loose airbag (was: vibration)

[Mike Sylvester]

I'm sure that all of us with over 150K on our cars have the loose airbag
problem.  You would swear that something in the suspension was ready to fall
out.

It seems to me that the springs between the airbag and steering wheel become
fatigued.  I've never tried new ones so I can't confirm that theory.

On my car I shimmed the springs with washers.  This isn't as easy as it
sounds because shimming the springs reduces the travel of the airbag when
you attempt to use the horn.  If the shim is too hefty, the airbag will be
nice and tight, but the horn will not function.  Keith Bedard can attest to
that.  The other problem is that the shim must go between the spring and
another washer that has a lip.  I don't remember what I used, but I know
that I didn't have enough to do my car and Keith's.  Thus Keith's
non-functioning horn.

I'm sure Bernie must have some $.02 widget that he's managed to wiggle in
there.

The next time I call Mac at Clair, I'll price the springs.  If they are
cheap enough I get a set and see if they fix the problem.

And please don't anyone ask what dielectric grease should be used on the
horn contact ring.  That thread was painful.
Oh wait, the wheel doesn't have to come off for this exercise.

Mike Sylvester


----- Original Message -----
From: "Brett Dikeman" <brett at cloud9.net>
To: "RGuzz" <rguzz at mindspring.com>; "Audi 200 20v Mailing List"
<200q20v at audifans.com>
Sent: Friday, May 24, 2002 11:11 PM
Subject: Re: vibration


> At 10:02 PM -0400 5/24/02, RGuzz wrote:
>
> >The vibration really
> >feels like it's in the steering column, like a bum dampner only there
> >isn't one i'm told.
>
> There is a dampener...it's on the passenger side, pretty visible...
>
> On my car, it feels like it's the airbag bouncing around, and in
> fact, you can move the horn pad around quite a bit and hear/feel the
> center part of the wheel moving around.   I've checked the two torx
> bolts that seem to secure it in place, and both were fully tight.
> Guess it's time to go Bentley diving(again.)
>
> The major problem, mostly, is that the horn has a tendency to go off
> if the bumps get big enough.
>
> Walker A: "Why'd he just honk at us?  How crass."
> Walker B: "He wasn't intentionally.  That's a '91 200q20v, and part
> of the steering wheel is bouncing around.  Fool probably doesn't know
> how to fix it."
> Walker A: "Oh, that!  Right.  Doesn't everyone know?"
>
> Brett
> --
> ----
> "They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary
> safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin
> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~brett/
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