Front Passenger side sagging
 

The past few mornings, I have noticed that my front passenger side is sagging. A few seconds after unlocking the car, the front passenger side will inflate and raise. Is the sagging likely due to a leaky air bag, or air strut? I don't know the difference. Thanks for your help.

2005 BMX X5 4.8is

Leaking air struts - Replace them with Arnott units, and do both sides. Do it somewhat quick, eventually driving on that leaking strut will burn out the compressor seal, and then you'll need to either replace or rebuild the compressor (ask me how I know) - a visual test can confirm whether its leaking, just get under the car and look at the bag, it will probably have small micro cracks on the bottom fold.

Just confirming, the side raises itself when the car is started? Or it pumps itself up when the car is not running?

Thank you Ricky Bobby. The front passenger side pumps itself up a few seconds after I unlock the car, prior to starting. It inflates when the car is not running. Is your assessment still the same?. I appreciate your advice. Thanks again.

I agree with RB. Classic leak. Front are struts. I have also used Arnott products with good luck. They are good quality parts.

Yeah I mean mine would pump up when I started the car when it leaked but I don't think I had it locked, but technically when you unlock the car you are "waking" up the electronics which includes the air compressor.

If the air struts are original I'm sure the one is leaking, do them both. Do you have any errors on the dash? If not, good.

Thankfully, I do not have errors on the dash.

I have searched for discount codes, but haven't found one that works for Arnott. Anyone used a discount code at Arnott's? Thanks.

^I haven't seen discount codes for Arnott. I have the rebuilt struts on the front of my X and they have been working out just fine for almost 4 years now

I had the same symptoms on my '03 4.4, but i was also getting a susp. inactive code.
I took it into the dealer and they said all of the bags were good, but that I had a faulty sensor. They did not recommend replacing it and said it only flashed the code once. They reset and it seems fine.

Thank you Trojanman for your input. I ordered the front air struts from autozone and they will arrive tomorrow. I will install them this weekend and see if that fixes my problem. I will update the forum on the results. I appreciate all of your help.

This afternoon when I unlocked the x5, the front passenger side did not raise to the normal level. I cranked the vehicle, and it still did not race to the normal level. Does this change your recommendations on how to troubleshoot it?

I'm thinking of adjusting the ride height to see if it will raise the other wheels. If it does, then I know the compressor is still working.

Someone else reported something similar. It sounds like the air pump will "lock out" or "time out" if it's running too much. I have not seen any documentation on that though. The other one was fine after replacing the faulty rear air bag.

Of course, it is well known that the compressors will burn out if you let them run too much, such as with a leaky system, which is also a possibility here.

You should be able to check the sensors using inpa or something similar. Confirm they are reading in range. If it inflates to a correct level position when the key is on, I think that shows the sensor is working. Staying down all the time -may- point to a sensor, but it seems to have developed only after the other symptoms.

Thank you David.X5. Once it warms up outside, I will do some additional troubleshooting.

I have a friend that is a mechanic that is coming on Friday to change the air struts. What do you think is a fair price to pay him for his labor? He is going to change both air struts. I purchased the parts already. Thank you.

There is a cool website called autoMD that lets you price standard jobs. You can put your zip in to get local pricing, too. With Arnott parts (L&R), it is saying $1500-$2300 for Maryland (sounds stupidly expensive to me). Knowing the parts are $700-$1100, so just using the averages, they are counting on about $1000 in labor (call that ~10 hours). Don't know what fraction of that you expect to pass along to your friend....

Thank you David. This gives me a good place to start.

The pump has a temperature sensor on it and when it overheats it activates the auto suspension inactive setting which shuts everything down and will throw a code on the display. The idea here is to try and save the motor on the pump.

I recently had a similar problem on my '03 e53 4.4 with 4 wheel air suspension and 140k miles. Passenger front was sagging and eventually led to the pump running often and then overheating. I replaced both front airshocks with arnott units and also rebuilt the pump with bagpiping andy's kit (which is terrific, btw) for good measure. Cleared the code and all was well.

Be sure to get an alignment afterward... Your mechanic can try to put the new shocks in the same location as the old ones by marking the bolt locations with a grease pencil (BMW suggests this in their documentation) but it's a guessing game, at best.

I've owned my vehicle since new and had the front air shocks replaced under warranty at 40k miles and now another set at 140k.!The rears have never been replaced - plan to tackle those this summer.

Thanks. Do you know if the compressor will come back online after it cools or only after the code is cleared or something else?

Front Passenger side sagging
 

As long as the motor is not actually burnt out, yes. It will fire right back up after resetting the code.

Edit - also worth nothing that you can disconnect the battery for 10 or so minutes and it should reset (if no faults are found). You don't need the BMW or other obd tools to reset the system... Although with the air suspension it is often worth connecting to an obd tool to pull the codes to see what you are dealing with. The following items are most likely (listed in order of most often encountered):
1. Air bags cracked (dry rot) or blown
2. Suspension level sensors on axles
3. Blown fuse or relays
4. Pump needs rebuilt (new piston seal)
4. Pump motor burnt out
5. Valve block, air hoses, air tank problems

replaced the air stuts today
 

My mechanic friend came over today and replaced the air struts. We used Arnott remanufactured struts that I ordered from the Arnott website. So far the front passenger side is holding. I will let you know how it looks in the morning.

Summary of Symptoms prior to repair:
Front passenger side would lose air and the body would lower to just above the tire after sitting for a night. I did not have the suspesion inactive or any other error messages. When unlocking the vehicle (prior to starting) in the morning after the front passenger side lost air and lowered, the air strut would fill with air and raise to the normal height. I tried to locate the leak on the strut with soapy water, but was unable to find it.

I'm glad its working. It would be great if you could post the rough parts cost and how long it took.

Parts: The Arnott remanufactured air struts were $460 each, and I will receive a $50 core fee refund for each, which works out to $410 per strut.

Time: He is a pro and made the work look very easy. It took him about 2.5 hours (1.25 hr each) to change both air struts by himself. I offered an extra set of hands when needed, and he never asked me for help.

It has been about 8 hours and hasn't lost air, so I am hoping this was the fix.

Just had mine done. NEW front Arnott struts @$700 each (included faster shipping) plus 6.5 hours labor book rate at my indy(@$80/hr) so it was $1920 plus tax.

They were able to do it in about four hours because they are fast but they charged me the book rate because they did the sensor diagnosis and re-positioning (sensor was installed wrong which BMW could not figure out as well as the indy for the PO) for no charge and they messed with other things I wanted evaluated. SO FAR IT IS FIXED and working perfectly.

Update: After 2 days and temps under 37 deg F, the front passenger side is not losing air. Changing the air struts fixed my front passenger side sagging. Thanks for all of your help.