Kell

Self-levelling suspension packed up over the Bank Holiday leaving us stranded in North Devon as the car was undriveable.


Took it to a BMW specialist as opposed to our dealer as I've already had a friend of friend that works for BMW say it could be as much as 2k.

In the end, we had to drive home in the Scooby you can see parked in the background (Father in law's work 'van') 2.5 Legacy Quad Cam. Sounded like it should be quick. Isn't. :roll:

Turned out to be the compressor which we got a quote from BMW for ?700 just for the part. Picked the car back up this morning at a cost of ?760.05 all in.

Very common fault apparently. Happened to anyone else?

BigMike

Good to hear it's fixed. That's a really slammed look! Probably the most slammed of the forum.

garychairson

That doesnt look good at all. i will be crying if i see this on my E61.
it has not happened to me, but there is a post here that one of the guy has it packed up and he had it changed over for not much less than what you paid for. but he had to source his own pump and asked a guy in a garage to change it for him.
for as far as i know. this is 2 E61 had this problem. what is the year of yours?

narvselius

The compressor problem is a commonly known fault, I'm afraid. The root cause is the hose to the compressor that falls off/goes into pieces etc etc making the compressor to inhale unhealthy stuff causing it to malfunction and subsequently to fall off the pin.

It's clearly a design fault. BMW, we are not amused! :thumbsdown:

Edit: BMW have made an update during 2008 so the compressors now being replaced should withstand tear and wear better.

bertolli

Yes that would be me.
Mine was salvage for ?250 however I also got a quote for a brand new one at www.bmminiparts.com which was ?417 incl VAT.
Fitting according to BMW is 2 hours (which in case of the official dealer probably is another ?200-?300
Looks indeed like this is another BMW E61 construction fault however I doubt they would admit it and give a free replacement to all E61 drivers

narvselius

The compressor is situatied behind rear right wheel and in front of the rear bumper under a plastic cover. If you open that cover you could be in for a surprise... as it often means a certain amount of gravel coming down together with the plastic cover. The compressor is made by alumnium which expands if it is confronted with moist air, giving a broken hose where the hose connects to the compressor.

So check the hose and if in doubt of the standard of the hose, replace it!

sixcard

I'm not very knowledgable on this subject but I did find the site below. I was curious if this applied to the E60.


http://www.bmw.com/com/en/insights/technol..._levelling.html

Kell

Though it's 'fixed', I drove the car today and there is an intermittent problem with the warning flashing on and then off again.

The guys that replaced the compressor said the guy they ordered it from reckons he's shipping about 50 a week. Also, the sensor can play up - which is what I think might be wrong now.

FWIW. When we discovered the problem, my wife left the car outside a house for about an hour and there was an awful load buzzing ( the compressor) running for about an hour even after the engine was switched off.

I wonder whether the sensor was telling the car that it needed pumping up and the compressor burned itself out trying to do the impossible.

andy535xi

In that case (compressor running for an hour) I would disconnect the battery to prevent the compressor from burning out. Just a thought

Kell

I hope it's not something specific to High Wycombe...