Air suspension Inactive ?
 

Hi wondered if anybody can help.


My 2001 4.4 sport has recently taking on-board some sea water.

Consequently most of the electronic components based in the bottom of the spare wheel well have been destroyed,including radio and video control modules.ouch !!
I have just replaced the self leveling spring device ( really all it is is a relay )
plugged it back in to the wiring loom and now i have the dreaded air suspension inactive message. ( previously i had nothing but the car was resting on the bump stops) I am assuming that the ecu needs resetting as i have checked all the fuses and there doesn't appear to be any corrosion on any of the plug connections.
Can the ecu be reset ?
Does my car have to go into bmw to face 120 p/h labour charges ?

Help Liam

can anybody help ?

Liam,

Sorry to hear about your problems. When you get water damage like that it can cause a myriad of issues. Your best bet, in my opinion, is to pay the dealer to hook it up to their diagnostic computer and tell you all of the error messages. At least that will give you a starting point. It could be something as simple as a defective sensor, or it could be something much more serious. :dunno:

Gook luck and keep us posted.

Just to let you know how i got on

Spoke to a friend of mine thats a race mechanic and told me that the device is shipped with no parrameters in at all,it has to be set on the bmw main dealer diagnostic machine.
As luck would have it he has access to one at the weekend when nobodys about.
After a lot of messing we found the menu that said raise rear axle and still got no joy.
Consequently we inspected the pump and found it to be junked by the salt water.
Bought a second hand one which came out of an e39 touring of all things( exactly the same part no, bm dealer wanted over 1200 usd !! ) and up it came. Then you check the ride height for the left and right punch in the value and it Automatically raises to 620mm and there it stays come rain or shine even with a ton of bricks in the back. fantastic bit of kit.

So anybody need air pump for self levelling X5 suspension find the nearest smashed e39 touring !!!
Just goes to show you can run these cars without being pumped by the main dealer

finch hello, I got a 2004 3.0d x5 , spec from bmw says it has self levelling rear suspension but how can I make sure?

look to see if there is an air compressor unit in the spare tire compartment, right above the battery. There should also be large black air bladders in the suspension area.

I have an '01 4.4 and i have the black air bladders in front and back. What does this mean as far as the leveling system. This might sound like a stupid quest. but what does this system do exactly?

It has airbags instead of steel springs to support the weight of the vehicle. It also self levels the vehicle when you add weight to it like cargo in the rear or a trailer. If you have 4 wheel air suspension then there will be a switch on the dash to the left of the steering wheel where you can adjust the ride height to higher or lower for certain driving circumstances as well, but I believe the 01 should be just rear. But the V8 X5's all come with rear air suspension in the US.