P38 Eas Airbag blew apart

Ive been a cheapskate and opted to replace my rear airbags with a used pair that were in immaculate condition compared to my possibly original bags.
All went smoothly, even replaced the shocks!
Drove the car down the road and back, parked up and headed inside for a much deserved beer.

POP!

Sadly not the sound of the bottle cap on my beer but the sound of one of the airbag bellows coming apart from the top plastic housing.

car obviously fell on its arse and also damaged a brake line, oh the joy!

The question, Is the bag now junk?
The split seems clean like the bellow literally just blew the top off.

i vaguely remember an old landrover mechanic saying that it could be done with a bit of soapy water? The seller also says it can be fixed. However landers in dunstable tells me that it cant be done.

Please help

New bags aren't that expensive from Island4x4

LouisPichon said:

Ive been a cheapskate and opted to replace my rear airbags with a used pair that were in immaculate condition compared to my possibly original bags.
All went smoothly, even replaced the shocks!
Drove the car down the road and back, parked up and headed inside for a much deserved beer.

POP!

Sadly not the sound of the bottle cap on my beer but the sound of one of the airbag bellows coming apart from the top plastic housing.

car obviously fell on its arse and also damaged a brake line, oh the joy!

The question, Is the bag now junk?
The split seems clean like the bellow literally just blew the top off.

i vaguely remember an old landrover mechanic saying that it could be done with a bit of soapy water? The seller also says it can be fixed. However landers in dunstable tells me that it cant be done.

Please help

Click to expand...

As you have found, second hand air bags are a waste of money. If the bag has split it's junk, if it's just popped the top there must be a reason so it's still probably junk unless you didn't follow the correct procedure when fitting the bag. My guide is in the tech archive.

If it's popped off once, it'll pop off again

As Datatek says above why bother with second hand when you can get new Dunlops for not much more

Yes this is Definitely a mistake im going to learn from.
Financially in a bit of a hole which is why the secondhand part seemed like a good plan and honestly the condition of the bags seemed so good. Never again.

LouisPichon said:

Yes this is Definitely a mistake im going to learn from.
Financially in a bit of a hole which is why the secondhand part seemed like a good plan and honestly the condition of the bags seemed so good. Never again.

Click to expand...

You need to be very careful when fitting the bags to make sure you do not lower the car onto an uninflated bag.

When you've fitted the airbag, if you have a compressor handy unplug the pipe from the valve block that corresponds and put "some" air down it, it'll help the bag take form over the lower mounting and then lower the car very slowly to ensure it's seating properly.

Mark Piercy said:

When you've fitted the airbag, if you have a compressor handy unplug the pipe from the valve block that corresponds and put "some" air down it, it'll help the bag take form over the lower mounting and then lower the car very slowly to ensure it's seating properly.

Click to expand...

+1 ^^^^^^^^