uneven rear height

[jek889]

Originally Posted by stansman

I'm guessing it's likely that you have a bad sensor or leveling controller. If it was just a matter of one of the air springs being leaky then it should level out when you are driving the car.

I'm having a similar issue with the fronts on my 4.8is. All over the place. Sometimes fine, sometimes right is way high and left is way low. Took it in to the dealer and they said there was a self leveling error. They cleared the codes, saying that it can sometimes be caused by parking on an irregular surface, but 95% likely it's a bad controller. Drove it more and the problem persists. I'm waiting till the service light comes on then I'll take it in and have them replace the controller at the same time.

I also get the low tire pressure warning. This is because these cars don't actually have TPMS. It uses the self leveling sensors for this functionality. Logic being, if the car isn't level, then a tire must be low, right? Well...apparently not.

Had the same problem with my 4.8. Have your front stuts and air springs checked for small leaks (a spray bottle w/soapy water sprayed on the rubber air bag will show the air leak like foamy little bubbles). You can do this test easily yourself in a few minutes. The leaky air spring is a very common problem and caused the front to sometimes be level when it was fully inflated, and then collapse over time as the air slowly leaked out. It ruined the struts and height conrol module too. Also causes the TPM to trip for some reason. In fact after repairing the air springs, the TIS for the job says to reinitiate the TPMS after the air spring is replaced. Who knows how the 2 systems are related, but they apparently work together with the ABS sensors to detect flats. Most 4.8s have 4 corner air suspension, and it was optional on the other x5 models. If you have the ride height adjustment controller on your dash, then you have the full air suspension system. I'm checking my rear air springs next as they probably have leaks too. I was told by me tech that bad height-level sensors usually throw a fault code, and can be read by the diagnostic computer, so if that is the real problem, they should be able to find it.