath, you have to remove that torx bolt & lift out the retractor.

 

Then i should see some sort of wire or plug?

 

Yes.

 

Looks like it's plugged.

 

 

Well then, on the the buzzer.

 

Hey i got it working thanks for your help.

 

 

Bumping this old thread to see what the issue/outcome was with the seatbelt light.

I'm trying to track down an issue with my fasten seatbelt light. It doesn't illuminate at all. I replaced the bulb, checked the fuses, checked connections at the convenience center and everything is plugged in. I don't want to have to unbolt the seatbelt retractor, but I fear that's next. This car is mostly untouched, so I'm guessing the wire will be connected there too... Looks like could be same issue as the OP's. OP, what did you find out?

 

For s&g I unbolted the retractor tonight. Nothing funny going on there. The connector looked untouched, and was plugged in. Unplugging it did not cause the light to come on, or vice versa, trying to ground it out any other way. I also had the trim off the gauges so I could get to the FSB bulb to wiggle it in its socket. Nothing. Bulb tests good.

The convenience center looks untouched as well, as do the grounds coming off of it. The yellow wire that controls the FSB lamp exits and goes into the back of the gauge cluster like it should. So now I guess I'm tearing apart the cluster (if I really want to fix this?). The chime works fine--but only for key in ignition and lights on. I don't know what it would sound like for the seat belt. Turning the ignition on, there is no noise with the belt unbuckled/ the contact open or grounded.

So I'm back to WTF.

 

The one part of my car I don't mind being broken

 

.


Audio alarm box is probably dead,.... cheap and easy to simply replace it.

 

Well.... after having the car apart for a for a few days, i decided to check the bulb again, wiggle the socket, check connections before putting it all back together. I've got bigger fish to fry. I got some pliers in there, turned the socket, and whoops, it fell out behind the dashboard. There was nothing behind it. I don't know if it's supposed to be that way, or how those little sockets work, but now I'm beginning to think the thing was taken apart at some point and intentionally disabled. I was under the impression there was supposed to be some kind of printed circuit board behind it to make contact with the socket. Hey, it was the 80's, right? Seatbelts were still kind of uncool.

I guess it's better than having the light and/or chime come on randomly, right?

So, I guess no seatbelt light...forever? Unless I decide to tear down the car someday and do a complete resto. Still not sure if I'm going to keep this one long term, time will tell.

Disappointed, I got everything back together. Lost that battle, but, my consolation prize was that I had some extra time, so I lubed up my almost non-functional door lock actuators. They were really sticky and wouldn't lock or unlock. Now, they glide like butter on a hot pan. Full lock and unlock. Chunk! Ka-chunk! It's a beautiful thing.

 

There is PCB behind the cluster, its also easy to accidentally twist the socket off the pcb.Its possible it was partially loose already & not making good contact.

Regardless, the cluster has to come out to re-install the socket.

 

Bulbs pull out and get pushed in place, Sockets get turned to lock,..... from the backside, Like almost every 80's GM cluster.



Dude ----> This is SOOOOOO simple. If you want the belt light to work, put the bulb back where it was & replace the fried audio alarm. Just unplug the old one, install the replacement; should take no longer than 3 minutes start to finish. We are talking about 80's "tech" here, not rocket science.

 

But there's a new bulb in the socket, and it's plugged in/ twisted in tight into the cluster, and the audio alarm works fine for all other functions; I'm guessing it would work fine if the convenience center sensed the seatbelt was actually unbuckled. I'm not suspecting a fried audio alarm at this point...works fine for everything else.....

 

Here's something I wrote while testing audio alarms in the past:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...e-digital.html


Belt Light doesn't work; The audio alarm activates the Seat-Belt light. Belt is plugged in and the bulb is good, yet still you don't suspect that it's the problem ??


Good luck dude.........

 

Was not aware that the audio alarm is responsible for activating the seat belt light. I thought that was a function of the convenience center itself, not the audio module that plugs into it. I didn't figure there was a problem there thinking it was audio-only and that it was good since it makes tones for everything else.

I'll give it a shot if I can find another one.

 

Heres a pic of the printed circuit board.
The grid is prob. broken where the bulb and socket fits and twists
into it.

 

After reading this thread I had to investigate!After 30yrs.Wow!!never realized that my TA even had a seatbelt chimeit only comes on(5 dings) when you turn the key(without belt on, it won't chime if the belt is on)and seat belt light on dash comes on regardless if you have belt on or off.I guess I never took notice because after the initial 5 dings and light on dash stops goes out it never reminds you again if the belt is off

 

I need to get a new chime module. Mine is MIA.

 

Are they even available?

 

I have not checked, but I doubt it. I needed one for a '96 Buick 10 years ago and they were out of stock for that car.

 

Might be able to get one here on TGO's classifieds

 

My 84s works the same way only on start up.

 

My fingers are crossed for Ya' dude !! This might help too:



To the others askin' about these things; there's some part #'s , pictures, and some additional info about these in this thread:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...e-digital.html


Just remember that the audio alarm needs to have 7 PINS to activate all the warnings. I've know that I've got several of the 6-PIN alarms - the headlight warning is not built into them- & might still have a 7-PIN or 2 alarm left too.

I'm not sure that is working right. IIRC the Belt warning should only be sounding when the light is ON. Yup; Just checked the "operations" section and that's what it says,.......




Past experience tells me that not all Thirdgens had a headlight warning chime installed in them. While I wasn't the original owner of most of the wiring I've worked on, I've found 6-pin alarms ( = no headlight warning ) in several pre-87 thirdgens. The cars were ALL wired for the alarm to work, but the alarm didn't have the 7th PIN.

 

I think I misunderstood you,...... I thought you were saying your belt light was ALWAYS dependent on the belt being buckled. ( at ALL times, separate from the chime. ) Now I understand what you were saying !