E53 with no self-leveling suspension, but with LED on
 

OK, this is strange.

I have a 2005 X5 3.0 diesel which as far as I know, has no self-leveling suspension. At least I see no air suspension parts anywhere. However, the self-leveling suspension light on my dashboard came up yesterday. It pops on after I drive the car a short while and stays on, until I switch the car off. If I restart it, it stays off for a while and here it goes on again.

The car drives fine with no apparent change.

What could be the issue with this? I need to drive at least 300km before I can have the car checked and most of it will be through some very rough roads in Ukraine, so I need to know if this is something that I should worry about.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

what are the last 7 digits of your VIN?

LX51086

Tnx TerminatorX5

Vehicle information


VIN WBAFB71090XXXXXXX
Type code FB71
Type X5 3.0D (EUR)
E series E53 ()
Series X
Type GEFZG
Steering LL
Doors 5
Engine M57/TU
Displacement 3.00
Power 160
Drive ALLR
Transmission AUT
Colour STERLINGGRAU METALLIC (472)
Upholstery STOFF FLACHGEWEBE/ANTHRAZIT (AEAT)
Prod.date 2005-06-30



https://www.parts.bmwgroup.com/webetk/images/minus.gif Options



S1CAA SELEKTION COP RELEVANTER FAHRZEUGE Selection of COP relevant vehicles
S205A AUTOMATIC GETRIEBE Automatic transmission
S216A SERVOTRONIC HYDRO STEERING-SERVOTRONIC
S220A NIVEAUREGULIERUNG Self-levelling suspension
S230A EU SPEZIFISCHE ZUSATZUMFAENGE Extra package, EU-specific
S249A MULTIFUNKTION FUER LENKRAD Multifunction f steering wheel
S255A SPORT-LEDERLENKRAD Sports leather steering wheel
S2LBA LM RAEDER Y-SPEICHE 131 BMW LA wheel Y-spoke 131
S321A EXTERIEURUMFAENGE IN WAGENFARBE Exterior parts in vehicle color
S354A GRUENKEIL-FRONTSCHEIBE Green windscreen, green shade band
S386A DACHRELING Roof railing
S402A PANORAMA GLASDACH Electric panoramic roof
S430A INNEN-/AUSSENSPIEGEL AUT.ABBLENDEND Interior/outside mirror with auto dip
S441A RAUCHERPAKET Smoker package

S464A SKISACK Ski bag


S473A ARMAUFLAGE VORN Armrest front
S502A SCHEINWERFER-WASCHANLAGE Headlight cleaning system
S521A REGENSENSOR Rain sensor
S522A XENON-LICHT Xenon Light
S534A KLIMAAUTOMATIK Automatic air conditioning
S650A CD-LAUFWERK CD player
S691A CD-HALTERUNG CD holder
S692A CD WECHSLER I-BUS VORBEREITUNG Preparation, BMW 6-CD changer I-bus
S818A BATTERIEHAUPTSCHALTER Battery master switch
S855A SPRACHVERSION ITALIENISCH Language version Italian
S863A SERVICE KONTAKT-FLYER EUROPA Retailer Directory Europe
S884A ITALIENISCH / BORDLITERATUR On-board literature, Italian
S8SPA COP STEUERUNG Control unit COP
S925A VERSANDSCHUTZPAKET Transport protection package
S9AAA AUSSENHAUTSCHUTZ Outer skin protection



https://www.parts.bmwgroup.com/webetk/images/minus.gif Standard equipment


S413A GEPAECKRAUMTRENNETZ Trunk room net
S548A KILOMETERTACHO Kilometer-calibrated speedometer
S661A RADIO BMW BUSINESS Radio BMW Business (C43)
S785A WEISSE BLINKLEUCHTEN White direction indicator lights

so, you do have the self leveling suspension... or, i should say, that may have had a self-leveling suspension... it could be that the previous owner (car was destined to Italy) may have removed the airbags in favor of regular coil-overs... or, you just did not notice the airbags... you have S220A, rear axle suspension (S221A is 2-axle version), so you shuold look under your spare tire to see the dome that houses the airpump, the airhoses leaving from the dome and going to the rear wheel area for the airbags... look at those first, and then tell us what you find...

I do?!?

Darn, thanks TerminatorX5. I am checking that out first thing in the morning!

EHC I, yes...have you (read in voice of Yoda)...at least when it came off the assembly line. :D

http://bimmerboard.com/members/q/ori...%20Diagram.jpg

http://bimmerboard.com/members/q/ori...20ECH%20II.jpg

Darn that car keeps surprising me. LoRL!!

Admittedly, the last few days I've travelled some of the worst roads on the planet (Ukraine), so that may had an effect on the self-leveling thingie. I just hope it's something easy to fix, we have a 3,000km trip for our return back home!!

you haven't been to Cierra de la Muerte in Costa Rica where the only thing between you and your death is a two feet of rocky road that is about to slither away from under your tires... lol... :nanana:

unless you car is totally sagging and is riding on suspension stops, you should be able to make the trip. if you are sagging, then you need to address that before you go anywhere...

Well, I'll be darned, I do have the dome and two black canisters in the trunk. And normal coils at the front!!

Now how do I tell what the problem is?

The light goes on even if I do not move the car, let it idle for a while and it turns itself on. The car seems to stay at its normal height.

OK, here is some more information.

I used INPA/Ediabas to read the car's ECU and here is what I found.

ECU: EHC
JobStatus: OK
Variant: EHC

8 Regelzeit, heben
Error frequency: 31
HoehenStand noehere seite 221.00mm
Stand

Now, is it possible that this is the result of me lifting up the car the day this started, to check something behind the wheel? I lifted the car up enough to remove the wheel, reinstalled it, then lowered it (albeit a little harshly, I was not familiar with that trolley jack so when I opened its valve the car fell instantly).

Advice will be really welcome here!!!

check the height sensors on the side that you did not lift, and the other side - see if the sensor's elbow is inverted, or, if the sensor is disconnected...

Thanks man, I appreciate it. I'll take the car to a local shop tomorrow and have it checked.

you can do it yourself - just look under the car and see how those sensors look...

Well, the sensors looked OK, so I took the car to the shop. It's going in tomorrow for some new suspension parts, so we'll also run the diagnostics to see what's wrong.

Well, the mechanic changed a fuse and reset the suspension, and everything went back to normal, except that he said thre is a small leak somewhere. Then they checked and double-checked everything but couldn't find any leak. They tighten the nut of the tube going from the compressor to the left air canister and another nut on the air pump and they told me to watch it.

So I guess all is well.

On a side note,we changed the two control arms at the front, the bushings of the other control arms, two rings at the pipe going from the intercooler to the inlet manifold, plus a rear antiroll bar link, we adjusted the lights, all for $470. Service is cheap in Ukraine!

so, while in ukraine, what else have you done? did you do any programming changes?

Unfortunately no.

However, when we passed Bulgaria, I visited the local BMW distributor, in order to get a new exhaust manifold (the existing one was cracked) and asked them to program the driver's seat to move to a predefined position according to the remote used to unlock the car. They told me it is not possible, probably due to the non-BMW radio I have (same reason was given to me by the Greek distributor too).

This is becoming frustrating, since it is the only thing I would like to have on the car and I do not have it. The frustration arises from the fact that my car doesn't show consistent information with the various programs. For example, INPA/EDIABAS shows a Seat Memory module (and actually shows that the car is programmed to move the seat, when the door is opened, not when the car is unlocked), while NCSExpert doesn't show a Seat Memory module. Also, the parameter that defines how the seat is moved (Aut_Sitzsomething) doesn't show in my Key/Memory page of NCSExpert.

I checked our son's new X5, and everything appears correct. NCSExpert recognizes a Seat Memory module, and the parameter is shown in Key/Memory page, but he has only one key, so we can not test if his seat moves correctly. I am wondering, if someone has removed the Seat Module from my car, before I bought it.

Check Fuse #80 in the Rear Hatch Fuse Box and see if it is blown (30AMP for the Air Compressor)

If it is blown, that is your problem.

That was fixed. Thanks!