Q. I want to install a new battery on my 1993 Toyota equipped with an air bag. What precautions should I take so that the air-bag light does not come on afterwards?
H.S., Addison
A. Whenever we swap batteries, we like to hook a 9-volt battery into the cigarette lighter socket. This prevents you from losing profiles in the on-board computers as well as your radio-station presets and the air-bag warning system. Auto parts stores sell the little gizmo that has a cigarette lighter plug on one end and battery snaps on the other.
Q. I have a 1990 Cadillac Brougham with a digital instrument display. When the cruise control has been engaged for about 10 minutes, the display goes blank, but the car runs fine and the cruise remains engaged. After a few minutes, the display will come back on.
However, if I disengage the cruise while the display is blacked out, the display immediately returns but the cruise cannot be re-engaged. After this the cruise will sometimes not work after the next re-start; sometimes it does with the same results. Could I possibly be doing damage by using the cruise control under these circumstances? And do I have a problem with the digital display, the cruise control or both?
R.B., Chicago
A. Your digital dash may have the same feature as our laptop: To save energy, the screen goes blank in periods of non-use. OK, probably not. It sort of sounds like high resistance in one of the circuits–possibly infinitely high from a loose connection. Since the cruise control and the dash each function, though intermittently, we can probably eliminate them as the cause.
We would look deeper into the system, checking for trouble reports that may be stored in memory, then proceeding from there. You need a pro to do that.
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Bob Weber is an ASE-certified Master Automobile Technician, having recertified every five years since 1978. Address your technical questions about cars and trucks to him in care of Motormouth, 17717 Silcott Springs Rd., Purcellville, Va., 20132. Send e-mail, including name and town, to MMTribune@netscape.net. Answers will be supplied only through the newspaper.
