Self Leveling Suspension Fault

[DJTX5]

Hoping one of the many X5 savants on this forum can offer their opinion. The pic below shows the fault (had to crop it to get it to upload). One other thing that happens when the fault occurs, my nav screen goes dark for a few seconds before the fault appears. Took it to the dealer they replaced the DSC control unit for 1800+ dollars which my extended warranty covered. Drove the X after the repair and still had the same problem! It's intermittent. Any thoughts?

[Ricky Bobby]

sounds like the dealer threw parts at the problem. Have you had it scanned using DIS/GT1 to get what exact error the EHC module is throwing?

[DJTX5]

The dealer said there was no stored code because the fault had not occurred often/long enough. The trouble shot to the control unit they replaced. I assumed the code would be available for them to see, does that seem right?

[e30cabrio]

Another dealer? I'd keep taking it back until they exceed the number of tries that make it a lemon in your state & then if not fixed make them exchange it/lemon law it.

[Txlee]

no need to fix it cuz it won't affect your car anything and nobody can fix it at all, even the dealer ........ mine, already appears so many years

[TheClaw]

Wheel sensor? Compressor issue? Is the car drooping after an extended period of time?

I had some issues this spring, local German shop (Gearhead in Glen Ellyn) fiddled with it for a couple of weeks before we figured out the bag on the left front strut had a slow leak. It all started after replacing the CV boots, the suspension was extended to low lock causing one of the knuckles on the sensor to hyper extend, that gave us the fault reading. Then we discovered the leak, after a lot of trial and error.

You didn't mention the year?


Jeff

[Ricky Bobby]

Transfer case actuator motor????

[bcredliner]

There are several potential causes for your problem. This is not an issue you have to live with though intermittent problems are harder to find the core cause. I suggest troubleshooting the easy stuff first--don't start throwing parts at the problem.

Since it is intermittent I would first troubleshoot for airbag leak. Easiest to do.
Clues an airbag is leaking:
The light comes on shortly after you begin driving and it is after it has been sitting for several hours or overnight. You can see the X has settled in one or more corners. When you examine the airbags they not completely smooth or have cracks. The compressor keeps running or starts and stops frequently.

Are there particular circumstances that happen that causes the light to come on or go off?

I have no idea how your nav screen is connected to the air suspension issue unless the problem is electrical. BMWs are very sensitive to out of spec voltage. How old is your battery and alternator.

[TheClaw]

If it's a leaky strut, they are easy to replace. I had the front left replaced this april, just did the front right this morning. Took me a couple of hours, tops.


IMG_9178 by theclaw900, on Flickr

[DJTX5]

Hey guys thanks for all your help/suggestions. It turned out to be a failing alternator. It was causing low voltage faults intermittently which caused the various faults I described earlier. They replaced the alternator and it has been fine since.

FYI: The dealer had my car for several days on two different occasions they had a diagnostic tool connected to the vehicle when they were driving it. The fault never happened when they had the tool connected. I finally picked the X5 up the second time and when driving to my office a couple days later the faults occurred again and I drove it straight to the dealer so they could see the problem first hand. That's when they finally found the real problem. My X5 is a 2005 4.4i