2008 E70 X5 Air Suspension issues

[Jake_Petersen_E91]

I am having an air issue that I am not sure where to go next. My my situation is my car won't sit level, what happens is one side will air itself up way higher than it should and the other side will remain where it should or, slightly lower than it should due to the extra weight now put on it. The reason I'm not specifying a side is because it switches sides from time to time. Initially it was the passenger side jacking way up and then the drivers side and it's switched back and forth about 3 times in the last 2 months. Up to this point I've replaced the air compressor, the level sensors attached in the rear, and also the valve body attached to the compressor. Only thing left is air bags however, I can't identify a leak anywhere because it'll sit all weird for days on end without any change. Also, I've taken it to a dealer to recalibrate it with ISTA because I can't get the program to work on my own, and still no luck. Is there something I'm overlooking? Should I just replace the bags at this point? Or fool around with ISTA more? I appreciate any responses thank you!

[BigHunk]

Airbags should be replaced every 5 years as per manufacturer.
That's the first thing to do when having issues.
Usually hole is not visible to the eye.

[Jake_Petersen_E91]

I would think so too, however, it doesn't leak at all. It'll sit the same amount of unlevel an entire week if I just let it sit in the driveway. Since the original post, I've replaced the vale body attached to the compressor again because I stripped the fittings out where the air lines go in. Also, since the last post I've installed new fittings and a new air filter for the compressor. The only code that comes up after about 20min of driving is:

005F9A
Supply high-pressure relief valve / lift control time

VIA Carly for BMW

My thinking is that after replacing all of the things I have, it needs to be recalibrated again. Essentially the entire air system has been replaced besides air bags, air lines, and wiring. With this information does anyone else have any other recommendations?

[Al3029]

Had the same issue, replaced the bags with Arnotts and haven't had any issues. Bags get dry rotted.

[Capeto69]

I'm having an issue, replaced compressor Amk $389, bags bilstein $150 each no hissss,hisses, but when parking for like an hour car is down I any help will be appreciated. Thanks

[Muckman25]

Sorry for bringing this old thread up, did anybody ever solve this issue? I’m having the same problems with the 005F9A code. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[Jake_Petersen_E91]

Originally Posted by Muckman25

Sorry for bringing this old thread up, did anybody ever solve this issue? I’m having the same problems with the 005F9A code. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

After all the issues I had I ended up taking it to the dealer after replacing the compressor and filter, also checking ISTA codes. My problem ended up being that someone tired to fix it before and my air lines were switched going into the compressor. Meaning my passenger side was hooked to the driver's side of the compressor and vice versa. Any questions you have I can do my best to answer.

[Muckman25]

Thanks for the reply. I ended up replacing the driver’s side airbag that was leaking with an arnotts bag. The passenger side held air. The driver’s side would inflate to the height of the passenger side prior to the replacement. After replacement both of the airbags deflated and the car threw codes 005F9A, 005F94, 005F95. I clear them. Car still wouldn’t raise. Then only 005F9A remained. Any ideas or thoughts or what could be the issue?

[Jake_Petersen_E91]

Originally Posted by Muckman25

Thanks for the reply. I ended up replacing the driver's side airbag that was leaking with an arnotts bag. The passenger side held air. The driver's side would inflate to the height of the passenger side prior to the replacement. After replacement both of the airbags deflated and the car threw codes 005F9A, 005F94, 005F95. I clear them. Car still wouldn't raise. Then only 005F9A remained. Any ideas or thoughts or what could be the issue?

Does the air compressor kick on at all? or does it not even try? Also, I forgot to mention, I replaced/ checked all the ride height sensors, have you checked those at all yet? I believe there's one at each corner even in the front.

[mobitechaz]

BMW Tech here working on a '12 E70 with 7 passenger seating, rear airbags. Vehicle threw an airbag, and a midas shop replaced both airbags, then was unable to calibrate. I am highly suspicious that Midas tech may have connected the hoses improperly at the compressor resulting in one of the sides reaching full height and unsafe to drive while other side sits normal to low. Vehicle presented with high rear right suspension, we were able to release the air from the suspension and then recalibrated using normative BWM ISTA analogue software (Autel Maxisys) system, and set the suspension to around 775mm (lower rim to fender distance) on both sides to accommodate the 22" rims (note: bmw software limits rims to 21" so we used the 21" option in the calibration). Calibration appeared successful, vehicle leveled out around 775mm, took for a test drive. Vehicle performed well, held at even suspension. Parked vehicle, and within moments, this time the Left side rose up about 3" higher than right and can't explain why.

Prior dealership technician noted that the car may have entered "transport mode", in which case I am considering that there may be some scantool function that must be performed to remove the vehicle from transport mode, and that perhaps the fact its in transport mode is preventing the calibration from holding.

Either way, calibration is not holding and result is that either LEft or Right side are way high, same exact symptoms as others on this thread. I have to consider mismatched pneumatic lines or possibly a compressor issue. Does the compressor have some tpye of calibration or index? perhaps I need to pull its fuse and reset it along with all fuses and reset the EHC module and start from scratch on the calibration.

Also another thing to note from my experience working on Benz vehicles is that putting a constant 20Amps with a battery charger will prevent vehicle from going to sleep and shutting down the ignition power. (also called Terminal 15 I beleive) which in turn shuts off all modules. I would recommend either sitting in the car and continually hitting the power on button or better put a 20A charger on the car to ensure that calibration proceeds smoothly without the car powering down during the calibration procedure. That could disrupt your values and corrupt the calibration foreseeably. All things to consider.

Aside from someone changing the compressor and another person determinning that the pneumatic lines were incorrectly installed, has there been any other resolutions to this issue that others can report? Thanks

[mobitechaz]

RESOLVED: The air lines were routed improperly at the compressor. The Red Line should be to the Left and Blue to the Right. You can find a decent screenshot of how it should look at 5:42 in the following video.

Thank you to the previous contributors to this thread, you saved quite a bit of diagnostic time. You will also note that the code I got on this was 05F9A when the Right Side was all the way up and the Left all the way down; And 05F9B when the Left Side was all the way up and Right all the way down. That discovery made me further suspect that the issue was the routing of the lines.

Others on the thread may have also noticed that the calibration was not holding and that is because during the drive as soon as either side was not inflating properly and code was thrown, the vehicle goes into a 'limp mode' or transport like mode which likely raises up the suspension as a satety and bmw liability measure. Because of the inherent danger in losing one or both rear airbags for the stability of the vehicle, BMW makes sure that it limps back to a service repair shop. So its essentially a 'safe' mode because the system detects something is very wrong and doesn't want to risk putting the vehicle at the set calibration scheme. Hope that helps sum it up for others who may be experiencing this issue.

[pegofficial]

I experienced the same problem, and after switching to Arnotts, it hasn't returned. Fungus dry rots bags.

coreball