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      11-17-2016, 08:33 AM   #1
JonM
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Air Suspension Failure?

Our X5 has the 3rd row seat and the comfort air rear suspension. Yesterday, the airbags were completely empty. Car was towed to dealer and it's there now.

Anyone seen this?

Both airbags were at zero, so a failed airbag is unlikely because both were flat. Could be a line or the compressor or software. About 10 days ago we got the car back from the dealer for a leaking rear differential, so mechanics were in that area.
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      11-17-2016, 08:48 AM   #2
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were they empty before or after you started it? all air suspension systems start to leak sooner or later, and having empty airbags is standard after the car has been sitting.

for this reason, i personally dont believe these kind of solutions belong on private cars.
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      11-17-2016, 10:49 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by UnhappySwede View Post
were they empty before or after you started it? all air suspension systems start to leak sooner or later, and having empty airbags is standard after the car has been sitting.

for this reason, i personally dont believe these kind of solutions belong on private cars.
They were full on startup.
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      11-17-2016, 11:34 AM   #4
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And yet you towed it to the mechanic? And the tow guy agreed on this?

No need for that, when our cars are 10 years old, all our airbags will be empty before startup.

Unfortunately, once leaks start developing everywhere, the compressor will work harder and eventually fail aswell.

The sad part about only having rear axle air suspension is kinda only having the the cons of this technique and few of the benefits.
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      11-17-2016, 11:42 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by UnhappySwede View Post
And yet you towed it to the mechanic? And the tow guy agreed on this?

No need for that, when our cars are 10 years old, all our airbags will be empty before startup.

Unfortunately, once leaks start developing everywhere, the compressor will work harder and eventually fail aswell.

The sad part about only having rear axle air suspension is kinda only having the the cons of this technique and few of the benefits.
BMW agreed to it.

Once the air was out, the car was metal on metal and there was no jounce or rebound. Zero suspension travel left. No way we were driving the car at that point... the risk of deforming suspension components is too great.

My guess is the dealer made a mistake when doing the differential work.

I wanted to see if anyone else had issues, but thank you for your insightful comments.
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      11-17-2016, 12:41 PM   #6
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Im sorry, I think I misunderstood you. If the airbags were full at startup but then leaked empty with the engine running, then theres something else wrong.

I thought you said you found them empty and they refilled upon startup. That is more normal and usually just a question of time.
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      11-17-2016, 03:57 PM   #7
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The thing is, we have Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, Land Rover, all with air suspension that none have failed and some over ten years 100k miles, so I don't agree that it will be like this.
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      11-18-2016, 12:42 AM   #8
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I work with heavy trucks that do have these systems on, and it is known as certain as tires will wear out, that the parts on this suspension will. Of course, salt and cold speeds up the aging.

A steel suspension consist of a steel spring. An air suspension consists of a compressor, pipes and hoses leading the air, airbags made out of rubber, valves everywhere and then lots of electronics monitoring this. Any of these parts can fail.

My friends Mercedes Viano started leaking at about just 2 years old. When I bought my F15, it was very important to me that the car did not have air suspension. I like driving in the wilderness and last thing I need is a blown airbag out there.
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      11-18-2016, 07:41 AM   #9
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I really like the functionality of the air suspension, it is nice to be self-leveling, especially with the 3rd row. And, I don't think the life of the system is typically any shorter than the life of the shocks. The replacement procedure in TIS for the airbags is not very complicated either.

I cannot find a single failure of an F15 air suspension with google, and my dealer hasn't seen one either. So I don't think it's common. They recently removed our differential for a leaking issue and the likelihood that they disturbed the air suspension system is pretty high. Will post again when I get the car back.
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      11-18-2016, 08:25 AM   #10
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UPDATE: Dealer called. They found 2 identical, symmetric cuts; one on each airbag. They think they cut/sliced/damaged the airbags during differential removal. Fix is airbag replacement (both) under warranty.

For the E70, you can do the remove and replace all from under the car without touching the interior, like the E53. Hopefully the F15 is like the E70 in that respect.
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      11-18-2016, 08:40 AM   #11
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Glad that they identified the issue and that the cause appears to be mechanic mistake vs flaw in the suspension.

I wonder how many of us have gone through the leaky rear diff issue. Seems to be more common than I would have thought. Sounds like you got both sides addressed at the same time. I ended up needing to go back at different times for a leak in each side. Good luck with the repair.
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      11-18-2016, 08:54 AM   #12
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Well, yea but the F15 is still quite new. Search the net for the X5 E70 air suspension, I doubt there are many of them that did not have problems with this.

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...suspension-sag

Lot of guys with problems, and I doubt they have have similar issues on their normal-springed front axels.

Sure, there are a few functional benefits from air suspensions. The car could have the front axle air damped aswell, since the compressor etc is already there. And the driver could have the option to raise or lower the whole car, but we dont have that either.

I also forgot to mention that this whole system requires an air dryer, to get the moist out or everything freezes inside. The filter inside the dryer needs to be replaced once it cannot contain more moist.

Lots of hassle for the small benefit of a self suspending rear...even pickup trucks get by without having the rear self-adjusted
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      11-18-2016, 10:01 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by UnhappySwede View Post
...Lots of hassle for the small benefit...
LOL. It is a BMW. If you wanted a simple car, this is not it. Every system on these cars car is over engineered and exceptionally complex, in order to provide tiny, incremental improvements over the competition. Have you seen how many bushings (wear items) there are on the rear suspension alone? The maintenance will be ridiculous for us someday.

I am sure you know all the X5Ms and X6Ms are air suspension, BTW.
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      11-18-2016, 10:07 AM   #14
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Originally Posted by Terp335 View Post
I wonder how many of us have gone through the leaky rear diff issue. Seems to be more common than I would have thought.
I am not sure they would have even noticed the wetness on ours. It was very minor in our case (less than yours) and I had to point it out to them because I had the car on jacks and saw it. Most owner's don't do that.

The root cause of the differential leak was the seals were put in slightly crooked; workmanship, not a design issue. They are a rubber seal and a radial spring. I would think it is quite common.
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      11-26-2017, 02:09 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alphaod View Post
The thing is, we have Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, Land Rover, all with air suspension that none have failed and some over ten years 100k miles, so I don't agree that it will be like this.
Looks like I’m going to have go eat my words...

My rear airbags took a dump today and I’m 350 miles from home.
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      11-26-2017, 03:52 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alphaod View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by alphaod View Post
The thing is, we have Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, Land Rover, all with air suspension that none have failed and some over ten years 100k miles, so I don't agree that it will be like this.
Looks like I’m going to have go eat my words...

My rear airbags took a dump today and I’m 350 miles from home.
Quote:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alphaod View Post
The thing is, we have Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, Land Rover, all with air suspension that none have failed and some over ten years 100k miles, so I don't agree that it will be like this.
Looks like I’m going to have go eat my words...

My rear airbags took a dump today and I’m 350 miles from home.
Sorry to hear that. Is your car under warranty? If not can you share what is cost for this to be replaced! Thanks.
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      11-26-2017, 04:36 PM   #17
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Yes it’s under warranty. Thank goodness.

I’m in my way home tonight. If anybody see a low rider X5 on I-95 probably me. My back is sore.

Unfortunately I don’t have time go get it fixed until end of the month since I’ll be away for work, but I’ll report back on the cost. I just had my front control arms replaced under warranty also. I think that was $1400 with labor.
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      11-26-2017, 05:36 PM   #18
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I feel your pain and it's not just BMW. I had a 2004 Lexus GX 470 and the sensor for the air suspension died. In this case, the sustain pumped up the rear air shocks all the way, and the front was normal. I drive home with the "Lexus Bigfoot". There was no shock absorption and the vehicle bounced around everywhere. Luckily the sensor was covered under warranty.
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      11-26-2017, 09:19 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alphaod View Post
Yes it’s under warranty. Thank goodness.

I’m in my way home tonight. If anybody see a low rider X5 on I-95 probably me. My back is sore.

Unfortunately I don’t have time go get it fixed until end of the month since I’ll be away for work, but I’ll report back on the cost. I just had my front control arms replaced under warranty also. I think that was $1400 with labor.
What went wrong with the control arms?
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      11-27-2017, 12:09 AM   #20
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Originally Posted by ronmexico385 View Post
What went wrong with the control arms?
Creeked when braking, turning, driving.
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      11-27-2017, 01:21 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alphaod View Post
Looks like I’m going to have go eat my words...

My rear airbags took a dump today and I’m 350 miles from home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Whazzup@NJ View Post
I feel your pain and it's not just BMW. I had a 2004 Lexus GX 470 and the sensor for the air suspension died. In this case, the sustain pumped up the rear air shocks all the way, and the front was normal. I drive home with the "Lexus Bigfoot". There was no shock absorption and the vehicle bounced around everywhere. Luckily the sensor was covered under warranty.
I had a similar situation with a full-size Range Rover that was out of warranty. The front end was slammed to the ground and the rear end raised up to its highest setting while I was driving down the road with the kids, needless to say it was a super scary experience! The dealer wanted to replace all four bags at $2k a pop, said it was a very common problem. Fortunately it ended up being faulty ride sensors. I sold it as soon as it was repaired and vowed to avoid air-suspension on future autos.
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      12-21-2017, 09:10 AM   #22
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I got my car fixed finally. The fuse for the air pump kept blowing so that's why it was sitting low. They replaced the fuse and it would blow again. I was away for two weeks, so I let them do what they needed to do. They checked all the lines, airbags, etc.

They ordered new pump, airbags, etc. Found no wear or anything on the lines, airbags, etc., but eventually found it needed new pump (air supply system) to the cost of $1400. I think labor was billed at $2300.

Good thing it was under warranty.
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