Annoying beeping noise on startup and every 40 minutes...

I've had an 01 Exp. sport for a bout five years now. Recently I'm getting this annoying beeping noise on startup and roughly every 30 to 40 minutes thereafter while it's running. When I start it, it's 5 sets of 5 beeps. When it's running it's 3 sets of 5 beeps. I've had problems with my airbag system almost since I've had it, and I noticed the little airbag indicator guy is no longer lit. I can't remember for the life of me, if he was lit or unlit when I got the damn thing. I need to make it stop before I lose my mind.

Crawl under the dash and listen for the beep anb where its comming from, and cut the wire making the noise maker. That is what I would do anyway.

The 5x5 beep is for the Restraints System. When the airbag light is not functional, the beep takes over. Replace the bulb.

rwenzing said:

The 5x5 beep is for the Restraints System. When the airbag light is not functional, the beep takes over. Replace the bulb.

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And then fix your problem...

buckle the driver seat belt

ive had the same problem for a while, actually since i bought my X a couple of months ago, and my airbag bulb is ok, and even with the two front belts bucked it keep on beeping as described above. BUT...... i´ve noticed the seatbelt bulb seems to be out..... i cant find any comments on the beeping beeing related to the seatbelt bulb, .... but can anybody enlighten me????? i would hate to do the bulb replacement (which apparently needs a very long taking apart process of the dashboard) and keep the beep afterwards.

removing the cluster isn't that difficult or time consuming. It appears daunting...but in actuality, it's not bad at all.

well then i think that´s one of my next weekend proyects, thanks for the encouragement.
But also does anyone know if the beeps are related at all to the seatbelt bulb being out?? or do i need to get the truck scanned to search for some active codes that might result in the beeping??? should i be worried? or just go with it until i get some spare time to take it to the shop?

This was very helpful. I repaired the bulb and it fixed the problem. Thank you.

99_Exp_SC said:

This was very helpful. I repaired the bulb and it fixed the problem. Thank you.

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Do you have a procedure you followed to get to the light? How about where
it is located? I have the same problem with my 2000 explorer and I really need to get it fixed.
Thanks!

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46290

This link should help you get the cluster off. Once you do that just replace the appropriate bulb. I didn't have to actually replace mine. I just finagled with it a little and it began working again. Good luck.

Hi to all, I actually have the same problem with my exp '01, but i have doubts 99_Exp_SC
wich bulb did you replace? the AirBag bulb or the SeatBelt bulb?

Any bulb thats out...

The airbag one, but once you're there you'll want to replace all burnt ones, or for that matter all of them (they're cheap enough) so that you don't have to disassemble the dash again

My dad has a 99 eddie bauer, his has been beeping the airbag light is burnt out. Hes just running the truck till it dies out, i asked him what he wanted me to do, rip the dash apart or find the wire and snip it, he said find the wire...does anyone know where the wire is for that? a general location?

x2 on that one, my 95's doing the same thing from the seatbelt light and I really dont wanna get back there again....

I have the same problem and have already takin that approach to solving it. The beeping is coming from a black box. It's about 3x6 in. All you do is remove the two 7mm bolts just above the hvac controls then pull the radio bezel out. Disconnect all your switches and maybe the radio too but I had enough room to not have to disconnect the radio. I also pulled out the vent box for more room. The box is on the left, its sitting there vertical, there's one 7mm bolt on the bottom holding it in place, then you pull it down so it slides out of place. There's four pigtails of wires going into it which was kinda surprising but the problem is the same beeping that comes from your doors being open with the key in the ignition, leaving the lights on and taking the key out and the annoying 5x5 sets of beeping even though they are in different tones is all coming from the same 1 lil 3/4 in speaker. Which is directly connected to to the circuit board inside the black plastic housing. I didn't want to even possibly hurt the circuit board be even attempting to disconnect the speaker. So basically... I met defeat and ended up just putting it all back together and decided to look harder on the internet for a resolution to the the very annoying beeping. Nor did I wanna lose the nice feature of it beeping at me when I do accidentally leave the lights on. But I think you could attempt to cut the wire sending the beep code to the speaker by taking a little ohm metering device and connecting it to each individual wire going into the little circuit board to see which on is sending the frequency or signal... sounds like it should work but it's just a thought. But for now I will just locate those bulbs and replace them and hopefully it fixes it. And one more thing... To take out the gauge cluster you have to 4, 7mm screws holding in the knee plate... there at the bottom. two of the bolts are holding in the hood release latch puller thing. then you take out the metal plate underneath it witch has 5, 8mm or 5/16 bolts holding that in. And of course you have to take out the radio bezel, then you'll find 5 7mm bolts holding in the housing around the gauge cluster 3 at the top and two at the bottom. then there's four 7mm bolts holding in the gauge cluster and theres ... 3 or 4 pigtails going into the back of the gauge cluster. And at the bottom left side of the cluster is the little nylon wire that goes to the P R N D 2 1 needle. That was a major nuisance... I didn't wanna disconnect it, because I didn't see any good way of doing so... so I just dealt with it in the way. The only reason I pulled the gauge cluster is cuz it sounded like the beeping speaker was behind it. I also took out two 1/2 in nuts holding the steering column up, to allow for more room, I did seem to help. There are also videos on youtube telling and showing you how to take out the cluster. But he never mentioned anything about the little ******* nylon wire going to the P R N D 2 1 box. Hopefully this all helps someone out.

fedaykinone said:

I've had an 01 Exp. sport for a bout five years now. Recently I'm getting this annoying beeping noise on startup and roughly every 30 to 40 minutes thereafter while it's running. When I start it, it's 5 sets of 5 beeps. When it's running it's 3 sets of 5 beeps. I've had problems with my airbag system almost since I've had it, and I noticed the little airbag indicator guy is no longer lit. I can't remember for the life of me, if he was lit or unlit when I got the damn thing. I need to make it stop before I lose my mind.

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i found that an electrical connector came unplugged under drivers seat plug it in beep stop

Helli everyone, I will do this repair soon. My question is, anybody known what bulbs are required behind the cluster? I want to have them on hand when I remove the cluster. Thank you