Ducato Maxi 130 multijet 2013. I had to reset the time, because the battery had been disconected. When I next started the vehicle the airbag light and the passenger airbag deactivated lights where glowing as well as the mileage display is flashing.
I looked in the manual and found that you can deactivate the passenger airbag by scrolling through the digital display, upon searching I could find no sign of it! It seems to have all the settings apart from the airbag.
Is there another way of activating/deactivating the passenger airbag?

The flashing mileage is usually a symptom of a Canbus failure somewhere.

Accompanied by airbag lights it seems likely that you have a problem with the airbag ECU, or communication with it, which seems not to be uncommon when the battery has been allowed to go flat.

I think there are several similar occurrences documented on here, I'd suggest you search for "airbag".

Some settings on the Mode button menu are only selectable with the ignition on and engine off, others only with the engine running. In addition, if you have the uConnect touchscreen radio, several settings are available on the radio screen through the settings button on the radio and no longer accessible through the dashboard mode menu.

As Hugh says, the flashing odometer indicates a configuration error on the canbus, which may be connected to your airbag warnings.

Airbag ECU memory corruption is not uncommon after allowing the vehicle battery to go flat or low voltage, or incorrect procedure used when disconnecting or reconnecting the battery.

If the airbag ECU has become faulty, there are companies such as CrashData who can test and possibly repair it relatively cheaply. A new unit is more expensive and will need programming to the vehicle. It would be beneficial to find out what if any fault codes are stored before deciding on a course of action, which can be done with MultiEcuScan or AlfaOBD software if you want to avoid the dealer.

Thanks for your help RS3100 and Hugh, I am thinking it may be the ECU too. The radio is not the uconnect and there doesn't seem to be any relevant menus on there. Tried the digital display menu and nothing on there either.
I will check through the wiring tonight and use some electrical cleaner on any relevant plugs.
What is the correct procedure for disconnecting the battery? The first time I disconnected it the 240v cable was still coonected so that may be the reason I am having problems?
If no success tonight, I wiil see if my loacal garage can check for fault codes and may be give Crash Data a call.

When disconnecting the vehicle battery, the ignition should be off, the key not in the ignition lock and the driver's door must be shut. The vehicle should have been in that state for at least one minute according to the driver's handbook, although I have seen other documents that recommend at least three minutes, before disconnecting the battery negative terminal. This is to ensure that the various ECUs have shut down correctly and that any communication between them and over the vehicle network is not interrupted.

I would have disconnected the 240v hook-up as a matter of course before disconnecting the battery or any work on the vehicle electrics. Hopefully the on-board mains charger wasn't also switched on and charging the battery?

I also disconnect and isolate the leisure batteries and solar regulator on my van before disconnecting the vehicle battery, to remove any possible sources of current to the vehicle battery or electronics. Depending how the motorhome side of your 12v system is installed, there can be interaction between the vehicle and leisure circuits, so it is safest to ensure that all of them are isolated.

Thanks RS3100, that is all really helpful. I'm a bit of a newby as until recently only experienced with caravans so the vehicle battery being connected to the charger etc threw me a bit. Now I know so that's great.
It doesn't have solar panels but does have leisure batteries I just need to locate them so that I can isolate them.

You might find this link useful:

https://www.crashdata.co.uk/fiat-01370978080-airbag-module-repair-p/4496.htm

but note the comment down the page

"Please use this link to purchase a REPLACEMENT unit if yours does not communicate"

===

The flashing odometer is the symptom of a Canbus issue. The airbag lights may (or may not) be lit because there is no communication with the airbag module.

The first step is most certainly to try to read the airbag ECU and recover any fault codes. If it won't connect (with the proper facilities), then it is probable that you have either an airbag ECU failure, or a more generic Canbus failure, but it may be difficult to identify which.

If you can connect and recover fault codes, then there is likely a different Canbus problem somewhere.

FWIW the passenger airbag activation setting is available in the menu on my (newer) van with the ignition on and the engine running or not.

The airbag ECU is, AFAIR, under the floor-covering below the central dash glovebox, bolted to the floor. Don't do anything to it (even simply trying to reseat any connections) other than a visual check without going through the full power-down disconnection process, and then waiting at least another 15-20 minutes or so.

Just one more question - what state is the battery in? If it isn't fully charged, then I'd give that at least a go before anything else.

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]May I add further information to disconnecting and reconnecting the engine battery. If the vehicle is a motorhome disconnect any connections to the engine battery from the leisure battery and chargers.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]From inside the van with all doors closed, wait 2 minutes or 10 minutes if the ignition has been switched on. It takes this long for the various computer systems to shut down. After the waiting time disconnect the battery negative. You can now open the doors and continue.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]When refitting the battery leave the negative terminal disconnected. From inside the van, doors closed , key out, reconnect the negative.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]If the procedure is not followed then some of the computer modules can be corrupted. Sometimes a proxy alignment sorts things our but there is a possibility the air bag computer is damaged and needs to be repaired or replaced.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Similar failures can be caused by a low battery, jump starting, unsuitable battery chargers.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Mike[/FONT]

Thanks everyone, to answer Hugh the battery is good and fully charged. The reason I disconected it originally was because the remote locking had stopped working and I read on a forum that disconnecting the power can help by resetting systems. Had replaced the key fob battery first but neither made any difference! in the end I used electrical contact cleaner spray, key fob now works perfectly.
Took it to my local garage today and read the codes, then deleted them. The lights all came back on again and left with two codes.

B10AA4A Check configuration failed - incorrect components installed.

U172687 SDM (sensing and Diagnostic module) on B CAN - missing message.

Haven't found anything on Google yet that matches with the codes, except possibly something to do with seatbelt pretensioners.

If the SRS (airbag) lights are still on, it does sound like the SRS ECU may be faulty.

Difficult to be certain without physically looking at the vehicle and doing more testing though.

If you had access to MultiEcuScan (about as close to Fiat dealer level software as you can get) you could scan for modules and see if the SRS ECU is present, or check the current network config against the settings. You could run a Proxi alignment and see if it fixes the config error, which is almost certainly the reason for your flashing odometer.

Also useful to check for any new codes or to see if the deleted codes return after a drive cycle.

I've had a couple of similar codes by the text description on a Volvo. That was due to a rear view mirror that went faulty and caused the controlling module to report that an incorrect component was installed and the Linbus message was not as expected or missing.

Might be worth saying roughly where you are in case anyone with MES is nearby. Otherwise it comes down to whether you want to buy MES or for similar cost take a punt on sending your SRS ECU to Crashdata for testing. It might of course be OK if the fault is elsewhere, but what you did before the warning lights came on does make me think it's more likely than not to be at fault. For about £60 or so (I think) they will either tell you it's OK, it was corrupted and repaired, or that it needs replacing. If the latter you can get a recon unit from them for a reasonable price, but you'd need MES or similar to code it to the van (won't need that if your existing unit is OK or can be repaired). I think Fiat will want in the region of £400 to fit a new unit from previous posts, plus a charge for doing their own diagnostics.

Thats a good idea RS3100, I am in South Herefordshire.I sent the SRS ECU off yesterday by special delivery to Crashdata, they called me today to say there were no faults. The lady I spoke to said it could be the body control module?
I did some more research on the fault codes that the garage found.

B10AA-4A The body control module (BCM) has detected a mismatch between the vehicle and the PROXI configuration. Cause: COMPONENTS OR MODULES HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THE VEHICLE THAT ARE NOT SUPPORTED IN THE ORIGINAL PROXI CINFIGURATION.

FAULT CODE U172687 Fiat 500 Airbag Module No Communication Fault. ... Proxi alignment is the process of syncing a used airbag module to your vehicle & as long as the part numbers are the same there is no special or extra programming required.

My next plan is to check the wires to the airbag, if no joy search for a body controller repairer

earlyriser said:

Thats a good idea RS3100, I am in South Herefordshire.I sent the SRS ECU off yesterday by special delivery to Crashdata, they called me today to say there were no faults. The lady I spoke to said it could be the body control module?
I did some more research on the fault codes that the garage found.

B10AA-4A The body control module (BCM) has detected a mismatch between the vehicle and the PROXI configuration. Cause: COMPONENTS OR MODULES HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THE VEHICLE THAT ARE NOT SUPPORTED IN THE ORIGINAL PROXI CINFIGURATION.

FAULT CODE U172687 Fiat 500 Airbag Module No Communication Fault. ... Proxi alignment is the process of syncing a used airbag module to your vehicle & as long as the part numbers are the same there is no special or extra programming required.

My next plan is to check the wires to the airbag, if no joy search for a body controller repairer

Click to expand...

The mismatch (which is the cause of your blinking odometer) doesn't only mean that a component has been added which is not supported. It means that the body computer has detected a mismatch between its stored configuration and the configuration it reads from the vehicle when it checks the network. Whilst it could be generated due to a component having been replaced or changed, it can also be generated if the configuration appears to have changed because a component has become faulty or the stored configuration has become corrupted for some reason.

The fact that you haven't changed any components and the fault appears to have occurred after you disconnected the battery suggests one of the latter options is more likely.

It may be that running a proxi-alignment using MES or similar diagnostic software might fix the issue. It causes the BCM to scan the network, rebuild the configuration file and rewrite it to the BCM and other nodes that store copies. With MES you can also load the current configuration and check for differences between what functions are fitted to your vehicle and what are enabled.

You could also try resetting the BCM, which involves disconnecting both vehicle battery cables and waiting a couple of minutes before reconnecting the battery, but only do that if you are confident that you can disable the solar regulator and leisure batteries first, and follow the instructions that Mikefitz and I described above to the letter.

The SRS ECU was worth checking for the relatively small cost involved, but as you now know it is OK diagnostics are really the next best move as you might be able to fix the issue by running a proxi-alignment, and if not they should at least give you an indication of the nature of the problem. It would help if you could find someone local to you with a copy of MES. Unfortunately I'm in Hertfordshire not Herefordshire!

Thanks again RS3100, I am going to order a Multiecuscan on Monday. Just checking that this is the correct one?https://www.gendan.co.uk/product_FESPKG.html
Hopefully a proxi-alignment will cure it as I have tried resetting the BCM.
Once I get the Multiecuscan are there any tips I need to know?

You need to be sure, of course, that you have a laptop capable of running the software.

For your vehicle, AFAIK, you only need the connection package for CanBus vehicles:

https://www.gendan.co.uk/product_FESCAN.html

...which would save you a bit of money (fewer adapters, but full access for my X/290, and I believe, your X/250).

There have been a few comments about the best ELM interface to use for the Proxi alignment procedure, so you may wish to check, but I believe the unit bought from Gendan has been successful (I haven't tried mine with Proxi, but all reads/resets I've tried have been fine).

My copy of MES is linked to the CanTieCar multiplexer so I can't really comment on Elm dongles. However, I tried using AlfaOBD with a cheap generic Elm dongle that works fine with other software, but it won't communicate via the MES yellow cable. I bought an OBDkey dongle to use with AlfaOBD and that works fine, but cost about £80 AFAIR.

There are recommendations for compatible interfaces on the MultiEcuScan website under the Help tab.

You can get the software direct from Yani (the author of the software) Whom I think is a member of this forum, for 50 euros

https://www.multiecuscan.net/

And the cables from Daniel, full set

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fiat-Alfa...QAAOxyOlhS29dC

Mike