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Lost airbags – No way to ride!
I took a bus run today and towards the end stopped to top off the tank. I’m just ready to open the door when I hear this loud “POP” in the area of the radiator. Even a man of my delicate sensibilities knew “that didn’t sound good”. As I’m walking to the back to take a look I can tell the bus is no longer at drive height. Must be a break in the line between the pump and airbag I imagine.
I wasn’t far from the park where I keep the bus and noticed two things immediately. 1.. The Lo air pressure light was on and went off shortly after I was underway which surprised me. I thought it would have stayed on? 2. If you ever wondered how a bus rides without airbags it’s an experience. It’s a real bounce-fest that much I can tell you.
Is this something I can fix or do I need to take it somewhere? And how far do you dare drive without airbags?
Harry
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49 Replies
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Which air bag(s) is it. Give as much info as you can .
All depends on which bag(s), if tires are rubbing something and you`ll probably need to block off air to that bag(s) to get to repair facility. Thankfully it wasn`t one of the steer bags.
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Hi Steve, The drive height was gone on both sides of the bus if I’m reading your question correctly. I don’t think any tires were rubbing, I didn’t notice it from the outside or heard anything like that from inside the bus while underway.
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glad nothing rubbing. Can you see which bag(s) are blown ?
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If the front end is down and you have fiberglass fenders, making a tight turn will destroy your fenders. If you have the older rubber ones you will be OK. The air for the air bags is different than the air for the brakes with is why the air pressure came back up again. You can stop but you still have no air in the air bag(s). The 2 front ones are tied together so losing air in one will cause the loss of air in both. The rears are separate so knowing which bag is blown will help. That also assumes that it actually is an air bag. Were you able to SAFELY get under the coach to see if maybe an air line simply came loose?
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Hi guys, nothing on the bus has been hurt or broken. And the entire bus went down evenly on both sides front and back. Here is a pic of my bus after I returned to the park and engine still running. You will note it’s not at drive height. Me feeling is it’s the line from the pump to the airbags?
Do you have to get under the bus to fix the line? I assume the answer is yes and I have no way of doing that here. My nearest place to have it worked on is Jeff’s at ETLC. Can the bus be drives that far, 90 miles (50+ of it mountain-winding roads)?
Harry
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0What`s your location Harry ? Can u start engine let aux air buildup , shut it off and go to rear and try to locate exact leak ? Your side stainless panel covering tag and drive tires should raise up (hinged) and lock manually giving you good access to all rear air bags,etc.
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Harry: Even though you think its down all the way, DO NOT try to crawl or reach under it. PLEASE!
Do you have a couple of 20 or 30 ton bottle jacks? Preferably an air operated bottle jack?
Most mobile heavy truck mechanics have the equipment to safely get under the coach.
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Hi Steve, My Bus is parked in an RV park here in Murphy, NC. I will see tomorrow if I can regionalize the air leak. I l’ll try to hear it with the engine running. It that doesn’t work I’ll get someone to stand where I heard the pop to see if he can hear the air when I first turn the engine off. I’ll also try the Level Low to see if I can get the front bags aired up etc.
Hi Dick, I will not put any of my body or anyone else’s under the bus and I thank you for the warning. Something like that you can’t hear enough. I don’t have bottle jacks but I have a mechanic coming over tomorrow to take a look and he has them.
Thanks for your help guys,
Harry
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Tire covers are not going to help with this situation. You know that, right Harry?
Jeff and Lindsay
91 Marathon XL -
Came on Jeff, who Says?
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Im no Jeff Rowe but you can trust me on this one.
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Harry,
We talked about zeroing out a coach and your experience is why we suggest a calendar time for certain components such as tires, batteries, air bags, brake chambers, etc. When any one of them and other key components fail you have a problem of relatively significant proportions. If you attempt to drive the bus with a failed air bag keep in mind you can create more damage and expense than you are already dealing with. So my primary suggestions is to find someone to fix what is broke with the bus in place.
If you do plan to drive it somewhere you have to at least protect your safety and driving with a compromised air system is not safe. I do not know if your protection valve is working so I am going to tell you the procedure you should follow to maintain full brake system pressure.
First, set your level low to manual. If you know where the leak is air up the coach and manually add air to the two non-leaking parts of the suspension. LH, RH or front. One of the three leaks no sense adding air to it to bring up the coach.
Leave the level low in the manual position and all three systems, primary, secondary and accessory should air up to 120 PSI. If they do not air up to 120 and cycle as needed rethink a decision to move the coach.
Drive slow, but with the level low in manual and if you are not trying to add or exhaust air from the leaky section of the suspension you should have effectively closed the leak at the Norgrens. Did I say drive slow?
When you get it fixed, do not stop with the one failed air bag. Do all 8. If you haven’t replaced brake chambers, replace them also.
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Harry,
It sounds like the thinking on this thread is that there is only 1 bag on each side at the rear. There are in fact 3 bags per side (2 on the drive axle and 1 on the tag). You will need to check all connections and bags until you find the source of the “pop”.
Good Luck
Doug
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You can buy a 12″X10′ and have it cut (Lowe’s/Home Depot) into 4′,3′,2′,1′ sections. Screw that all together and you have a very good safe temporary ramp to run the coach up on. It will only give you about 7″ of additional clearance but it will keep anyone under the coach safe. That’s the setup I used to work on my front air bags and even with no air in the front I could still easily (and safely) crawl in and out. If that’s not for you, that’s completely OK as well but it is going to mean going to a bus service center (does not need to be a Prevost service center or ETLC). It just needs to be a service center that can put the coach on a lift and take a look around.
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Hi Jon, RE: “We talked about zeroing out a coach and your experience is why we suggest a calendar time for certain components such as tires, batteries, air bags, brake chambers, etc”
October 2017 ETLC replaced all air bags, air spring assembly, replaced brake chambers, replaced Norgren valves, etc and replaced all fluids. My tires are two years old and my batteries are less than a year old. You’ve always been a tremendous help to me Jon and I’d not repay your kindness by not paying attention. Tomorrow I’m going to see what I can do with the Level Low system and see if any will air up. I also have a mechanic coming out tomorrow to take a look and hopefully see what’s needed. And if I must move the coach “slow is the key word”! I hope to be able to isolate the leak because the place of the “pop” was obvious.
Thank you one and all for your help and good thoughts,
Harry
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