[jabroni80]

Hi all

I'm looking for some advice with regards a potential air leak I have on my F11 touring rear air suspension. I have recently noticed the car sags equally across the back axle if its not been used for a few days. When I start the engine the compressor fills the air bags and it levels fine- I have no issues while driving and no errors on the dash.
My local dealer quickly checked the airbags for leaks but they are ok. Have any of you experienced a similar issue and if so what caused it? I cant hear any air leaking from the system so I imagine it maybe something to do with the compressor. Bmw want £1200 for a replacement unit but Id rather fit an aftermarket one if that turns out to be the problem on a 4 year old car.

This issue only came to light when the car was at the dealers for timing chain problems but Ive posted that in the engines section. Great car to drive but I'm really starting to worry about how reliable the current 5 series is

[M5TouringFan]

Hi there Jabroni – really sorry to hear of your problem. There is a known problem with the F11 Air Suspension unit; I heard from the BMW Wakefield service team that the suspension airbags are getting a “pinhole” in them that causes them to lose air; From what I learnt, there is very limited UK availability of the air bag spare parts; even if they wanted to fix this.

This is an email I received from the BMW dealer in Bradford:
"at the moment as the rear suspension air bags are on major back order at the minute “
Ben Mills, Service Manager, JCT600 BMW & MINI, Bradford, 01274 263600

Ways to address the issue:

• I’m looking at lowering my F11 car and it’s possible to replace with coli springs and remove the air suspension entirely.
• I’ve also looked at fitting a manually adjustable air suspension system like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-5-Seri...EAAOSwBahVcXiU

I’m told this will work on a F11. Of course, both options come with a £1,000 price tag.

Perhaps you could take out a Warranty from warrantywise (or similar) to protect against future catastrophic failure issues. Works out at about £200 per year. I've just done this!

Sorry I can’t help more, Andy.

[550Reasons]

maybe it could use recalibration ?

[jabroni80]

Originally Posted by M5TouringFan

Hi there Jabroni – really sorry to hear of your problem. There is a known problem with the F11 Air Suspension unit; I heard from the BMW Wakefield service team that the suspension airbags are getting a “pinhole” in them that causes them to lose air; From what I learnt, there is very limited UK availability of the air bag spare parts; even if they wanted to fix this.

This is an email I received from the BMW dealer in Bradford:
"at the moment as the rear suspension air bags are on major back order at the minute “
Ben Mills, Service Manager, JCT600 BMW & MINI, Bradford, 01274 263600

Ways to address the issue:

• I’m looking at lowering my F11 car and it’s possible to replace with coli springs and remove the air suspension entirely.
• I’ve also looked at fitting a manually adjustable air suspension system like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-5-Seri...EAAOSwBahVcXiU

I’m told this will work on a F11. Of course, both options come with a £1,000 price tag.

Perhaps you could take out a Warranty from warrantywise (or similar) to protect against future catastrophic failure issues. Works out at about £200 per year. I've just done this!

Sorry I can’t help more, Andy.

Hi Andy

Thanks for the info. I have a warranty with Bmw but unfortunately it dosent cover suspension parts. To be honest, if Im going to replace the bags I wouldn't fit Bmw ones again. They were replaced a couple of years ago but Ive been told they are a really poor neoprene hence the reason they fail so often. I called Arnotts this afternoon who specialise in uprated airbags and Im going to replace both with their kit.

I'll maybe look at warranty wise in future as I pay nearly 80 a month to BMW and it has very limited cover.

Tony