Fault code 01218.

[JregGT]

Evening Folks, hoepfully only a quickie, the car came up with fault code 01218 last night, although I have no details in my book of this, I have found it to be 'side airbag igniter - passenger side.' I have found a VW TSB (what ever that stands for,)or more accurately a detailed DIY write up on VWvortex, which involves removal of a connector/soldering etc which isn't a problem to do.
But the very first stage is to disconnect the battery, this is where I worry, I was sure I had read somewhere that disconnecting the battery would clear the ECU of a remap if it had, had one!
My golf is remapped, but I obviously want to clear the airbag fault. I dont want to do anything in a rush, and risk loosing the map. Can anyone confirm if this true or not about disconnecting the battery!


Cheers folks

Rich 

[edd666999]

It depends whos map you have, with revo, it wont wipe the map of just set i back to basic settings.

with apr, shark, superchips, rtech nothing will happen.

Have you tried clearing the fault? That code just cleared for over a year for me.

[JregGT]

Thank you for the quick reply matey, it is an R-tech map, that is magic matey, thankyou. Yeah I tried clearing it a couple of times, but it comes straight back when started the next time! Will give it another try, but that is brilliant to know.

Cheers

Rich 

[skard]

Do you have a 3 door? Quite common cos of the seat movements letting people in the back.

I did the mod on my last car, fault never returned afterwards. Your remap will be ok too.

[edd666999]

Thank you for the quick reply matey, it is an R-tech map, that is magic matey, thankyou. Yeah I tried clearing it a couple of times, but it comes straight back when started the next time! Will give it another try, but that is brilliant to know.

Cheers

Rich 

i tried that fix that vw outlines but didnt work for me.

Apparently you can just solider a resistor across 2 points to remove the light too.

[JregGT]

Yeah dude its a 3 door! and I would say passneger side (certainly since we've owned it) gets tilted and slid more than the drivers! If we get a dry night this week, i'm going to have a go at the removal of the connector and repair! Will report back how I get on!!

[JregGT]

Sorry for no reply to this, have been silly busy!! I'm going to try cleaning the connector first. Is it still neccesary to remove the battery when simply unplugging the connector??

Cheers folks
Rich 

[danfalcon]

TBH mate its probably in your best interests to disconnect the battery first

the small arc when you unplug the connector could be more than enough to set off the airbags

some people might not disconnect the battery and get away with it but its not worth the risk IMHO

[JregGT]

Lovely stuff matey, was thinking more of airing on the side of caution!! Cheers dude

Rich