Seatbelt light remains on

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Ellie Niner

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isnt the seatbelt warning light regardless of if you are clicked or not like i thought it was a timed event
Yeah. There's a timer built into the seatbelt buzzard... thermal on the ones that buzz, and electronic on the ones that shriek (later trucks like mine). Either way, the light comes on for 5 or 6 seconds whether you're buckled or not, but the buzzer only grinds your ears if you aren't buckled.

Some vehicles in the 1990's were set up so the light stayed on until the driver's seatbelt was fastened... that circuit change was also built into the chime/buzzer module.
 

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Actually they are..is that something to worry about? I replaced the printed board with a new one and while at it replaced the bulbs with LEDs. Everything works and lights up, maybe a little too well but I'll see after the cover is placed once this issue is resolved

You have phantom voltage making the LED illuminate. you need higher quality LED bulbs that dont light up on small miliamp currents in the circuits

I did buy some cheap-o Amazon LEDs. Wow phantom voltage..that's a new one for me haha thanks for the insight! Any particular LED bulb that constitutes higher quality? And would I be able to just replace that single bulb or would it have to be the entire dash?
We do quite a bit of older / classic vehicle work at the shop and you'd be surprised how often we see weird problems with LEDs. I like the term phantom voltage. Most common problem we see with LEDs is where there is a bit of bleed over on the turn signal switch. Not enough to light an incandescent but enough for an LED. Our solution is always the same, remove the LEDs and install incandescents back in.

I'm not saying that there isn't an LED that would work correctly for you, but it is my opinion, and many others in my field that the electrical systems on these old rigs were simply not built to work well with LEDs. So the solution becomes either a full electrical system overhaul, or removing the LEDs. If your really set on the LEDs then try another more expensive brand, and change them all out to ones specifically designed not to light with milliamp currents. Because if you leave those other cheapies in there you'll have trouble with them sooner or later.
 

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my park avenue has the light come on , if you start moving without the belt it will do a easily tuned out chime, and the light will flash for a small bit. if you dont put it on, it will go out eventually.

I hate the idea of buzz if you start the vehicle before buckling, becauase there have been about 3 times ever that i have sat in my damn seat, buckled, then started. I start ASAP because I want the car to be ready to go by time i close door, click belt, probably adjust a radio or hvac setting or two, etc. if i wait till im buckled im then just waiting a small amount of time to then start moving
We do quite a bit of older / classic vehicle work at the shop and you'd be surprised how often we see weird problems with LEDs. I like the term phantom voltage. Most common problem we see with LEDs is where there is a bit of bleed over on the turn signal switch. Not enough to light an incandescent but enough for an LED. Our solution is always the same, remove the LEDs and install incandescents back in.

I'm not saying that there isn't an LED that would work correctly for you, but it is my opinion, and many others in my field that the electrical systems on these old rigs were simply not built to work well with LEDs. So the solution becomes either a full electrical system overhaul, or removing the LEDs. If your really set on the LEDs then try another more expensive brand, and change them all out to ones specifically designed not to light with milliamp currents. Because if you leave those other cheapies in there you'll have trouble with them sooner or later.
in the printed circuit realm of things.. with power wires discrete, surfaces probably conductive, connections are not sealed in connector bodies, etc.. youll see a lot of the issue. there is a few options going back to incandescent isnt really a fix because 1) quality led will work
2) you can also do various EMI, shielding, suppressions, groundings, clean surfaces, more relay use etc to help achieve better on it. however his ONLY issue is the seatbelt lamp which personally i would repurpose the spot for a custom indicator like a simple on-off indicator for something like my plow hydraulics if i were ot have it permanently wired and switched. etc,
 

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my park avenue has the light come on , if you start moving without the belt it will do a easily tuned out chime, and the light will flash for a small bit. if you dont put it on, it will go out eventually.

I hate the idea of buzz if you start the vehicle before buckling, becauase there have been about 3 times ever that i have sat in my damn seat, buckled, then started. I start ASAP because I want the car to be ready to go by time i close door, click belt, probably adjust a radio or hvac setting or two, etc. if i wait till im buckled im then just waiting a small amount of time to then start moving

in the printed circuit realm of things.. with power wires discrete, surfaces probably conductive, connections are not sealed in connector bodies, etc.. youll see a lot of the issue. there is a few options going back to incandescent isnt really a fix because 1) quality led will work
2) you can also do various EMI, shielding, suppressions, groundings, clean surfaces, more relay use etc to help achieve better on it. however his ONLY issue is the seatbelt lamp which personally i would repurpose the spot for a custom indicator like a simple on-off indicator for something like my plow hydraulics if i were ot have it permanently wired and switched. etc,
Of course I understand there are things that can be done to make LED's work. But you have to keep in mind at the shop the fixes as you pointed out "you can also do various EMI, shielding, suppressions, groundings, clean surfaces, more relay use etc to help achieve better on it" all that work cost the customer money, and it's time that is really hard to accurately quote before starting the work. I suppose I'm just seen enough issues not to be fan of drop in LEDs.
 

Ellie Niner

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I suppose I'm just seen enough issues not to be fan of drop in LEDs.
Same. Another instance that comes to mind are alternators that use a warning light instead of a voltmeter/ammeter. The field is energized through the filament of the incandescent bulb, and if the bulb is removed, the alternator won't charge. Sure, you could engineer a circuit that would allow you to replace the resistor (bulb) with a LED... but what exactly are you gaining besides more work for yourself? I don't think I've ever encountered a burned out idiot light... I suppose if you drove around for a couple thousand hours with no oil pressure or the engine overheating, it technically could happen... but...

Drop-in LED's can create a fair amount of issues with modern vehicles too. I was recently following a newer F150 with LED's in the cargo lights that were flickering and flashing as it was driving down the road at night... The LCM wasn't playing nicely with whatever was in those sockets. I've seen stuff like this before on other late model vehicles too. And bodges like plonking huge resistor blocks on your turn signal circuit, or other stuff to try and trick on board electronics into not noticing the modifications you've made, makes me cringe. I guess I just run into enough problems to contend with on a daily basis to not go out of my way to make more. Just my take...
 

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Same. Another instance that comes to mind are alternators that use a warning light instead of a voltmeter/ammeter. The field is energized through the filament of the incandescent bulb, and if the bulb is removed, the alternator won't charge. Sure, you could engineer a circuit that would allow you to replace the resistor (bulb) with a LED... but what exactly are you gaining besides more work for yourself? I don't think I've ever encountered a burned out idiot light... I suppose if you drove around for a couple thousand hours with no oil pressure or the engine overheating, it technically could happen... but...

Drop-in LED's can create a fair amount of issues with modern vehicles too. I was recently following a newer F150 with LED's in the cargo lights that were flickering and flashing as it was driving down the road at night... The LCM wasn't playing nicely with whatever was in those sockets. I've seen stuff like this before on other late model vehicles too. And bodges like plonking huge resistor blocks on your turn signal circuit, or other stuff to try and trick on board electronics into not noticing the modifications you've made, makes me cringe. I guess I just run into enough problems to contend with on a daily basis to not go out of my way to make more. Just my take...
Bulb bases(194s especially) often are cheap, poor fitting in bulb sockets. the wires running on each diagnol often are brittle too. the circuit boards are absolute chinesium, the LED chips of so many questionable qualities.
Vehicles that use the resistance of a circuit to detect outage see no resistance when LEDs come into play, almost any.
if you buy quality bulbs they hold up

Also, polarity switching for things like turn signals dont play well with led because typically an LED bulb has to be inserted one way. look at these
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the red are LED, they light faster, they are brighter, they are "dual" filament and the action of brake and then back to tail or off looks good. They fill the light housing better
My amber turns are incandescent. With 4 rear 3157 bulbs to have to resistor each, it makes a lot of heat that I would have to do a lot of work to run them far enough and safely enough away that I didnt do it yet.
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Trunk light sucked before
Its good.

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SOME of these LEDs are the cheaper, some arent. doesnt bother me, but I absolutely couldnt live without my daylight interior anymore, door lights, and puddlecourtesy light on the front 2 doors :)
 

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Haha I admit I'm being super anal about it. Just like with the 4x4 light, I don't need it to know that I'm in it but when I fixed it along with some of the other dash lights I felt like I was on a roll and nothing could stop me. Thanks for the inputs. I did try it with the regular bulb and got nothing at all, which I thought was weird. Anyways, I'll just roll without it, honestly don't need it. But hey I learned something new about electricity
I wuz jest jerkin' yer chain anyways
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@Titans61,

Where is the sensor for the seat belt located? I'd look there, something may have got messed up at the sensor, dirt, loose wire, etc. Some of those bulbs are tiny incandesent screw in bulbs. My son's Nissan had one out and I had to take the console completely out just to find this tininesy screw in bulb. I could hardly hold onto it was so little. Find that sensor maybe you'll find the problem, could be a bad sensor.
 

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@Titans61,

Where is the sensor for the seat belt located? I'd look there, something may have got messed up at the sensor, dirt, loose wire, etc. Some of those bulbs are tiny incandesent screw in bulbs. My son's Nissan had one out and I had to take the console completely out just to find this tininesy screw in bulb. I could hardly hold onto it was so little. Find that sensor maybe you'll find the problem, could be a bad sensor.
the spooly part
 

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@Titans61,

Have you found anything? Looking for an update as to what you found out was the problem.
 

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My wifes Subaru had a really annoying buzzer/chime thing when seat belts were not buckled. She was told there was a fuse or something she could disconnect to turn it off. She did. Every once in awhile all those warning lights in the dash will light up and won't go off until she shuts off the engine. One time she was told when the gas cap is loose it will cause all those lights to come on. That was weird. Then another time just like the last one she accidentally pushed a button between the dash and the back of the steering wheel. She found that one by another time she just swiped her hand over the place she remembered and they all went off.

Screw all that weird computer crap. Just give me my trucks good ol' manual everything. Nothing comes on unless you turn it on.
 

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@Titans61,

Have you found anything? Looking for an update as to what you found out was the problem.
Unfortunately haven't found anything and just gave up haha I first looked at where the seatbelt switch and didn't even find a connection so I figured it was cut or disconnected. I then looked under the dash and started prodding around the convenience center where the buzzer is located. Every schematic I could find online pretty much has the buzzer as a point of interest when it comes to the searbelt switch. Couldn't find anything there or at least didn't understand what was going on there so that's where I stopped.
 

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My wifes Subaru had a really annoying buzzer/chime thing when seat belts were not buckled. She was told there was a fuse or something she could disconnect to turn it off. She did. Every once in awhile all those warning lights in the dash will light up and won't go off until she shuts off the engine. One time she was told when the gas cap is loose it will cause all those lights to come on. That was weird. Then another time just like the last one she accidentally pushed a button between the dash and the back of the steering wheel. She found that one by another time she just swiped her hand over the place she remembered and they all went off.

Screw all that weird computer crap. Just give me my trucks good ol' manual everything. Nothing comes on unless you turn it on.
Sounds like ****** electronics/a BCM failure or trouble situation possibly. No idea, I dont learn about things I would never buy lol
 

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