"Self-Leveling error" update/question

[Steve972]

I just got my car from the BMW shop yesterday, $300 bucks later, they found a blown fuse. I had checked the fuses myself, however, the way the rear panel is labeled, I apparently checked the wrong fuse.

After spending two hours on diagnostics, their elaborate BMW computers could not figure out why "self level susp inact" was still appearing on my dash, they ran all of the tests, including height tests, compressor tests, sensor tests, and nothing.... in the third hour they happen to check the fuses, and remove the spare tire, some of the air lines appeared to be distressed, possibly due to removing the spare at one time to get to the battery.

If you are getting this error message and want to play detective prior to spending $300 bucks, check for the following, Fuses in the rear. Since its difficult to check which fuse since the panel labeling is some what confusing, I would check all of the fuses. There are two air suspension fuses, one that is 7.5 and the other that is 30 amp. Remove the spare tire and locate the air lines to see if any of them have been pinched. If you have removed your spare tire previously, chances are that when replacing the tire back in the trunk, you might have moved the air lines which now are directly under the compressor housing causing them to be pinched.

My questions are the following..... I am hoping some of you mechanic types can answer this. Why didn't the BMW computer throw a fault code immediately if a fuse was burned out, why was the computer still showing everything was correct, including the vehicle height?? Lastly, my X5 still seems to be lower on the back, will it take a some driving miles to level out on its own? Or is the problem really not fixed by replacing a blown fuse....... what would cause the fuse to burn out in the first place, pinching of the lines, air compressor not working properly, or is it an module of some sort that has short in it.... Air compressor on these cars is about $800... Yikes...

[X5Sport]

Seems to me that BMW "technicians" as they like to call themselves have completely forgotten how to do things from first principles. They seem to reach for the computer and when it can't tell them the answer they are stuck.

Now me, being from the pre-computerised car era, I always work from the simplest solution and go towards the complex!! The first thing I learned about car electrics was to check all the fuses before looking for anything else.

I'm having an ongoing battle with my stealer about an unidentified fault which means the battery dies after about 5 days of inactivity. All stemmed from us going away for two weeks and coming back to a dead battery. When I reported it to them the dealer time they found the boot lock wasn't latching fully and there was a high current drain (Uh huh - convinced yet?). One new boot lock later and no more current drain - but the battery still dies. It's been in again and again and then they accused a security device of causing the problem, they messed it up as it's not one they are authorised to play with and have tried to charge me almost $1,000!! for the privilege (3 hours labour @ $275 per hour in the UK now, parts extra). I refused to pay for the work, got the car back and surprise, surprise, they battery problem has not gone away. As far as I can tell, they have still to physically check the battery off the car with a good'ol fashion tester. Experience from members here tells me that in all likelihood the battery is wrecked as it's not designed for deep discharge and once that happens once you need a new one.

Now I get loss of GPS lock on the Nav - had to have a new OS loaded but still happening, Self Lev Susp Inact (nothing wrong), Low Oil Level (it's fine) and the Security device activates when all is fine.

I remember K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid, but it seems they don't.

A 10cent component is the most likely fault so start there, not with the $500 component. It's our money they are spending whilst looking, and not theirs!! I know modern cars are complex, but come one..........what happened to using experience not just assuming the computer is right.

[Houston Imola 4.6is]

X5 Sport... same thing was happening to our 4.6is... battery started dying after 5-7 days. After a battery and several fuse checkings later, our local mechanic got a clue from the Houston Advantage BMW service shop... it turned out to be the final stage blower computer failure. Apparently it is pretty common. $100 for the board. The blower was running on its own for 30-40 minutes in the middle of the night. No problems since and sure does make the AC perform better.

[X5 in AK]

Interesting you say the final stage blower computer board failure causing the fan to run. I had the same problem it went away after a final stage resistor replacement.
hmmmmm