Reset airbag?

[hawirick]

Brought my donor car for an 818S build and have not been able to start the engine yet due to airbag deployment. Does anyone know an easy way to reset or bypass the airbag disable feature that prevents engine start after airbag deployment.
Obviously my donor WRX had a minor front end altercation with a tree. The airbags went off and the car, which was supposedly running strong prior to the crash, would not restart. I'd like to get it started prior to striping it to access the true condition..
Thanks....

[Ravendas]

There's no switch or anything that disables the engine from airbag deployment on the WRX. It must be something else. Did you try unplugging the airbag module and starting it? Do you have fuel, spark, etc?

[doolots]

There is no correlation between the bags going off and the car not running. You have other issues. Did the timing belt break?

[longislandwrx]

What year is your donor?

did you take the timing gear cover off to make sure everything looked ok?

[hawirick]

Thanks for the information. I really know nothing about Subarus and probably listened to some bad advice on the airbag issue. Steep learning curve ahead!
Thanks and ALoHa, Rick

[hawirick]

Oh, BTW, it's a '04 WRX with fairly minor front end damage. Haven't checked the cam belt yet but I will as soon as I can get access to it.

[Goldwing]

Front end damage often gets the timing belt. Once jammed, the momentum of the engine can cause bent valves, etc. check the black timing belt covers for damage, sits across the front of the engine. If they are undamaged, it's likely something else, though I suppose a sudden enough stop as a tree could cause, could possibly cause the belt to jump a tooth or two. Ford's have fuel cut-offs, do WRX's? Is it turning over? Or nothing?

[Wayne Presley]

Ford's have fuel cut-offs, do WRX's?
THey do not

[longislandwrx]

The fuel pump controller will shut off the pump if the engine stalls, but cycle the key and it starts pumping away.



stupid question but how long was it sitting for? did you drain the tank and put new gas in?

[hawirick]

Well, I finally got to the timing belt covers and ya'll were right. Couldn't see the damage to the RH cover. It was just a small crack along the bottom but it looks like a hand grenade went off inside. The RH exhaust cam gear is in pieces at the bottom and the belt is jammed under the intake gear.
What should I expect when I get the motor out and pull the heads? Heads damaged? Pistons trashed? Or if I'm lucky, just bent valves?

[Jaime]

Sorry to hear about the damage. I rolled the same dice - my donor was hit in the front. I lucked out, the timing cover was pushed in to the point where one of the cam gears cut a hole in it, but my engine was OK.

I'd say at minimum you have valve damage. There's pretty much no bottom to the worst case scenarios as far as what could be broken, so I'd say just cross your fingers and open it up. On the positive side - the worst case actually isn't so bad, you can get an EJ20 short block with heads pretty cheap.

[Wayne Presley]

Valves for sure, maybe guides, pistons don't usually get hurt.

[longislandwrx]

cross your fingers and hope someone hit your donor while it was parked :D

pull the head, post some pictures.

[metalmaker12]

Yeah, looks like a top end rebuild or completely new top end if the belt jump so much and it was running, which I presume since the belt is jammed up. This is not just subaru knowledge though. Good luck, but I would be getting the engine out and tearing it all apart to get a full detailed list of damage to get off on the right foot.