Captain Scarlet

Hi,

I have recently bought a March 07 E61 LCI. Having previously read all the tales of woe about the air suspension I have been watching the back end of the car like a hawk. All seems well and I have only heard the compressor after jacking up the car to change to winter wheels. It was only on for a matter of seconds and sounded, well, like a compressor. A cursory check of the suspension bags suggests all is well.

However a number of times I have measured the height from the ground to the underside of the wheel arch on both sides of the car and the measurements are often not the same; sometimes appearing to differ by anything up to 1 cm. Usually the height from ground to wheel arch is around 68 cm (give or take). More often than not the offside measurement is slightly less than the nearside. My question is: is this normal?

I haven't asked the dealer yet, but may get the chance next week when it goes in for a replacement boot lid (rust).

Any opinions/experience appreciated.

CS

mmitev

It is kind of normal for the driver's side of any BMW to sit a bit higher when the car is empty. That way, after the driver gets in the car, the suspension will (sort of) level out.

Besides, I think you should not be worried by the different measurements of the rear suspension. I have measured all four corners of mine around 15 times now, in order to calculate the lowering with the new springs and rear lowering links, and all 4 measurements constantly vary by up to 1 cm (that's on the same location in the same parking lot). Hope that helps.

Captain Scarlet

I hadn't actually thought of that but I suppose it makes sense. They think of everything those Germans.

Ok thanks for the feedback, seems like everything is as it should be.

Cheers

CS

2008Msport

Speaking of the rear air suspect issues, can anyone shed some light on the crushed air pipe problem? Is there a service bulletin for this?

Thanks

Jack Carter

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I'm having trouble with my 2010 E61.


My car developed a horrible buzzing noise some time ago which was coming from the rear offside of the car. It happened every time the car was moved, so I took it to the main dealer as it's still under warranty. I was initially told "this is a normal sound"
I disagreed and said surely it wasn't on such an expensive car. They agreed to have the car back in to look and then agreed that it was a faulty suspension pump, so it was replaced under warranty.
All was OK for a few weeks, until the noise returned.
Back to the main dealer for the THIRD time, and was told again that the noise was "normal"
I pointed out that my neighbour has an E61 of the same build year (2010) and I have never heard his car make this noise.
I was asked again to bring the car in to be checked, so I went, armed with a video camera clip that I took of the car complete with sound.
The service manager was gobsmacked and agreed there and then that the level of noise was totally unacceptable.
The car was again booked in on Tuesday this week for a SECOND replacement pump. I picked the car back up yesterday after two days, and guess what ? The noise is still there !

I have spoken again today with the service manager who quite franky is at a loss for words. He says he will investigate further, and try to source a same year build E61 to compare mine with. I pointed out again that my neighbours car was not making the same noise, but he said he would look into it further.

Here is a link to the video clip demonstrating the noise from the pump.



Any thoughts from anyone would be appreciated !

JasonH

There's a bit of a screech that shouldn't be there but the compressor does make a noise like that.

I think you might have 2 problems:

1) There should be a huge lump of dense foam on the undertray that wraps round the compressor. If that's missing then the compressor will sound louder.

2) Normally the compressor doesn't run so you don't notice it. I think my car has a tiny leak so I hear the compressor go if the car has been parked up for a few days. Prior to that I might not hear the compressor for a month. Yours seems to run often so I suspect you've got a small leak somewhere.

bmwamac

I have a late 2009 E61 and have owned it for over a year, I have not yet heard the compressor.
Hope you get it sorted, it sounds like you have either a damaged bag or cracked / leaking pipe work. Why can't they pressure test the system that should be relatively straight forward.