Shock seal or blown
 

Hey all,

I went outside last night here in WI, cold, my rear drivers side was low to the ground. When we started to drive it felt like i was riding on the road.

Any idea if its a seal or the shock itself is blown?

2009 X5 4.8 122,500 miles.

Thanks.

blown airbag?

+ on airbag blown.
The job of a shock is to keep the wheel from suddenly dropping into hole in the road, and to keep vehicle from swaying uncontrollably. The shock expands slowly, but contracts quickly.
The springs (or air bags) push the wheels down.

Dead on
 

Thanks guys,

I had the X brought to the BMW dealer, $549 air bag it is. There CPU was giving a note to replace crank case fluids, did that as well.

Thanks for the help.

FFR, is there a good DIY to replace if another blows sometime in the future?

Not really....

The shock controls suspension movement up and down, the spring holds the car up. In very simple terms the shock controls how fast the wheel moves and the spring controls how far it will move (up anyway), most shocks have the same valving for compression and rebound. If it were to contract quickly and expand slowly the car would always roll into corners then not come back to level fast.

So if you car is on the bump stop one side you have no spring, the shock will not hold anything up. So I +3 on the air bag.

Yes, there is a DIY floating around, just search for it

'Crank case fluids' - what's that?

Can we assume it is the fluid in the crankcase, so engine oil?

Probably "transfer case fluid". But is there really a sensor that would examine transfer case fluid quality? Hmm... fishy.
OP may want to check if the transfer case is not leaking. They may have spotted something while examining the bags..