I have a 98 Subaru Impreza, and the Airbag light wont go off. Iv'e tried to manually diagnose SRS problem by grounding diagnostic wire and getting the air bag light to flash but i get nothing. took it to a auto sparky and blow me away he couldnt get any sort of code or nothing. He did advise me that it may be the SRS ECU. is there any other options i may be able to try?

it may be that a previous owner disconnected some airbag components - verify the SRS computer is plugged in and the fuse for the SRS system is good. 

If any other components in the SRS system was compromised you should get some kind of code and functionality from the SRS computer. 

1. has this car ever been in an accident? 

2. what's the general history of this thing?  did it sit in a field for 20 years with mice chewing on it before you bought it or you've daily driven it since day 1 without any issues until last night? 

3.  is the check engine, or any other lights on?

4.  are any other systems inoperable - wipers, lights, stereo, etc...?

in the US you can just buy another SRS computer for dirt cheap and swap it out if yours is bad.  they rarely fail so i wouldnt' do this unless used parts are easily found there or you have a reason too. 

Hi thanks for your reply,

This vehicle has not been in a accident, my brother got the car cheap rego n warranted 12 months ago. The Airbag light was already on but he was told the steering wheel was faulty. so we replaced The steering wheel, wen to check and clear srs module but showed nothing and the light remained on. tried manually flashing codes and still nothing. light didnt flash or nothing. took it to the auto sparky and the same thing happened.(Wasted $134 NZD). he advised me that the module may be faulty. so i took it home and now im trying to find the module. its not in the usual places. is it possible for it to be in the ECU? thats the only module i can find. no other problems with the car or systems, no check engine light or anything other than the Airbag light. 

13 hours ago, idosubaru said:

it may be that a previous owner disconnected some airbag components - verify the SRS computer is plugged in and the fuse for the SRS system is good. 

If any other components in the SRS system was compromised you should get some kind of code and functionality from the SRS computer. 

1. has this car ever been in an accident? 

2. what's the general history of this thing?  did it sit in a field for 20 years with mice chewing on it before you bought it or you've daily driven it since day 1 without any issues until last night? 

3.  is the check engine, or any other lights on?

4.  are any other systems inoperable - wipers, lights, stereo, etc...?

in the US you can just buy another SRS computer for dirt cheap and swap it out if yours is bad.  they rarely fail so i wouldnt' do this unless used parts are easily found there or you have a reason too. 

 

1.  Silly questions - is it possible 1998's didn't require airbags and your country didn't have them back then?

They all basically look the same, here's an example:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SUBARU-WRX-98-00-AIRBAG-CONTROL-MODULE-ECU-GC8-GF8-IMPREZA-STI-99-RX-152300-2391-/202137601226

you can get some location information and help tracing wires by looking at Subaru diagrams on parts websites: 
https://parts.subaru.com/Subaru_1998_Impreza.html

The SRS computer is under the center consoler - like under/around/just behind the ebrake.  I think later models like 00+ are located a little more forward of the ebrake and under the stereo area. 

they're all incorporated with bright yellow connectors for easy identification - look for those bright yellow connectors/wiring harness.  that's SRS airbag wiring.  if you dont' see a computer - look for dangling, disconnected wires.  or look for yellow wires and trace them. 

your steering wheel and passengers side behind the dash should both have wiring coming out of the air bags - you could attempt to trace that back to the computer.