I may have two issues which are likely unrelated that I need help on... but maybe they are related(?)

First to the questions, then I will expand upon them;

1) This morning when I got into my car and started it, I heard a loud repetitive clicking noise;
It was like an electric clicking that seemed to come from under my console.

Does anyone have any idea what I should be looking for - or what it is?

2) Is there any way to test a passenger setbelt to verify that it is good?
Is there a continuity test for any of the wires to verify if there is an open circuit?

Ok, now the background;

A couple weeks ago, when my nephew got into the back seat, the dreaded airbag warning went off.
I remembered that while still on my bumper to bumper I had this happen once, and they swapped in a replacement belt;
I came here did some investigating and found a great thread (that of course I cannot now find) that spelt out hte issue, and showed the TSB;
I followed that up by looking at my belt, and finding that some of the wires were indeed exposed.

I attempted to fix it last week, but didn't have enough time to finish;
Last night I finally had some time in which I was able to finish swapping the seatbelt;
I actually had a spare front passenger seatbelt from a 2009 Cobalt SS which was wrecked in 2010;
I swapped that seatbelt in my car.
Last night after buttoning everything up, reconnecting the battery I was disappointed to see that the 'service airbags' message came back;
Then this morning upon starting my car I got the (frightening in the moment) clicking noise - which I think may have been coming from my console, but it was quite tough to distinguish where it was coming from.

I could use any thoughts/opinion/information that anyone can share.

Thanks in advance!

 

1 the clicking sounds like one of the hvac actuators. there is two on the left side of the hvac case, the lower is the for the temp door, the top is for changing modes. then there is one on the far right side under the dash above the blower motor. that's Is for you recirculation/fresh air door. Need to get under the dash and feel/listen for which one is clicking.
2 DO NOT TEST AIRBAG WIRES WITH A MULTIMETER UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING. Some multi meters actually put off enough voltage during continuity testing to blow the bags or pretensioners. Better to be safe. When you say you pulled the belt from a wrecked car how wrecked was it. was any bags deployed at all. If so your pretensioner in that retractor has been activated. Usually the retractor locks up when that happens but I have seen it unlock after it cools off and seem to work fine.
The best way for me to help you is to have the airbag codes pulled, then I can give more direction on what needs to be done/replaced. You may be able to have a dealer do it for free, just ask if they can pull the SIR module codes and the passenger presence module codes. But from the sound of it you need a new belt assembly on the right side. They are known for wires breaking inside the insulation on the belt tension sensor(located at the bottom of the belt where it bolts to the floor).

 

Same issue with the air bag warning. Exposed wires causing the issue Replaced the seat belt module from an ebay part out (no air bags deployed). Airbag light went out and the passenger presence sensor now works. Easy fix

 

the car in question did not have airbags deploy;
I had assumed the seat belts would be tested when NOT hooked up to the car.

Thanks for the suggestion of the vents - they didn't make their noise last night when leaving work, or this morning when starting to go to work.

 

Then it shouldn't have been deployed then. Probably the tension sensor wiring is messed up. Not easy to fix either. The tension sensor on the seat belt can be tested sorta but not the pretensioner. The pretensioner connector is on the retractor itself.

 

is there any testing procedure out there?

I do have a full set of service manuals - if there is a procedure, maybe you can direct me to it... or maybe there's something online that can be shared here...

 

I would assume you need to have a TechII or what ever the newest zippy scanner is to check those codes - I have understood them to be stored in the BCM.
I know that disconnecting the battery does reset the codes, and that upon startup there is a delay before the airbag warning pops up - which is presumably what it takes for the system to self diagnose.

Thank you very much Kolt for humoring me, and offering assistance so far.

 

I kinda need to know what the code is first to know which procedure to do (if there even is one). I have full gm service information access, could give you all the testing documents but it would waste a lot of time going blind if you know what I mean.
Tech 2 or really good scanner, only the more advance scanners are going to pull airbag codes and even some of those cant pull passenger presence codes. Which seems to be around the area your having a problem. Those codes are not stored in the bcm, they are stored in the sir module and passenger presence module. Two separate modules from the bcm for the airbag system