AlexAdams

I've replaced the intake pipe with petrol hose, and protected the wire that was chafing through to the copper, and cleaned the reed valves on the bigger diameter piston. I'm (unsurprisingly) getting frequent self levelling error messages.


I've got inpa working, the rear suspension is about all I seem to be having any luck with, you can manipulate the suspension from the laptop. What I was able to tell is that the system is unable to get above -20mm on both sides, which is annoying as both rear lower outer ball joints have just been replaced and the wheel alignment adjusted on all wheels! Does anyone have any thoughts on the below?


Rebuild kit:
BMW X5 E53, 5 Series E39, Wabco Air Suspension Compressor Pump Seal Repair Kit | eBay


OEM compressor from the manufacturer, 229 euros, £185.
https://www.arnotteurope.com/p-4145-...eries-e61.aspx

losblancos

Well, this is how a simple car wash (and more importantly being aware and pre-emptive about a car's potential issues) can potentially save you $thousands....

I washed and waxed the car on Friday night. Saturday, when I came to unplug the negative terminal in order to do an AUX retrofit (which I didn't end up doing regardless; didn't throw any errors I can see), I discover a fairly significant amount of water in the plastic compartment above the battery.

So I decided I'd go ahead and take off the bumper today. I knew you can unclog the drain tubes without removing the bumper, but it seemed easy enough (and it is), and I wanted to understand exactly how the whole thing looks. Sure

At the same time, and more relevant to this thread, I decided to take a look at the self-leveling suspension compressor behind the right wheel. The car rises well, we haven't seen any errors, and the car's repair history indicates some sort of repair related to the self-leveling suspension, so I bought the car thinking this was not likely to be an issue. Well, as it turns out, I may have saved myself a nice chunk of change by getting under there and taking a look:



The suspension is a little loud to my ears but it appears to be working properly. Seems to me like the broken hose hasn't destroyed the compressor yet, but had this gone undiscovered it may well have fairly soon (well, the compressor's days are likely numbered regardless...). In addition to that, the foam casing is broken, so I'll need to replace that as well:



Does anyone have any idea what the part number might be for that foam piece?

losblancos

Quoting a 4 year old post, but worth a try: does anyone have a link to this or something similar?

losblancos

So FWIW I *think* the part number is 51717124634

Not sure if I'm going to get a new one or try to just clean and epoxy mine back together.

jmcdpereira

I have the same problem on my 2004 525d.
I will replace the compressor, but I need to inspect the air filter where is located the air filter?
Can anyone get a photo?
Just change the compressor if there are no leaks? Do i need to change anything more ?

Thank you

Tiago

The compressor air filter is placed behind the right side of the rear bumper. The issues i found for suspension failures is:

1. The compressor cover stores alot of moist with time which after getting wet it takes alot longer to dry. This wears rubber seals and lines alot faster. My car is running without that cover for 4 years as a daily driver without a single issue. It just increased a tad the noise of the compressor from the outside. Inside the cabin it is the same.

2. The air filter is exposed to exterior enviroment and prone to allow get in the system water or dirt. I re-route the air filter to inside the cabine to prevent that. It is inside of one of the side storage compartment of the trunk. It didn't added extra noise to the cabin when the compressor is working.

3. Vaccum lines is prone to crack with age allowing water and dirt to get in the system.

4. Number 1, 2 and 3 are the main reason for air compressor failure.

5. The connector of the levelling sensor has poor water sealling. I replaced mine because it was full of rust and it was given wrong readings to the ecu. Sometimes the height from rear left to right was different. Also sometimes it was running higher or lower than the ecu parameter settings.

bmw_nz

Hi All,

These forums are great and I've been following this particular one for sometime now.

Here's the final solution to my intermittent "Level control system failure" over a year or so.
BMW 2006 530i E61 Touring ,
The car has 85,000 km on the clock.

I had the intermittent "Level control system failure" appear on the idrive from time to time.
The car had no air leaks and it did raise the rear to the correct ride height.

Sometimes heard a loud buzzing noise from the rear suspension compressor, when it played up. Usually during the Summer months.
Switching the ignition off / on helped, but the error would come back after a few days or a few months. Even when driving on the motorway it would throw the error on the idrive ?

Fault code diagnostics from BMW Dealer. BMW dealer advised that it pointed to a failure of the rear suspension compressor ( due to age ). Not able to deliver enough pressure to inflate rear suspension.

5F99 EHC: Control-time fault, lifting, rear right

5F9A EHC: Control time fault, lifting


I first tried the repair of the Air intake Filter and pipe back to the compressor as per url below, however still received the error on the idrive a week or two later.
The pipe did not appear to have any cracks or leaks in it, but I replaced it anyway, especially the braided pipe back to the compressor.


Bmw E61 Air Suspension Fix !!!! Must Watch For Fault Codes 5F98 5F99 5F9A
Replaced air filter tube and pipe from compressor as per Video

Update: 24/05/2022
So in the end, I finally "bit the bullet" and got the Rear Suspension compressor replaced.

I got an OEM AMK part from Miessler in Germany, complete unit to swap out for Euro 461 which wasn't to bad.

https://www.miessler-automotive.com/...air-suspension

OEM AMK A2125 including mount plates, fasteners and operating relay


New unit installed.
Seems to be going okay at this stage.

Hope this post helps someone else out there.

seanjordan20

So you're saying the dealership diagnosis was correct or you found another solution? If you went to the dealership to get an answer why go a different route before doing what they diagnosed was wrong? Maybe I'm not understanding completely what you're saying.

bmw_nz

The dealership was correct, but I thought I would try the other solution first which was to check replace the air filter and pipe back to the compressor which was a lot cheaper than a new compressor.
Sadly that did not fix the issue and I ended up buying a new compressor from Miessler and getting my local Indy to install it rather than the dealer.

Miessler OEM part was half the price, than purchasing it through the Dealer.

seanjordan20

Ok now I understand. Most owners who don't have the skills or equipment to diagnose go to a shop to get it diagnosed and then do what is recommended. I was just confused why go to a shop and do something different than what was recommended. It's normal practice to chance the hoses and filter when changing a compressor