Hello all,

I've had my (UK) 97 Accord Wagon for quite a while now, and early on I used
to get the SRS light staying on occasionally, but a single clear of the
memory using the MES connector usually sorted it out for a few months.
About a year ago my SRS light came on and I didn't bother clearing it, so it
was probably on for about 9 months before I bothered to do anything about
it. At that point the SRS light would still clear, but would often come
back on after a week, so I quite often left it on for a while to avoid the
hassle of clearing it. It seemed to be more prone to staying lit on cold
wet mornings.

Just recently I found that sometimes the SRS light would not clear at the
first attempt, sometimes taking up to 3 or 4 attempts. It always clears in
the end, and I have found it clears more often if I actually start the
engine instead of turning the ignition to II while initiating the clearing
process.

Throughout the time since I bought the car the only error code reported by
the SRS unit is 8-5 which I believe is "Internal failure of the SRS unit",
but it is obviously not a complete failure as this code is only reported
intermittently (although more frequently in recent weeks) and the light will
always clear eventually. Previously someone suggested to me that the power
supply from the battery to the SRS unit may be the cause of the problem,
although I haven't had any other battery-related problems recently. If I
wanted to check this, what voltage should I look for across the battery
terminals with the engine off? Is there somewhere near the SRS unit end I
can check the voltage? (I'm a little wary of messing with the SRS unit end
in case anything goes off)

Does anyone have any other thoughts on this? The car is too old to replace
the SRS unit, but if there's anything I can do to stop the light staying on
quite as often (short of removing the bulb) then I'd like to give it a go.

Thanks in advance,
Al Reynolds