E53 Weird Self Level Height Sensor Readings

[Defiance_co]

Hiya's,


My first post here so be gentle, lol j/k, ohh i'm across the pond too in the middle of England !



On my third bmw, first was a touring 325 tds second a 330d touring and my new love a 2005 x5 inline 6cyl 3l oiler


Got a problem but i will put my 2c worth in and hopefully someone some more can chime in with correct answer or tell me where i'm going wrong in my assumption


Problem, my front left (passenger, your driver side) sensor is showing A: way high height, off top of head over 1k, the voltage is also above the other three by a few volts


Now to how and what i think has happened, and hopefully you or someone comes in to save me hehe


Front Left outer cv went awol running up to christmas, my luck i knew to buy a full shaft which i did, found out (thanks x5 e53 designers) to get the slight leverage to pop the shaft from the casing on inner side i had to remove the underneath reinforcing plate, once off a tap on a pry lever and shaft was out


So with new shaft in, i was on someone elses driveway and night drew in fast, as i wasn't driving her and still had to redo the reinforcing plate, so i hand tightened what was required so i could drop her and take the jack away, trust me, the area it was at my garage spec jack would of gone walkies soon after midnight lol


So i removed axle stands and started to lower her down, as the tyre hit the floor all ticking noises started and after a second or two i got a loud bang and soft shrapnel passed me lol


The air strut had blew, next morning i saw a rip on the folde/most used are of the bag, then i noticed the sensor mount was moved


What i am assuming is as i lowered the car the sensor moved in such a way as to prompt the brains to pump more air in and hence she blew


Now i have inpa etc and a lead and i'm in love with inpa and dis


I got a new pair of front struts and replaced the blew one, other side can wait until i get other parts for the front suspension etc


So i then had a car with a prominant raised front left, dang that strut bag was stretched to the hilt she be held good, this i why i got cable and software as my plugin foxwell NT644 PRO doesn't code, well not height calibration anyways


I've now got the car just about levelled and set up according to the sports spec settings


She has 2 axle air suspension sports mode settings


So, here are my assumptions ...........


1 : As i lowered the car the sensor did somewhat of a 360 and hence a way highrer voltage output and higher than others on the height reading (i know the numbers are kind of datums)


2 : This triggered the unrequired inflation and explosion that scared the life out of me rofl


3 : I can remove the error code and get my 3 settings height switch to work normal for a short while before the system registers (lights are green leds)


As it stands now i've ordered new sensors for the front (Febi ones) and new oem connectors to be on the safe side as ones on i swear are oem !!! even after 161k miles this car has been really looked after


4 : This assumption i didn't know whether to act on is/was, try to move the sensor to figure which way raises/lowers then see if i can rotate it down to more normal voltage and nominal height value


My luck i'd blow a new working strut bag lol, so left it be after levelling and have put up with the suspension warning on dash that comes on soon after clearing code error


If the above assumptions are wrong, am i right in thinking, other side air strut put on with new sensors/connecting rods and new droplinks as i mangled the one up removing for new drive shaft, then a zero reset with a following calibration would fix my error message and allow me to once again use my height switch ?


Sorry for being long winded but thought i best add as much as i could think of


Many Thanks


Have Fun


Tony

[LVR]

Hi Tony

Welcome to the forum!

Ok, I'm more familiar with ISTA than INPA but I'm sure others here can help you with settings. There are a few things you can do that others can comment on re how to do in INPA.

Firstly the ride height sensors need to be installed a particular way, that is with the lever arm up in a roughly horizontal manner. That means the voltage is within a range and you then need to tell the system (set ride heights) which voltage (ie height) is the correct one for you.



There's various methods of setting the heights but they all usually require clearing of any faults in the EHCII module first. Anything you add is often confused or the system won't play nice if you don't so that is my first step all the time.

Then set the ride heights.

Once you've done that you should be able to do a real time test of the sensors by viewing the voltages and applying loads to the front of the car (eg someone sits on the bumper) and see what happens. If there is no change in the voltages then you have a dodgy sensor or connection to start looking at. If you do then sometimes the module gets wonky and this is why it pays to reset it first.

If you drive it with a faulty sensor, you can get it to play until you drive over a bump or anything that requires greater suspension travel and it will usually have a fit and throw another error code/drop down.

Chuck the new sensors on, clear codes and reset the heights... then join the wonderful world of bmw maintenance!

[Defiance_co]

Hiya,


Thankyou for the welcome


And thankyou for the info


I'm sure i can get ISTA, i have looked and played with DIS a bit which seems good


INPA and DIS and other items came with a cable bundle i got


Got a loan of an old laptop (pc guy here) so the built in mouse pad for me is a bit weird still at the moment, but next month i will buy a laptop purely for my cars now lol


Really amazed how quick the software is to use, much faster than clicking through inputs on my hand held


Well my items hopefully be here friday, still waiting on a droplink, who else can order a pair and get sent one ehh lol


Cheers n Thanks



Have Fun


Tony

[EODguy]

I can't remember who originally posted these pics but here's the good vs. bad example

Sent from my SM-A730F using Tapatalk

[Defiance_co]

Hiya,

Man those pics speak volumes

Really appreciated

Thankyou

iirc mine has done just what's pictured lol

Cheers

Have Fun

Tony