DIY Guide, Rear air spring replacement

[Mr.47]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

When you say you got a pair of struts for $160 you mean $160 a piece right? So $320?

They don't come in pairs for $160 on their website.

Corrected its 160 each. Also I found the rear air strut from arnott on Rockauto for $117.76+ Shipping, minus the lifetime warranty.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...r+spring,15005

[Maverik259]

Originally Posted by Mr.47

Corrected its 160 each. Also I found the rear air strut from arnott on Rockauto for $117.76+ Shipping, minus the lifetime warranty.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...r+spring,15005

Found a single on amazon prime for $140 and will
Be here tomorrow. Was going to do both but with less than 35k miles on the truck I'm good waiting.

[Mr.47]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

Found a single on amazon prime for $140 and will
Be here tomorrow. Was going to do both but with less than 35k miles on the truck I'm good waiting.

You may want to change them both, the Arnotts design are diffrent than BMW OEM.

[Maverik259]

Originally Posted by Mr.47

You may want to change them both, the Arnotts design are diffrent than BMW OEM.

Damn you right. Just so frustrating given such low miles and not needed. I'm still not convinced my driver side needs replacing but I'm not sure why sometimes it loses air and sometimes it doesn't lol

[mp25]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

Damn you right. Just so frustrating given such low miles and not needed. I'm still not convinced my driver side needs replacing but I'm not sure why sometimes it loses air and sometimes it doesn't lol

Did you end up changing both of yours out? Looks like I need to do the same soon. The Left has been sagging with cold mornings lately. Still trying to download ISTA from your other post. That might take longer to collect and set up than the bag replacement!

[Sedoy]

I recently replaced mine without messing with ISTA. I just unbolted height sensors and set them in high position to make the airbag deflate, after that I disconnected the battery. Super easy to replace, I wish all BMW DIYs were that easy.

Originally Posted by mp25

Did you end up changing both of yours out? Looks like I need to do the same soon. The Left has been sagging with cold mornings lately. Still trying to download ISTA from your other post. That might take longer to collect and set up than the bag replacement!

[Mr.47]

Originally Posted by mp25

Did you end up changing both of yours out? Looks like I need to do the same soon. The Left has been sagging with cold mornings lately. Still trying to download ISTA from your other post. That might take longer to collect and set up than the bag replacement!

I went ahead and changed both sides since the rubber were all cracked, and arnott are diffrent in design than OEM.

Originally Posted by Sedoy

I recently replaced mine without messing with ISTA. I just unbolted height sensors and set them in high position to make the airbag deflate, after that I disconnected the battery. Super easy to replace, I wish all BMW DIYs were that easy.

Indeed that is a good alternative to ista for deflating the airbags.

[Russmov]

Originally Posted by Sedoy

I recently replaced mine without messing with ISTA. I just unbolted height sensors and set them in high position to make the airbag deflate, after that I disconnected the battery. Super easy to replace, I wish all BMW DIYs were that easy.

If I end up needing to change mine out, does this photo make more sense when you are changing it?

[Sedoy]

Yes it will, just look underneath your X5 you will see this level sensor arm which you can unbolt and move up or down until you hear deflating noise. It's pretty sensitive, so I ended up playing with it for a while until I figured the optimal position for deflating. I also noticed that it will stop responding to the sensor position after too many tries, so I just let the car sit locked for few minutes and then retry again. Eventually you will figure out how it works.

Originally Posted by Russmov

If I end up needing to change mine out, does this photo make more sense when you are changing it?

[Russmov]

Originally Posted by Sedoy

Yes it will, just look underneath your X5 you will see this level sensor arm which you can unbolt and move up or down until you hear deflating noise. It's pretty sensitive, so I ended up playing with it for a while until I figured the optimal position for deflating. I also noticed that it will stop responding to the sensor position after few tries, so I just let the car sit locked for few minutes and then retry again. Eventually you will figure out how it works.

Is that on each side? Also does it stay where you set it?

[Sedoy]

Yes there is one on each side, but in my case I needed to adjust only one the passenger side as my driver side was already very low from failed bag. You can to lean the top of the arm against the aluminum sub frame, worked for me. Good luck.

Originally Posted by Russmov

Is that on each side? Also does it stay where you set it?

[Maverik259]

Originally Posted by Russmov

Is that on each side? Also does it stay where you set it?

It swivels all around. I didn't end up doing mine as I'm
Convinced it's not my bag due to how intermittent it is. Speaking of which it's going on 4 days now without letting the air out. And I know the system is letting the air out cuz when it does it I can hear the air being released

[Russmov]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

It swivels all around. I didn't end up doing mine as I'm
Convinced it's not my bag due to how intermittent it is. Speaking of which it's going on 4 days now without letting the air out. And I know the system is letting the air out cuz when it does it I can hear the air being released

You think it's one of the valves?

[Maverik259]

Originally Posted by Russmov

You think it's one of the valves?

Perhaps. But I'm leaning more toward the system telling it to dump air. I just don't know. Need to get it hooked up to ISTA to see if there are any errors or something. I really don't know where to begin. If I jack it up idk what I expect to see. I need it to dump air while I have it jacked up and see what's up

[Russmov]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

Perhaps. But I'm leaning more toward the system telling it to dump air. I just don't know. Need to get it hooked up to ISTA to see if there are any errors or something. I really don't know where to begin. If I jack it up idk what I expect to see. I need it to dump air while I have it jacked up and see what's up

Ahh ok. I don't know enough about our systems to help you out. Hopefully nothing major and you are able to diagnose it with out going to the dealer.

[mp25]

Originally Posted by Sedoy

I recently replaced mine without messing with ISTA. I just unbolted height sensors and set them in high position to make the airbag deflate, after that I disconnected the battery. Super easy to replace, I wish all BMW DIYs were that easy.

Awesome thanks for that info, was going to try that but good to know it has been done before. My bags are coming this week so will be using this method.

[Maverik259]

Originally Posted by mp25

Awesome thanks for that info, was going to try that but good to know it has been done before. My bags are coming this week so will be using this method.

Lol love how everyone's acting like this hasn't been discussed. I mentioned this on the first page of this thread. Lol

[Maverik259]

Alright. Knocked one side out. I believe I was correct in thinking it was not the bag itself leaking but I think it was the threaded seal itself. Shortly after lowering the truck is when I first had the inflation issues and it completely ran out of air on me while driving one day so I'm thinking I damaged the bolt or the plastic it threads into on the bladder. It made a loud hissing sound when the air was leaning out and I was able to get something close to that when I plugged the hole as best I could and lean on the bag. I'm sure this whole last 3 months has killed my compressor but let's hope it doesn't have to operate now for the foreseeable future.

Thanks again OP for a great write up. Although I will say it took me a minute to figure out how to get the dust cover off and how to get the brass ring off the air hose. Haha

[Russmov]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

Alright. Knocked one side out. I believe I was correct in thinking it was not the bag itself leaking but I think it was the threaded seal itself. Shortly after lowering the truck is when I first had the inflation issues and it completely ran out of air on me while driving one day so I'm thinking I damaged the bolt or the plastic it threads into on the bladder. It made a loud hissing sound when the air was leaning out and I was able to get something close to that when I plugged the hole as best I could and lean on the bag. I'm sure this whole last 3 months has killed my compressor but let's hope it doesn't have to operate now for the foreseeable future.

Thanks again OP for a great write up. Although I will say it took me a minute to figure out how to get the dust cover off and how to get the brass ring off the air hose. Haha

Glad you were able to get it sorted out. Hopefully your compressor is fine. 🤞🏻

[Maverik259]

Originally Posted by Russmov

Glad you were able to get it sorted out. Hopefully your compressor is fine. 🤞🏻

I was mostly excited to get ISTA working. Cringed when I hooked it up to the car and turned it on and when I started the program I got an error saying the program didn't install fully and needed to be reinstalled. Luckily it all worked.

Did an alignment test and found them to be pretty level. It showed the driver side (new one) to be 2 mm higher than passenger. Attribute this to the rudimentary way the adjustable links are set. Kinda hard to get exact. But 2 mm is close enough for now.

Also not taking any bets until it doesn't deflate for at least a week straight.

[Russmov]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

I was mostly excited to get ISTA working. Cringed when I hooked it up to the car and turned it on and when I started the program I got an error saying the program didn't install fully and needed to be reinstalled. Luckily it all worked.

Did an alignment test and found them to be pretty level. It showed the driver side (new one) to be 2 mm higher than passenger. Attribute this to the rudimentary way the adjustable links are set. Kinda hard to get exact. But 2 mm is close enough for now.

Yeah may just need to settle in a bit

[Maverik259]

Originally Posted by Russmov

Yeah may just need to settle in a bit

Haha and yesterday my air suspension decides to go super low again. I made adjustments to the rear but didn't seem to change anything. Then all the sudden 2 weeks later it decided to just drop and now I wake up and the driver side is slammed. Fml