Problems with Adaptive Drive?
 

I have been getting a clunking from primarily the front suspension in my X5, although loudest from the left front, on occasion I hear the clunking from the right front and also in the rear.

The "Sport" button in my car seems to do nothing but light up, and give an indicator on the dash.

A complete mechanical component overhaul has been done in the front; new upper and lower control arms, thrust arms, and sway bar links; (but not struts or strut bushings)

When hooked to an Autologic, it says the Adaptive drive is OK. But it fails to initialize the suspension. When you go through the initialization process, the car does a wild little dance, with each corner rapidly rising up and dropping down. But the process fails out, after about 45 seconds of this. And when you look for faults, it tells you there are none. Two things to note about this process; the idle speed was in range at the start, (~830rpm) and seemed to stay in range. And most key perhaps, neither front or rear axle pressure ever exceeded 140bar. On most "bumps" it was more in the 120bar to 130bar range.

The Autologic says that the system should achieve a minimum of 150bar. I'm not sure if this was just because the routine could not complete, or whether the pump is not putting out enough. Or there is some blockage in the system, or air in the system. I did try this initialization quite a few times, as it is supposed to remove the air, to no avail.

Clearly, I have some sort of issue, but it is not one I want to "throw parts" at. ALL of the parts involved here are super expensive. (Pump, $1,100; Valve Block $969, Control Unit $570, Shocks $765 each etc...)

Anyone have any clues here? Are there common failure points?

I think that you are the first one I have seen with adaptive drive problems. Please post updates as you trouble shoot it

What if you try Rheingold and follow test plan.Just a though.Don't know if autologic and rheingold are same in functionality.

If you haven't yet seen it, here how the adaptive drive works -> https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1e...ew?usp=sharing

In particular I feel you are after the active roll bar which are hydraulic and get pressurized by the same pump used by the power steering. It starts from page 46

Provided I've never done diagnostics on it, I'm not sure if driving straight over bumps is good indication of whether it functions or not since the oscillating motor engages primarily when lateral acceleration is measured. In other words: try to take a sharp turn and see what sorts of pressure readings you get.

The shocks in the adaptive drive are not controlled pneumatically. I believe they simply have a controller that changes the compression brake in the shock (it probably changes the routs through a smaller orifice which results in greater dampening brake). It's probably a pretty dummy device that it's either hard or soft (depending on whether you're in sport or comfort mode), but not modulated like the active roll bar is.

I did replaced my front active sway bar because it was seeping hydraulic fluid, but that's really all there was. I didn't notice any particular noise of sort.

E65/66 models have a similar adaptive system and there are many documented problems and failures to initialize the system. My guess is that connecting ISTA will give some clue why the system doesnt initialize.

I've given up on my Indy, and taken the car to a dealer.

Well, I don't know yet about weather this will fix the problem with the initialization, but they have attributed the clunking in the front suspension to a bad front sway bar. They quoted about $3,600 for the job. The part alone is $1,770 list. That is one VERY expensive sway bar. At least they give a 10% discount off this price for BMW CCA membership.

Funny thing was, when I took the car for a test drive with the shop foreman, he took me to an area behind a local mall that was basically just for trucks unloading goods. It must be the bumpiest road area within 100 miles. Basically, if you wanted a custom test track for diagnosing suspension noises, this was it. For an issue that was hard to spot on our fairly decent local roads, it was immediately VERY obvious on the dealership "test track".

Circling back to this. I have code 5D65 stored, with the occasional dynamic drive malfunction on startup. (turn off, and back on, and the malfunction warning disappears and the car drives normally) This code relates to the position valve in the block.

Its a very similar system to the E60 and the 7 series. I found this
Resource -Everything you didn't want to know about your Dynamic Drive DIY Valve Block - Bimmerfest - BMW Forums

I'll be ordering a used block from ebay and swapping, if bleeding and refilling the system does not fix it. Rheingold has the procedure for recommissioning the system if you change out a part, its a little convoluted

Out of curiosity, have you ever replaced your power steering fluid? I did the turkey baster drain, refill, run, repeat with 2 quarts at 60k miles.

Unrelated, I got that code once 6 months ago but it has not returned.

I did 2 years ago, but only emptied the reservoir once. I'll do it again before I buy the part

I'd suggest replacing the reservoir as well. There's sort of a filter at the bottom, various stuff gets accumulated there.