WTF??? My Self lvling susp. is inactive again
 

I am so annoyed tonight to find out that my self leveling active suspension is inactive after turning my engine on. Not only that...but for some reason, my DSC, brake warning light, and the 4x4 light was all on too. Don't know what to make of it. I'm gonna take my car in for service first thing tomorrow morning. Have you guys ever experienced this? :angryfire

LMFAO!!!!
damn i thought they had resolved the issue w/ 4.8s by now , but still showing??!?!?! yah, its an age old problem, i get it on mine from time to time, dealer was never able to fix it even after i mention some bulletin number, oh well...i think its no big deal really.

The problem is that it really isn't working....I can't adjust my suspension...

Hmm...don't know if I'll be any help or not, since I have a 4.4i with 2 rear air-suspension not a 4.8is with 4.

But, the message pops up on mine quite frequently and the dealers still haven't figure out what's wrong after more than a "YEAR" on trying to solve the issue. They'd changed a new cluster, upgrading the computer, new control module, suspension height sensors...etc etc. Stuff you can think of that relates to the suspensions. But still with no solution.

I only just went back again last Friday about this...problem. And, they found that the height of the car was out by 20mm on one side. Like the car's tilted itself. I think they're going to re-new the pumps for the air-suspensions next and see how it goes. :(

I've gotten this twice, once yesterday, but only had to turn engine on and off. Nothing visibly outta whack, but that 20mm statement is concerning? Should I worry at this point? When the warning came on I noticed the suspension was different but after restart I drove over a 100 miles with no other issues since.

I'd say get it checked out by the local stealers, while things are still under warrenty.

The message pops out every now and then, sometimes it pops out when I'm driving down the road and sometime...just pops out when you start the car. So basically it just pops out randomly. The only main thing that concerns me is that, what if one day that particular suspension just decides to give up, or increase the height by 100mm...it'll look real funny then :rolleyes:

I had a same problem and went to dealer. They told me that they had to upgrade software. After that, so far so good. Ask your dealer about upgrading software.

Hope it will help.

I have a 4.8 and it happenned twice exactly as you described. The dealer finally fixed it by replacing the "control Module". I am not sure what that exactly means but they said every 4.8 they have sold have had this problem and they had to replace the module with an "updated version".

Hope this helps. I havent had any problems with mine since they replaced it which was last December. I have had the car since September of 2004.

Steve

Thanks for all the info guys. I just brought it in today and they will have it finished by tomorrow. I think it just might be the control module like lakers said. But we'll see tomorrow. Interestingly enough, when I was talking to a service adviser who is also a friend, he says that they actually run into suspension problems because rats love to burrow in to form nests and chew up car parts for resources. In fact he showed me a picture of a rat nest found within an e46 engine bay. When I get the picture, I'll post it.

Another question for the group...the "self level inact" message showed up today on my 2001 4.4 while hauling some bags of rock...after unloading the bags, starting my X5 back up, the message was still there. I got home, waited 20min and drove it again about two miles and the message did not show up again.

Should I be worried...???

I just purchased a 2002 X5 3.0 with 63,500 miles on it and this has happened to me twice. The 1st time I started it up, the message was there that it was inactive.......I put it in reverse to back out of my parking space, put it in drive, and it disappeared. The ABS Brake light was also on. They both went out at the same time. It hasn't happened since and it's been about 1 month. If it happens again, I will take it in to have the dealer look at it. I took it in once, but they didn't have time to check it out and I haven't had time to take it back yet..................

Just picked up my 4.8 this morning from the dealer.

Having followed threads on this and another forum, Steved had some experience that I printed out for the dealer.

In their defence, they are not allowed to sit on forums like this and see what is happening, and they did not know that suspension fault messages do not log in the DME (computer). Thus, last time I took it in they could not find anything wrong.

By taking in a print out of Steved's problems, they were able to see that I had similar symptoms, and they followed the same methods of testing. My rear suspension was dropping to the bottom, and they checked and tested the sensors and rear processor, identifying the problem.

It meant that the central control unit had to be replaced and (touch wood) it should be the end of it.......... it also feels a little different to drive already

with regards to the self-leveling suspension - how do I know if I have it? I've had the back apart down to the battery, and there is a black dome shaped metal housing above the battery and below the spare. If this is it, how can I test if it is functioning?

thx

Yes, you have it. Underneath the black dome is the air compressor. The 4.4i and the 4.6is have had it standard.

thx - so, how do I test if it's working....

The 'self levelling suspension inactive' problem is the ONE problem I haven't had with the 4.8is and to be honest I would have found it more reassuring to have some kind of error message rather than the 'ghost' problems that were more typical.

To solve 'most' of these problems the fix is either a new updated control module, replace the ride height sensors (which are cheap as chips and prone to going wrong) or a software upgrade. Most problems are software/electrical and very rarely anything concerning the pneumatic hardware. So most of the time the car remains safe but just unable to deal with changes in ride height or load (i.e. safe to drive to the dealer). To be fair to BMW the system was originally developed for the E39 5-series and adapted in stages to suit the X5. Hopefully the next model X5 will have a more reliable and functional system.

Took my 2004 3.0 (12 K mi) in last Fri for the 'self leveling inactive' problem. They informed me they would need to keep it over the weekend because they were ordering a new pump. Picked it up yesterday afternoon and no problems. Last evening went to pick up Chinese food and it came on again. Driving home from the restaurant it didn't come back on. I haven't driven it this morning yet, but I'll be pissed if I have to go back. By th way the Chinese food was delicious! It seems like the rear is a little squatted down...maybe I'm being a little sensitive and looking for things now. On a different note...when I went to pick up the X, the service advisor asked where I got my center caps(spinners). He said a few mechanics wanted to know and thought they were cool! Anyway, I hope the light is off for good. Over the weekend I had a 325 and it was fun to drive, but when I got back in the X yesterday afternoon it was very nice. I didn't realize how much I missed her...( I call her Beatrice!) Ha Ha!

I took the X back to the dealer this morning because the rear sitting down. The tech had to reprogram it and it's nice and level w/ no problems.

self leveling inactive???
 

I hear a hissing noise coming from my rear tires But I'm getting the message. My 2000 4.4 is no longer under war. does anyone have any idea what a problem like this could cost? Thanks for any info!!!

I had to replace one of my sup. bags... it was not cheap

I had the same problem with my 4.4 with air susp and all i did was replace a interior light fuse and the message went away, i hope this is some help to ppl. Check all the fuses and might save some money at the stealer.

Funny you should say that toohotdoc, yesterday I decided to check all the fuses in both front and back, not as a result of reading your post by the way, just a bit of routine maintenance. They were all good, but in doing this I've activated the SLS Inactive warning. I drove for a couple of miles in an attempt to get some sensor input into the SLS system and clear the warning but it hasn't worked. I'm absolutely sure it's not a component fault but simply an electronic glitch.

Any ideas?

I have the same question as you, 4.4i, 01 with 115k on it... :/ same light just started poping up 2 weeks now and its been on and off. I turn it turn on the car and i see the error message, i turn it off and on again and it goes away until the next time the car is parked for a few min and i start it up again... i check the fuses and all fuses are fine....

Any ideas?

I got that same message when I installed some crappy DEPO headlights, I put my stock back in and it went away... could it be something else in the system setting it offf?

the SLS is prone to any small change in voltage variations, maybe the depot is draining more power , but could be anything....

I got this msg a few days ago, it came on and then I turned the car off and turned it back on and it was gone. But my ride quality is VERY bad, could this be that my module and ride height is bad? What is the standard height for the rear wheels?