Bag Piping Andy's air suspension repair kit

WPHD · #1 03-27-2017, 04:03 PM

Bought my 2006 4.8iS in August with 83,000 miles. At about 86,000 started getting the suspension inactive warning. All 4 corners held their height positions and the ride never felt any different.
Took it to an Indy who scanned and found code 74 accumulator pressure remains constant. Clear the code and it just comes back a little bit later.
Took it to a BMW dealer and they just deactivated the system. No longer had the green LED in the height adjustment switch, but still had the annoying error light in the dash.
After reading all I could about the system and people's problems, I had the Indy clean and lubricate all 4 height sensors. Error light stayed off for about a week, and during that time I could raise and lower the height. Error light came back and I have just left it for a couple months until I found a thread mentioning BagpipingAndy.com and his repair kit. For $35 I gave it a try. I rebuilt the compressor in about an hour and then took it to my Indy to clear the code. Still too early to tell if the system is fixed, but I can say this. The height adjustments are much faster than they ever have been since I've owned the car. Fingers crossed it's fixed!

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four.8is · #2 03-27-2017, 04:24 PM

He's got great reviews on various forums with that kit, I got mine a few days ago ...
Compressor still works but I figured better rebuild it while still works vs when it's dead.
Glad it worked for you...

four.8is · #3 03-27-2017, 10:06 PM

btw, your car looks a bit high; isnt the ride bumpy? I think it would look better if you lower it at least an inch or even two...

wonkabx4.8 · #4 03-27-2017, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by four.8is

btw, your car looks a bit high; isnt the ride bumpy? I think it would look better if you lower it at least an inch or even two...

Four.8is I just redid the entire air suspension on my 4.8 and I feel like it's a bit high and bumpy. How can I go about lowering it about an 1"

itsbrokeagain · #5 03-27-2017, 10:47 PM

Did his kit on my friends A8. Worked great and saved him $1400 for a new compressor.

We're prolly going to change it again as he found out one of his bags started leaking and thr compressor kept running and wore out the ring again. For $35 can't go wrong ordering another!

four.8is · #6 03-27-2017, 11:17 PM

^you can do it yourself if you have DIS/INPA software if not you gotta find somebody that knows what he is doing and lower it for you.
But you can buy the software from the Romanian guy on eBay and install it on a dedicated laptop and have it for the future as well, diagnose , code etc.
It's really useful at least for people that DIY ..

OrangeFurious · #7 05-22-2017, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by four.8is

^you can do it yourself if you have DIS/INPA software if not you gotta find somebody that knows what he is doing and lower it for you.
But you can buy the software from the Romanian guy on eBay and install it on a dedicated laptop and have it for the future as well, diagnose , code etc.
It's really useful at least for people that DIY ..

Is there a write-up on how to do it? I'm more than happy to buy INPA, but my understanding is the lowering process isn't even close to intuitive.

WPHD · #8 05-22-2017, 11:52 AM

So less than 2 months later I decided to replace the air suspension system with ECS Tunings H&R/Bilstein kit. System worked fine for about 4 weeks after compressor rebuild. Then SLS warning again. This time code 76 instead of 74. Compressor rebuild cured my code 74. During that time the led on the switch was always lit. With code 76, no led. I decided for $800 I can buy a new module and see what the next weakest link is, or I can spend $2000 and cure the whole thing. I have a functioning system except computer that I'll be listing as parts or entirely FS when I get back from vacation.

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