Seat bolsters sprung a leak, what can I do?

[Deathacus]

Hello again! Issue now with the seats, the side bolsters on my '94 won't stay inflated. What can be done about this? Seems to be leaking ever so slightly around the seams, based on the bucket of water test. I have checked various things over both with a guage and inflator as per the service manual (5psi for 3 hours) and took the whole seat apart to dunk the airbags and lines in a bucket of water. Pressure went down and saw bubbles coming from the air bags. Any one know of a way to reseal these? Or where to get new ones?

 

[Devin]

They are not a SHO specific seat, so there may be options, but they are so old I would be surprised if you can find NOS bladders anywhere.

 

[luigisho]

I've never seen these particular seats in another vehicle. I'm curious what other cars use this seat?

 

[Deathacus]

That's good to know, I think I read somewhere that Super Coups had the same setup. They look similar albeit with a different cover. Wonder if the jy will let me bring my air pump and water bucket.
I do wonder if there is anyway to reseal the old ones, since they're not torn or anything

 

[luigisho]

 

[Devin]

I've never seen these particular seats in another vehicle. I'm curious what other cars use this seat?

They're Lincoln seats of I remember correctly

 

[Irish Pride]

There were two options for the bolster airbags. Send me pics of what yours look like. I'm pretty sure that I have spares.

-Chad

 

[Deathacus]

From a cloth late '94 with power everything. Kia ABS recall for scale.

 

[Irish Pride]

I have a few spares. PM me your address and I'll send you a pair.

-Chad

 

[Deathacus]

Interesting how yours has plastic pins, as per the book, but mine had metal rivets. Ford...you keep doing you
Now just gotta fix the control valves lol

 

[rubydist]

Usually the issue is not in the actual bags, but in the lines from the pump to the bags. The seat frame has very sharp edges from the stamping, and these air lines are typically routed over those rough edges and eventually the line leaks. Start by looking at that.

 

[Deathacus]

Agreed, in fact there was visible wear on the rear inflator lines (the one that wasn't leaking, of course) But I pulled all the lines and bags out and dunked them in a 5 gallon bucket, hooked up to a hand pump, to look for bubbles. The lines to the side bolsters were perfectly fine, tiny bubbles were coming from the air bladders' themselves, along the seams.
Not dismissing your theory, based on the marks my one line had I would think that would be the more common issue.

 

[Joe_SHO]

You could patch the hole with a bicycle tire tube patch.

 

[Deathacus]

Problem is my leak is around the seam, not so much a tear or hole. That's not a bad idea tho
Chad already hooked me up with his spares so I will see how those work. The seams look a bit more robust on those.