ride height sensors mate?
RealOEM.com   BMW E61 530d HEADLIGHT VERTICAL AIM CONTROL SENSOR

 

ride height sensors mate?
RealOEM.com * BMW E61 530d HEADLIGHT VERTICAL AIM CONTROL SENSOR

Hi thanks for reply, even with no fault codes in Inpa and Dis ?
thanks Jon.

 

not everything will get flagged up. not sure about this though. easy test, move the switches and see if the suspension responds.

 

Hi tried moving both sensors just told me suspension fault suspension low but did not kick in compressor, had to do it manually in inpa again any adeas?

 

have also conected dis no faults found weird ??????

 

E61 rear suspension problem.

Asked by my son-in-law to have a look at his 140,000mls 2004 525d E61 rear suspension. He had been experiencing intermittent ride heights and "a noise" coming from under the back of the car even when the car had been idle for a day or so.
Researched as much as I could through forums etc and decided to get the tools out of retirement and investigate.
First job was to inspect inlet hose as it seems to be the most common failure,removal of the o/s rear wheel lining was straightforward and exposed filter and pipe in like new condition,removal of compressor cover again a straightforward operation exposed a split intake pipe 15mm from entry into compressor.
Before deciding to change compressor went about proving it to be at fault by first raising the car to an accessible height and removing both road wheels ( job was being carried out on my drive ) this giving access to ride height sensors. Unbolted both from their mounting points in order to fool the control system into raising the rear.
This actuated the compressor which struggled to raise the car before timing out. Next I put the height sensors into a high position to fool control into releasing air out of system which worked.
After locating compressor control relay under spare wheel rigged up a switch on a length of cable to able to run compressor without system being in use by connecting across relay contacts ( cable and switch need to be 20a rating at least). Next I rigged up a air pressure gauge to the output of compressor and run unit. Reading on gauge fluctuated between 4-5 bar. Having read somewhere that unit is capable of 16 bar considered jacking bodywork off the suspension to see if compressor would inflate to close gap which it did. Problem looked like compressor worn/damaged and not being able to develop enough pressure to raise in normal running. Released air out of system by adjusting sensors to drop car right down to stops.Next I connected my own mobile compressor (7 bar with 25litre receiver ) to output pipe of suspension compressor and adjusted sensors to call compressor into action at which point I used my mobile compressor to inflate system as the control valves were actuated by control system allowing air into the airbags. The airbags took about 20-30 seconds to fully inflate raising the car right up before system timed out at which point I stopped inflating with mobile compressor. Put everything back into place with the exception of the output pipe of the compressor which I left with a flexible pipe to connect to mobile compressor. Started car to move it on drive and suspension released air until correct height was achieved. Approx 1 hour later got into car to park it further up drive and the compressor started,obviously calling for air to lift to correct height. It immediately occurred to me that the control valves had opened and with the supply pipe open ended was allowing air to pass back through system resulting in height dropping! Before I could pull control fuse it had dropped to the bottom!
New compressor and inlet pipe seems the order of the day. Will update when new unit installed.

 

Problem sorted

Ordered new unit from air-suspension-shop-eu on eBay which arrived at neighbours house the following day as requested who handed it to me at 7pm. After usual checks and reading instructions proceeded to fit new unit to car which was very straightforward,replaced control fuse and compressor fuse and started vehicle,could not hear new unit run but after driving car short distance could see the car had raised to correct height ( I measured floor to top of wheel arch and both sides 26.5" ). Job was completed and car driven short distance in under 2hrs.
Cost of new unit was £210.00 inc delivery.
Used car for two 5ml journeys today and no problems,due to drive the car back to son in law this afternoon 135ml trip so should know if it's sorted.

 

Intermittent Dropped suspension rear o/s

My 5 series GT has developed a habit of dropping the suspension about 5 degrees to the offside. This is sometimes accompanied by a machine gun type of noise, which I guess is a compressor complaining. of course, taking it to the main dealer doesn't help at all, given that it fixes itself and pretends that everything is OK until next time.

The dealer looks and says all the codes are fine and he can detect nothing.

I have produced photos - which show the tilt, but who am I?

From looking at traffic on this site, I sense that it could be a hose or, worse, a pump or a compressor (going up in price all the time!)

Any suggestions? Bear in mind that I am not mechanical and to me a car is a mystery.