F11 sits low on one side when parked. Bags replaced.
Discussion
I wonder if anyone has come across an issue like this before.
If left for a while, my F11 5 series will sit very low on the driver side at the rear. The other side is fine. During operation the car sits perfectly level. A few months ago, I replaced both air springs, though in truth the old ones seemed fine when I removed them.
What is strange is that if I park the car and then lock it and watch what happens, it will sit there silently for a little while (not timed it, I guess a handful of minutes) and then I will hear an electrical noise, like a solenoid moving and then the driver side (but not the passenger side) will slowly drop down. This happens on perfectly level ground.
It seems to me that this is an intentional action by the car's systems but I cannot really understand why.
Anything I can check or obvious possible causes? It's not causing me any major problems other than it looking a bit weird but I would like to fix it.
If left for a while, my F11 5 series will sit very low on the driver side at the rear. The other side is fine. During operation the car sits perfectly level. A few months ago, I replaced both air springs, though in truth the old ones seemed fine when I removed them.
What is strange is that if I park the car and then lock it and watch what happens, it will sit there silently for a little while (not timed it, I guess a handful of minutes) and then I will hear an electrical noise, like a solenoid moving and then the driver side (but not the passenger side) will slowly drop down. This happens on perfectly level ground.
It seems to me that this is an intentional action by the car's systems but I cannot really understand why.
Anything I can check or obvious possible causes? It's not causing me any major problems other than it looking a bit weird but I would like to fix it.
danb79 said:
The bags can fail; but so can the solenoids
Worth checking them over and the bags again, just in case
Cheers. I can't rule out the bag being faulty but would be a huge coincidence if I fitted faulty new bag to the same side as a faulty old bag. I did also thoroughly inspect the old bag when it came off and even managed to inflate it off the car and zero sign of a leak. The fitting or pipe could of course be leaking but it's weird that I head the car deliberately expelling air from the rear as it deflates. It doesn't just sit there silently bleeding air out over a long period. It sits there absolutely fine at normal height. Then after a period of time, a loud electrical noise and air being expelled from the compressor area. But only one side drops. Worth checking them over and the bags again, just in case
I'm thinking in terms of diagnosis, I should try swapping the red and blue pipe around at the the solenoid end as I think that if the fault then switched to the passenger side, that then at least tells me it's not the air lines or bags.
Any idea how the solenoid is meant to operate? It would be a nice, cheapish fix if it's just a case of replacing back but the behaviour is kind of weird. Doesn't seem like a leak but instead a deliberate deflation.
I've replaced a bag on my F11 and if it's leaking it would normally be quite obvious sinking down to the bump stops. If there is activity after the car is parked up for a while and locked then it may be worth looking at the coding side, i'm aware that there is a difference between standard and Msport spec airbag hight that needs coding and different bags from different manfacturers eg Arnott can be taller than when the car is expecting. Ie the car may be adjusting itself to a present baseline that needs recallibrating after a bag change.
drmotorsport said:
I've replaced a bag on my F11 and if it's leaking it would normally be quite obvious sinking down to the bump stops. If there is activity after the car is parked up for a while and locked then it may be worth looking at the coding side, i'm aware that there is a difference between standard and Msport spec airbag hight that needs coding and different bags from different manfacturers eg Arnott can be taller than when the car is expecting. Ie the car may be adjusting itself to a present baseline that needs recallibrating after a bag change.
Cheers. I had been thinking along these sort of lines but a couple of things don't seem to tally. Firstly that this happened on the old air bags and the new air bags. And on the same side each time. And secondly the ride height is perfect when the car is running. It is only sometime after it is stopped the you hear a solenoid or something else then release air and one side then drops. Gassing Station | BMW General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff