Level Control Malfunction

[ozam]

My wife's 07 X5 4.8 (sport package with 3rd row) is the bane of my existence. If it wasn't for the remarkable support of my local BMW dealership it would have been gone a long time ago! I think I've counted something like 25 visits to the shop!

Unfortunately the car is no longer under warranty as six years have passed. Recently the car has been throwing off the level control malfunction warning (once every week or so). Normally I just turn off the car and turn it back on and it goes away. If on the rare occurrence that the car is listing to one side (usually) the right, I just take it for a drive and it seems to level out.

Any continuous compressor noise seems to be coming from near the front right tire and not the rear (but I rarely hear it).

So my question is whether there is a procedure to diagnose the issue, i.e. how to determine whether there is a switch, compressor, or airbag problem. The parts are expensive and I do not to start replacing things until I know what is wrong.

Any ideas would be appreciated!

[neilrmp]

Originally Posted by ozam

My wife's 07 X5 4.8 (sport package with 3rd row) is the bane of my existence. If it wasn't for the remarkable support of my local BMW dealership it would have been gone a long time ago! I think I've counted something like 25 visits to the shop!

Unfortunately the car is no longer under warranty as six years have passed. Recently the car has been throwing off the level control malfunction warning (once every week or so). Normally I just turn off the car and turn it back on and it goes away. If on the rare occurrence that the car is listing to one side (usually) the right, I just take it for a drive and it seems to level out.

Any continuous compressor noise seems to be coming from near the front right tire and not the rear (but I rarely hear it).

So my question is whether there is a procedure to diagnose the issue, i.e. how to determine whether there is a switch, compressor, or airbag problem. The parts are expensive and I do not to start replacing things until I know what is wrong.

Any ideas would be appreciated!

it seems like one of your air spring is leaking, maybe a little, if the car is lower on one side when parked for a while.

[Suge206]

trade that bastard in asap. Been in the shop 25 times and out of warranty? DUMP IT.

[Denalio]

It may be the rear "Satellites" on top of the rear shocks. This is the "brain" that controls the level, airbags etc The assembly is one piece which includes the sats and shocks. Happened to me twice when I had mu 07 4.8i. The recommendation is to change both at the same time which I did. However, at the time there was only one available and the other had to be ordered. I ran for a month with only one replaced (the side that was causing the malfunction) and all was good. FWIW, I probably didn't need the second one replaced..

[Lubehead]

The airs spring is around $225 at the dealer (w/CCA discount). If you have any mechanical inclination whatsoever, you can change it yourself. Or go to an indie where the charge should be no more than an hour to replace it. A conributor to this forum has recently posted a how to on this specific task and he rated it equivalent to changing oil, I agree.

[1024X5]

Get rid of it now!
I had the same issue with mine where it would sit half an inch lower sometimes. When I first bought it the shop kept it for a month for electrical issues. They replaced the ECM, gear shifter, some modules, battery etc... Then it was the blue tooth module and then front stabilizer bar. They replaced both rear inner lights twice and a regular rear light for a led that was out. Then I smelled fuel and replaced the vapor canister and it wasn't the problem. It needed a fuel pump and then the car started shutting down intermittently. That was a bad wire from the last fix. Picked it up and the fuel gauge stopped working. The aftermarket warranty was almost over in 6 months. When I took it in to get fixed I left it there forever and picked up a 2013 328 EB m sport.
Haven't looked back since. My wife misses the truck for hauling and size but I must have had 15k dollars of work done under warranty. My new motto is never own a BMW out of warranty!