Air Suspension Collapse
 

Well again my X managed to embarass me in front of friends. We were all packed in ready for a 3 hour drive to the mountains for some snow skiing, when there was a loud 'POP' and the back of the car fell suddenly. At first I thought a tyre had burst, but after checking both tyres, realised that the car was sitting very low at the rear, and I could hear a hissing noise.
We unloaded everything from the back, and lifted the spare wheel cover, and found that the hose from one of the air suspension resevoirs had popped off. I pushed it back on, but as soon as I turned the key on, I could hear the hissing again.
Using a torch (it was 5am, still dark) and comparing the two resevoirs, I soon noticed that there was a small plastic clip missing from the fitting of the one that had popped off. I found part of the fitting under the spare wheel.
We tried to figure out a way to create a makeshift clip to hold the hose fitting on, but decided that it would not be safe, as if the suspension collapsed again, it might happen midway through a corner, which could be very bad. So instead, we piled into my friend's $700 Subaru Legacy, which successfully made the return journey to the mountains, using less gas than my X5 would have.

I don't think I will hear the end of this for a while...

Resevoir with plastic clip in place:
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...i/P1000971.jpg

Resevoir with hose popped off and plastic clip missing:
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...i/P1000970.jpg

X5 with air suspension collapsed:
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...i/P1000973.jpg
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...i/P1000974.jpg

worlds most unlucky drop kit?

Now I'm guessing that dinky little plastic clip doesn't hold the top fitting to the resevoir... likely the resevoir failed, and threw the clip off. But that sucks anyways... could be worse though. Coulda been a bag popping:wow:

From the sound of it, you have some mechanical knowhow, and you can get the parts and change it yourself.:thumbup:

But you're right, you probably won't hear the end of it for a while...

that looks like mine after it's been sitting for > 48 hrs lol. Someday I will get around to changing the airbag :)

Ok I took my car into the BMW shop, they didn't have the replacement plastic part in stock, and to get it I have to order a complete new resevoir and hose assembly, which has to come all the way from Germany.
They managed to get the suspension to pressurize again by using a cable tie to attach the hose to the resevoir, but obviously this is not a long term fix :-(