Self Level Suspension Inactative Error : SELFLEVEL SUSP. INACT.

[zmoothg]

On New Years day after my crazy partying and driving back through a rainstorm the previous day in San Francisco, I awoke to see a SELFLEVEL SUSP. INACT message on my X5 screen. I am like wtf is this. I am thinking this is random, so I check the manual and it says contact the nearest dealer asap. So that is no help. So I go searching on trusty Google nd looking for information on this message. Well let me tell you this is a popular message for the X5 as I have come to find out and most people say they end up having to replace the module with controls the air suspension or having the car reprogrammed, something on this line. However, I have seen the range of supposed solutions to this problem. However mine was accompanied with a list of other problems.

Main Problem: SELFLEVEL SUSP. INACT message. This lead to a very stiff and uncomfortable ride and also a really annoying message constantly blinking on the gauge display.

Problem 1: None of my interior lights in my car would come on. None! Everything was black, the glove department, dome lights, the rear dome lights, and trunk lights were dead. So I am like this is really wierd. So immediately I am thinking "fuse". But at first the dome light would come on extremely dim for a brief second and then die out. I checked the dome light fust everything seemed good. After a couple times of opening and closing the door the light never came on again. So I checked the dome light fuse again. This time it was blown. So I replaced it. It almost solved the problem. The trunk light, the rear dome light, and the side front dome lights would come on in the car fine, but the main front dome light was still dim. It would come on and die out and the stupid error was still on the screen.

Problem 2: The PDC stopped working. So accompanying problem 1 and the main problem, I realized that the PDC would not work. I would go into reverse and I would here initial beeps from the PDC then it would stop and the light on the PDC indicator would blink. I tried turning off and on the PDC manually, same problem. So now the PDC is dead. Well now I am going to have to learn how to park the old fashion way.

So I am fustrated and about to make my quest to the BMW dealership, but for some reason I felt it was a fuse problem or something. So I did what any engineer would do when something is broke and they can't find the solution. Check everything. So I went through the fuse box and checked every single fuse. I go through the whole fuse box and found out that the cigarette lighter fuse was blown too. So I replace it. So I have now in total replaced the dome light fuse and the cigarette lighter fuse. Guess what audience. The car return ed to normal.

Solution: After replacing the cigarette lighter fuse. The SELFLEVEL SUSP. INACT. message left the dash. My ride returned to the smooth old X5 ride. The PDC worked again and ALL my interior lights worked perfectly. NOW TELL ME BMW how did you freakin wire this car. How does the cigarette lighter and dome light fuse break the PDC and air suspension. Please someone tell me?! I am really starting the question the German engineering techniques.

Sooo if you start getting this weird message try checking all your fuses. If you get any weird message start with checking all the fuses. :-P At this rate BMW is just going to need one fuse for everything.

On a happier note. I just picked up a 2006 Infiniti G35 Coupe 6MT. Yummm!!! Maybe my X5 was jealous of my new love and decided to go crazy on me. Anyways everything is back to normal.

[ricky.agrawal]

I think you might have gotten water underneth your rear cargo thing.

The air compressor is there and it could've fried it. Also, there are many electronics down there as well, that could explain a lot of your problems.

I strongly suggest you get it checked out by the dealer as you may have some serious and probably expensive repairing to do, but I hope it will be covered under warranty. In my opinion it's a design defect.

[Dygital]

Mine did that a few times and would go away after a simple shut off engine/start engine routine.

[ricky.agrawal]

That's what I wouldv'e suggested, but he said he had a very rought ride. My air suspension compressor got fried after the rear trunk got wet in the rain as well.

[ChristopherM3]

I bought mine in July '05 and my Self Lev. Susp. light has gone off about 4 times........

[kirkX5m]

still an ongoing prob w/ the X5 i see...mine's going off every now and then but i dont seem to see any changes in the ride feel....just the annoying display and the blinking.

[zmoothg]

Yeah I thought that was the problem. Like I said when I replace the interior/trunk light fuse everything returns to normal. All the errors go away including the PDC not working and the SELFLEVEL SUSP. INACT error. Soo @ first I thought this was the final solution. Until I realized I was wrong. I'll replace the fuse, drive for however long and the problem will be fixed for the whole trip, but as soon as a park the X5 and leave it overnight for some decent amount of time, I come back to my car to find the interior/trunk fuse blown out again and all the errors happen again. The PDC stops working, no interior/truck lights and the SELFLEVEL SUSP. INACT error. What the heck is going on?? I guess I will be seeing the BMW dealer soon. What do you guys think about this. How can the truck/interior fuse be related to all of this and I just dont get it.

[jmh]

Originally Posted by zmoothg

Yeah I thought that was the problem. Like I said when I replace the interior/trunk light fuse everything returns to normal. All the errors go away including the PDC not working and the SELFLEVEL SUSP. INACT error. Soo @ first I thought this was the final solution. Until I realized I was wrong. I'll replace the fuse, drive for however long and the problem will be fixed for the whole trip, but as soon as a park the X5 and leave it overnight for some decent amount of time, I come back to my car to find the interior/trunk fuse blown out again and all the errors happen again. The PDC stops working, no interior/truck lights and the SELFLEVEL SUSP. INACT error. What the heck is going on?? I guess I will be seeing the BMW dealer soon. What do you guys think about this. How can the truck/interior fuse be related to all of this and I just dont get it.

Hi, the X5 has quite a number of electrical components/relays etc so it's no surprise some of them will feed off a common source. In your case I'd recommend to see the dealer asap as it seems the problem is reproducable and secondly a fuse which blows continously might be reason of some more serious problem.

Originally Posted by kirk5m

still an ongoing prob w/ the X5 i see...mine's going off every now and then but i dont seem to see any changes in the ride feel....just the annoying display and the blinking.

Kirk, I think the problem you're seeing is different than "zmoothg's", I'd think the problem you're seeing is simillar to the one I had on mine in its first year.
You may want to checkout the article http://www.xoutpost.com/showarticle-131.html , I've also seen the message to appear if the voltage in the car get too low due to a weaken/low battery. The last time it happend it actually turned out to be a bad rear sensor (but this error gets logged and can be retrieved by the dealer).

- Jan

[pingitsai]

Oh, I had the same problem, same SELFLEVEL SUSP. INACT message and got it fixed finally. My case is kind of weird and I got my air bag (in suspension) and air compressor replaced.

I guess what happened to me was I've once used my X5 to cargo heavy items with trunk lids opened. Based on Selflevel Susp mechanical spec, air compressor may keep pumping while trunk lids opened. So, you may avoid driving with lids opened.

My SA also told me some customers have their SELFLEVEL SUSP. INACT lights up simply because of a failed fuse. There are one fuse in glove box and one in cargo that you can check on.

Hope it helps.

[tking]

The first time I had the message 'SELFLEVEL SUSP. INACT' showed up on my 2005 X5, I took it to the dealer and it was fixed under warranty. The car was tilting to the right when the message showed up. If you look at the car from the front, you will notice that the car is tilting to one side. 4 years on, the problem reoccured but this time the car was tilitng to the left and the message 'SELFLEVEL SUSP. INACT'. With labor, it is costing me around USD 1,200 to get this fixed and they will be replacing a part. I will know more when I receive the car in a few days and I will post the exact response then. In my case, the problem occurs along with the tilting which is VERY noticable.
Looks like it is time to sell the car since this is the first time I ever paid anything for my X5 after 4 years of owning it (warranty 3 years and free service for 5 years or 100k). Due to credit crunch, cars becoming less expensive where I live (Dubai).