E53 X5 Front Air Suspension Bag Blowing Up?

[richardb]

So I recently picked up a beautiful 2004 X5 4.4i in Imola II with every option you can imagine. It has the EHCII 4-wheel air suspension, and is beginning to be a problem.

One year ago, or 5000 miles ago, the previous owner had the air supply control module replaced at her local BMW dealer for around $1300!

After driving my first 900 miles, the driver front air bag leaked enough to set off the self-level-suspension inactive warning and lower the front of the car, making it no longer drivable.

I ordered an Arnott remanufactured strut for the driver front (left) and replaced it. My local shop cleared the SLS error (oddly, there was no fault code present) and the car drove like new for about 5 miles. While idling in my driveway, I heard a huge pop as loud as fireworks! The new airbag blew by the upper crimp ring and deflated. The front of the car leveled back all the way down.

After contacting Arnott, they sent out a replacement immediately with free 2-day shipping. We thought that surely it was a (very rare) manufacturing defect.

I replaced the strut a second time, it drove like a new X5 for 5-6 miles, and while coming to a stop sign, I hear a "Pshhhhhhh" and the front left strut blew out around the seal AGAIN.

Other notes:
* The front level height sensors are in-tact and appear to be working
* No codes present
* The compressor works and all 3 ride levels worked via the control button
* The other three corners are original, are swollen, but hold air at this point

So, do you guys think this is a manufacturing defect of the crimp ring, or is this left front strut being over-inflated to the point of bursting? What component would cause only one strut to over-inflate -- if that is the issue?

At this point, I am not sure what direction to go. I'm waiting to hear from Arnott's engineering team.

Here's a shot of the reman strut that blew:

https://youtu.be/gbd_EUJojyQ

[andrewwynn]

If the height is normal when it blows I would suspect that it is a manufacturing defect maybe there was a bad batch. Otherwise some kind of an alignment problem where the bag is rubbing and wears a hole. Say for example a big pot hole bent something


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[williamx5]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

If the height is normal when it blows I would suspect that it is a manufacturing defect maybe there was a bad batch. Otherwise some kind of an alignment problem where the bag is rubbing and wears a hole. Say for example a big pot hole bent something


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ABSOLUTEY!! !!

If it is possible, take some pictures of the area so we can determine if something just doesn't look right... Not saying you can't detect some that isn't quite right!! It might help us to help you is all!!

Cheers!!!

[richardb]

Update!!

It turns out that Arnott may have had a bad batch of E53 struts where the crimp ring isn't to spec. They have since resolved the issue and are sending out new updated struts to me.

Their customer service has gone above and beyond, even received email updates from the CEO Adam, who personally saw that the issue was resolved in a timely manner.

The new struts are coming to me today, I will install and report back if all is well.

Kudos to AndrewWynn for suspecting the bad batch/defect scenario!

[andrewwynn]

When the impossible is eliminated whatever remains no matter how improbable must be true. Thanks for the feedback I troubleshoot computers for a living and I've had bad batch syndrome to the worst case. I had a computer that crashed randomly so I borrowed a friends identical computer and swapped every component one at a time to no avail. I even swapped the mother board. This process took about a month.

I told my apple Rep about the situation and he lent me his identical model computer to do the same. When I put my hard drive in his computer the OS booted perfectly and ran for weeks without crashing.

The first borrowed computer had the same problem as mine: some component on the motherboard was bad from the factory. I discovered for the first friend that he had a bad motherboard from the same batch as mine.

Confirm for us your new replacements last without exploding and we can all sleep better with a little karmic justice.


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[richardb]

Arnott verified the bad batch scenario which resulted in an issue with the crimp rings. The parts have been updated and received new shocks. Have done about 200 miles on the new part and everything is 100%. Again, stellar support from Arnott, wouldn't hesitate to do business with them again. In fact, will be placing an order for rear air springs next.

[andrewwynn]

Great feedback I need some parts and will check them out


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