Holy crud... front suspension has gone dead

[BigLion]

Since the middle of Dec. I've had trouble with the blooming front suspension on my ride (which is otherwise awesome); I heard what was said when I bought the car, the the air suspension is a demon and weak point in all X5s and Range Rovers and I still don't regret buying the car- in all other respects it is amazing; but here's what's up...

When I took the car to Das recently and got the pads changed, the grinding sound while cornering right at speed laid off for some time- a few weeks passed and then the 'SELFLVL.SUSP INACT' warning happened. The ride got progressively harder until this week the front level is obviously lower than the back (just an inch or so off the tyre), the suspension is inactive and the ride is hard as hell. It also says 'MAX 60 KMH' the whole time.

I got Googling for some suggestions and some people pointed out it may be the EHC unit under the spare wheel- couple of people said theirs' went dead after they spilled some liquid in the cargo area; indeed I spilled a big flask of tea over it in November or so, which seemed to just soak in to the boot- was late for work at the time so I didn't check where the wetness had gone through to.

So without driving it too much I'm wondering where to start; will the BMW diagnostics be able to pick up the fault? Can the EHC be reset or reprogrammed in this case, depending on what else is wrong?

This time I really need help!

[Ayham]

Yes, we should be able to pick it up with AL....Swing by, you have bought a membership at the shop win you bought the X5!!

[Shak]

Hi Mate
Lets tell you a bit about 'SELFLVL.SUSP INACT' on your X5!

1.Double axle suspension with height switch (4 air cushions) EHC unit fitted in the glovebox not in the boot!
2.If any one of the four air cushions are leaking it will activate the ABS braking system way to early causing a juddering sound due to the inbalance of the suspension.
3.There is a air supply pump in the boot under the spare wheel,if this fails the suspension wil be set at its lowest position resting on the bump stops thus a very hard ride.
4.There is also a pressure acumalator under the passenger floor pan with a valve block this could also be leaking or not holding the pressure.
5.Finally the EHC unit is very well known to fail,but in most cases it can be bought back to its virgin state and reprogrammed.

1.Single axle rear air suspension only,No height switch fitted but the EHC unit fitted under spare wheel.
2.If any one of the two rear air cushions fail the car will lean to the leaking side.
3.If both rear cushions are down then the fuse is bown,this is due to the pump working overtime compansating for the leaking cushion.
4.The ride hight switch can also be knocked of its position and cause the same fault.

All of the above will put the 'SELFLVL.SUSP INACT' warning light on.
Most likely its going to be one of your front air cushion leaking!
Hope this helps!!!!

[SewerSideUp]

Perfect time to switch to coilovers!! :D

As Shak stated. It's either cushions, lines/block/valves, control unit/hight switch. It's a closed system. Das should have no problem hooking you up.
Keep us posted.

Cheers!

[BigLion]

Hi Mate
Lets tell you a bit about 'SELFLVL.SUSP INACT' on your X5!

1.Double axle suspension with height switch (4 air cushions) EHC unit fitted in the glovebox not in the boot!

Good point- found a diagram online that says front level controlled by a box in the front, but didn't know where to look...

2.If any one of the four air cushions are leaking it will activate the ABS braking system way to early causing a juddering sound due to the inbalance of the suspension.

This was causing a horrible grinding sound... wasn't sure if it was the ABS, bearings or pads wearing out

3.There is a air supply pump in the boot under the spare wheel,if this fails the suspension wil be set at its lowest position resting on the bump stops thus a very hard ride.

4.There is also a pressure acumalator under the passenger floor pan with a valve block this could also be leaking or not holding the pressure.

Didn't know that- hopefully won't need to pull this out any time soon

5.Finally the EHC unit is very well known to fail,but in most cases it can be bought back to its virgin state and reprogrammed.

2.If any one of the two rear air cushions fail the car will lean to the leaking side.

The car was leaning intermittently to the front/offside for some time now, but not consistently

3.If both rear cushions are down then the fuse is bown,this is due to the pump working overtime compansating for the leaking cushion.

Fuses all ok


4.The ride hight switch can also be knocked of its position and cause the same fault.

All of the above will put the 'SELFLVL.SUSP INACT' warning light on.
Most likely its going to be one of your front air cushion leaking!
Hope this helps!!!!

Shak, great tips there... it is a really complicated system so I was pretty out of my depth with it! Last night I figured it wasn't going to get any better and having just got paid, went slowly to Musaffah to get it checked out; diagnostic picked up a Error '7A' code, leaking accumulator. The garage owner said it was the shock leaking; if I got it replaced the EHC and pumps were supposed to be ok and everything should work - quite a big 'if', I thought.

So I took the advice- replaced the SA on front/left side- I saw them testing the ride-height adjustment so I guessed it would be ok (and they wouldn't try to fleece me saying 'other components need replacing' cos it still didn't work); it has helped out with a bunch of failed features that I hardly realised had gone wrong at the same time, including the ABS and power steering- the turning circle seems much smaller now the system works fully. Relieved it was fixed quickly, without getting screwed for a bunch of add-on replacement parts and now have a much smoother ride!

[Bruno]

Same thing happened to ours back then. Front left shock was leaking. Replaced that sucker and the car didn't lean on one side anymore and the abs didn't grind anymore. However ours still had a hev failure anyways :p

[BigLion]

Same thing happened to ours back then. Front left shock was leaking. Replaced that sucker and the car didn't lean on one side anymore and the abs didn't grind anymore. However ours still had a hev failure anyways :p

I reckon it's when you drive down into underground parking- pretty much all the weight of the car goes on that corner while you're turning the wheel - either that or the holes in the road are mostly in the middle! Damn the speed bumps in Khalidiya mall u/g parking as well; like driving up the kerb every 15 yards.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the HEV?? :help:

[Ozimandius]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_E_virus

Teehee, just being corny. How much did the repairs cost btw?

[BigLion]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_E_virus

Teehee, just being corny. How much did the repairs cost btw?

Shoot, why didn't I think of that- Bruno, your car got herpes??


Ozzy, I will PM you the details

[Bruno]

Loooool I meant to to say ehc...

We also replaced the bearing too