Exploding new rear air bag P38 Thor.

Just when you thought you'd seen the last of me. Whilst calibrating my new EAS I raised the car to extended so as to remove the blocks, the brand new off side Dunlop bag went bang. The bit that rolls up and inside had separated from the rest. The supplier reckons I'd installed it wrongly and it had twisted. I don't doubt that to be the case, so can you tell me where I've gone wrong, please? The bottom R clip was in with the legs facing the rear. I compared what I'd done the other side and the legs were facing forward. Does this make a difference, if so can you tell which is correct? Thanks again chaps. Regards Peter.

supapete said:

Just when you thought you'd seen the last of me. Whilst calibrating my new EAS I raised the car to extended so as to remove the blocks, the brand new off side Dunlop bag went bang. The bit that rolls up and inside had separated from the rest. The supplier reckons I'd installed it wrongly and it had twisted. I don't doubt that to be the case, so can you tell me where I've gone wrong, please? The bottom R clip was in with the legs facing the rear. I compared what I'd done the other side and the legs were facing forward. Does this make a difference, if so can you tell which is correct? Thanks again chaps. Regards Peter.

Click to expand...

It should not be possible to over extend the air bag. Travel is restricted by the shock absorbers. It is capable of extending 2" further than wade height to overcome chassis grounding, although this setting is not selectable. When fitting new bags you should never lower the body onto the new bag unless there is air in it. Doing so can cause bag to deform. Also you may have front shockers fitted on the rear which have a longer travel and cause the bag to bow overly backwards when inflated.

Thanks. As it happens I have fitted shockers. Can the airbags be reassembled? There was air in the system when I lowered onto the standard height blocks. I was targeting an extended height well within tolerance. As the supplier suggested there was evidence of turning. I,be done this job eight times now. Getting the D located and the R pint in was all I thought I had to do. Again, I'm missing something. The other side and the fronts haven't suffered at all. This all gets very wearing, doesn't it? Thanks. P.

supapete said:

Thanks. As it happens I have fitted shockers. Can the airbags be reassembled? There was air in the system when I lowered onto the standard height blocks. I was targeting an extended height well within tolerance. As the supplier suggested there was evidence of turning. I,be done this job eight times now. Getting the D located and the R pint in was all I thought I had to do. Again, I'm missing something. The other side and the fronts haven't suffered at all. This all gets very wearing, doesn't it? Thanks. P.

Click to expand...

They can but getting them to fold over is a pain in the arse.

supapete said:

Thanks. As it happens I have fitted shockers. Can the airbags be reassembled? There was air in the system when I lowered onto the standard height blocks. I was targeting an extended height well within tolerance. As the supplier suggested there was evidence of turning. I,be done this job eight times now. Getting the D located and the R pint in was all I thought I had to do. Again, I'm missing something. The other side and the fronts haven't suffered at all. This all gets very wearing, doesn't it? Thanks. P.

Click to expand...

I kept one in my garage for 5 years before deciding sod it and chucking it ( a few months ago). Getting the cap in is the problem. You really need some sort of rig where you can place the bag in it and use air to force the cap on.

I have my suspicions about these Dunlop bags. I had one leak after hitting a pothole at speed. The cap had displaced just enough for a tiny leak up the side of the cap. How is that even possible? The shocks were old so it might have "bounced" a bit but even so. I didn't even bother sending it back (it was only about 2 months old) as I knew they'd just argue the toss. As you say, how can you get it back to front? The airline only goes in 1 side. With the R clip in that should be it. Pump a little air in (I was using my emergency inflation kit at the time) and let the jack down at bit at a time letting the bag fold a little and filling with a little air as you go and how can it go wrong?!

Only thing I can think it that there might be a little corrosion in the cap seating and that made the cap not quite sit straight at the top so that as the vehicle weight shifts about on it it loosens the top of the cap eventually allowing it to blow off.

My logic exactly. Get ready to laugh me off the planet. The sensor readings are absolutely all over the place. I can get a momentary reading that makes sense out of NS front by making and breaking the connector with a bit of wiggling of the arm. The NS rear seems to read in the ball park but the bag doesn't move. And so on. My guess is the rear offside took off because nothing was telling it to stop. Yes folks, you've guessed it. I bought non guaranteed britpart sensors from island. By the way, I got the bag back together and it's back on, just to enable me to fail to calibrate. I take it the wiring takes care of the handing side to side. I know, .............

I toyed with the britpart ones but decided to go with Dunlop in the end.
Imagine my surprise when 4 britpart boxes arrived.
Emailed island and they replied after about 4hrs telling me that they were Dunlop ones in there and they don't carry the britpart ones, only get them to order.
Sure enough, opened the boxes and they were Dunlop ones.
If you are getting dodgy readings from more than one sensor it might be wiring. They are only a potentiometer so you can measure the readings on the bench with a simple multimeter.

Yeah, I'm a little bit intrigued as to where Island get their stuff. That totally f*cked air-con condenser I got wasn't from the manufacturer because I rang and gave them the number off it. When I mentioned the Island company name they said they'd never heard of them and didn't supply them. Insurance write offs? End of line clearance from somewhere? Don't know.

Why would you have Britpart boxes if you don't sell the parts? Mind you,most of the stuff I had from there arrived in Britpart boxes for the D2.

Grrrrrr said:

Yeah, I'm a little bit intrigued as to where Island get their stuff. That totally f*cked air-con condenser I got wasn't from the manufacturer because I rang and gave them the number off it. When I mentioned the Island company name they said they'd never heard of them and didn't supply them. Insurance write offs? End of line clearance from somewhere? Don't know.

Why would you have Britpart boxes if you don't sell the parts? Mind you,most of the stuff I had from there arrived in Britpart boxes for the D2.

Click to expand...

they will use britpart allmakes and bearmach and lr for some stuff just like everyone else, britpart supply dunlop and conti tech

Wiring has crossed my mind. If the loom takes the same path as the airlines, it's taken the same scorching. Back down and under this morning. It's getting harder and harder to get back up again these days. I'll meter them all and swap over. Regards all. P.

In terms of selling new items "without warranty" I think this would be trumped by the consumer goods act. From memory, you have the right to a full refund within the first 6 months and even up to six years but after the first 6 months you have to prove it was faulty when supplied and the retailer is entitled to reduce the refund for "time used"
Also when buying online you can return within 14 days cooling off period. Not sure if the cooling off period applies if you have used them though.

I've played at consumer rights a few times over the years and at litigation not to mention returning stuff for credit/refund. It all ends up with an eternity of wrangling, coaxing and threatening. Even with a satisfactory outcome, someone has had your money for a month or more. Multiply that by who knows how many. It serves to help someone's cash flow at the very least. In the meantime...............

supapete said:

I've played at consumer rights a few times over the years and at litigation not to mention returning stuff for credit/refund. It all ends up with an eternity of wrangling, coaxing and threatening. Even with a satisfactory outcome, someone has had your money for a month or more. Multiply that by who knows how many. It serves to help someone's cash flow at the very least. In the meantime...............

Click to expand...

Worth an email quoting the act though surely?

Certainly. Years of being ripped off teach you cynicism. I will do exactly that, as you suggest. I've proved the the nearside front was up the spout. Resistance one minute open circuit the next. Luckily Matron hadn't emptied the bin and I was able to retrieve the one remaining that was in one piece. Cleaned it up and bingo. All OK except for my reassembled offside rear airbag leaking like a good un. So my email will mention that as well. Watch this space. Regs P.

OK. OK. Okay. I'm sorry. Matron's dealt with me and oh! Those bloomin wires on my head. What I'd done with this UXB was to have shoved the top R clip beneath the top mounting cup which only left part of the clip outermost where it should be. On closer inspection I could see the distorted metal on the inner rim of the aperture. A bit of creativity with an adjustable spanner and Tommy bar straightened it out. Done. You fellows have been brilliant, wracking your brains trying to help a total duffer. But, thankyou. That isn't all. Matron's "persuaded" me to confess further . I'm now off to my thread about the 35mph tweet.

UXB?

Unexploded bomb.

supapete said:

Unexploded bomb.

Click to expand...

Don't say that out loud on an American "airliner"....you'll end up with more than a twisted bag.
This guy just asked for roasted peanuts!!

wammers said:

When fitting new bags you should never lower the body onto the new bag unless there is air in it. Doing so can cause bag to deform

Click to expand...

So when fitting new bags in from a total rebuild i.e converting to bags from springs do I keep a set of blocks in between the chassis and body or use a jack before I start her up and get some air into the system. Bearing in mind I have to use the blocks to get the heights before I rewrite the ecu ??

I woud recommend use the blocks as easier to do all four at once.
Whatever there MUST be air in the bags before they take the weight