x5 E53 Retention clip for hose coupling to air spring is missing= danger?
 

Morning all I am in a sort of panic mode again apologies, arnott air springs installed at rear friday so far so good, got car Fri evening and dug around in rear to see what was done. Mechanic infromed me he couldn't get the one hose off one of the old springs so he got a replacement hose/vacum reservoir as these things come as a package so to speak (nuts).

I noticed though that the hose coupling connected to the air spring doesn't have the retaining clip on it, is this dangerous will hose fly off whilst driving? BUT also going by various posts and please see photos, is the purpose of the black retaining clip indeed to retain the hose coupling to the air spring? or as per image I dug up is the plastic clip a means of releasing / allow re-insertion of hose coupling into the top of air springs? anyone had any experience....can I leave as is without the clip and hope the 'left over clip' can be slid in/around coupling the future in the event of maintenance being required and removal of coupling? Yup they left the clip in the packaging that came with new springs...!What baffles me is how they got the hose coupling on without the use of the black clip...i am hoping not brute force....

i cannot see how the hose will stay attached without the retention clip - unless they used a small zip tie (as has been suggested elswhere).

Can you check the joint?

Hey Wpoll all good? long time no speak,last time was exhaust manifold issues days and turbo too! right ok follow my twisted logic and correct me if i am wrong.If you check the pics I posted you see that fella squeezing the ends of the C ish shaped retaining clip yes? squeezing on the clip causes the lets call it quick release black spring in the actual brass housing to retract/embed itself into the brass housing thus creating a flush surface, and allows it to disengage from the connection it makes to the air spring itself, so you can pull off hose....when you let go of or unpinch the black plastic retaining clip the black spring lip as mentioned in image I attached, pops out again thus I assume latching into the groove around the air springs connector in position highlighted in yellow thus locking in..and locking hose onto the spring. Sooo is that black retaining clip just a removal and install aid for the hose? Fact that I have read nearly everyone accidentally breaking clip= non removal of hose leads me to believe the thing doing the locking is that small metal clip/wire inside housing.

When I did my air bags a few years ago one of the lines flew off with an alarming bang after I put the wheels on the ground..
I eventually found the spring clip somewhere in the back of the car but when I reconnected it I also wedged some small plastic pieces to hold it in place as I didn’t trust it. Been ok since..
I don’t think the lines can be attached without the clip to hold it on.

The images don't show the retention method clearly but what you say makes sense - the black plastic clip is not the actual retention mechanism but simply a device used to release the retention mechanism.

I don't have air suspension so I've not seen these exact couplings before - just going off existing engineering knowledge and experience - and internet images! ;)

What is curious is how the mechanic messed this up. I'm guessing the hose was not able to be removed as they didn't understand how to release the retention mechanism - a guess backed up by their failure to install the new parts correctly also. :rolleyes:

Wpoll yup indeed they either didn't know how, or that retaining clip may have simply broke when they pinched it - dings dongs in that case they could have tried slipping on the new clip from the new air spring set and release the hose that way rather than cut hose to remove old spring!... I have manged to slip on in the clip onto the coupling anyway! but still think it is for for removal of coupling and install ! in the process they lost a couple of those plastic grommets that i replaced em, and broke some of the plastic gubbins they yanked at to get to the air spring on one side (other side they did fine clip and all) man sometimes ignorance is bliss....i used an epoxy resin with a little cutout of fiberglass mosquitoe net embedded in the epoxy to add to backbone to it!looks messy but holds