I looked all over but could find a good writeup with pics to help me visualize what need to be done to replace the air springs on the Touring, so I hope this will help someone do just that.

The air springs fail because the rubber gets old chafed and cracked (see the pic with the chafing and cords showing), if you jack up the car with the springs in this poor condition the spring will extend and can start to leak from the cracks in the rubber or the seal between the plastic parts and the rubber body.

DISCLAIMER: I bare no responsibility for damages to you or your car, please use these instruction with safety in mind at all times.


You only need basic tools and a floor jack (the lower the better)

-lug wrench or torque wrench for wheel lugs
-needle nose pliers
-10mm Socket and ratchet
-10mm wrench
-13mm wrench
-small flat head screw driver

From my experience I recommend that you lower the rear seats, remove the floor panel behind the rear seat and check the part number on the top of the air spring before ordering them online. See pics In my case I ordered the regular air spring only to find out the my car had the S227A Sports Suspension package (read shorter air spring), it was a good thing the dealer exchanged the parts without any restocking charges. If I had ordered online I would have had more difficulty, so be warned.

The all part numbers are here:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=DR63&mospid=47596&btnr=33_0530&hg=33&fg=50

Here are the steps that I followed for replacing the left air spring on my Touring.

- Use the 10mm socket to REMOVE THE NEGATIVE TERMINAL OF THE BATTERY
- lower the rear seats and remove the floor panel directly behind the rear seat, 3 x 10mm bolts
- if you do not have a low race jack you may want to set the floor jack under the jack point to support the car once the air in the air spring is released
- use a 10mm wrench to loosen the small air supply connection (blue or red lines) on the Quick connector fitting on top of the air spring. Warning: Make sure that you open up the connection enough and that ALL the air is released.
- once all the air is released and the suspension lowers, tighten the 10mm connection back to normal, by now the suspension will be resting on either the floor jack that you placed properly or the bump stop on the suspension arm.
- use needle nose pliers to gently squeeze the tabs on the quick connect fitting as shown and pull up to remove the quick connect fitting to seperate it from the top o9f the air spring.
- wrap the quick connect fitting to prevent dirt from contaminate the fitting. I used a blue nitrite glove to cover it up.
- to release the two circlips that secure the air spring use a small Flat Screw Driver to lift the flat metal tab while pulling the circlip with a Pliers as seen in the picture to remove the circlip. Click on the link to see the picture for some reason the picture is not showing up like the others. After removing the circlips the air spring will fall below, nothing to worry about here.
- jackup the car and remove the wheel
- use a 13mm wrench to loosen and remove the 13mm bolt and washer (above the drive shaft on the wheel carrier) that secure the air spring to the wheel carrier. I took a pic but it was too blurry to publish, sorry about that!
- pull the old air spring out and run your hands over the mounting surface on the wheel carrier everything should be smooth, if not you may have to file away any rough edges as I recall someone posted that this may have had some thing to do with a leaking air spring. I didn't find any rough spots but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Once the air spring is out the installation of the new part basically follows the removal process. Sorry at this point my camera ran out of batteries and it was below freezing in my garage (-15C), so on we go with the replacement.

NOTE: There is a paper like gasket on top of the air spring that you should make sure it gets installed with the new air spring. The BMW parts guy told me that they don't stock replacements and mechanics sometimes get rid of them in error.

Note: There is a cap on the quick connect fitting to prevent dirt from getting into the air spring during installation. I found it easier to shorten the length of the air spring to almost the length of the old air spring by temporarily removing the cap to allow easier manipulation of the air spring then reinstalling the cap allow the air spring to stay in that shape.

- to manuveur the new air spring into position you may want to get a helper to help you to line up the three studs on the top of the air spring with the three holes in the spring perch so you can install the two circlips. (by the way I used new circlips and 13mm bolt as they weren't expensive even from the BMW stealership, plus if I bent them during the removal process it was no big deal).
- once the circlips are reinstalled, you need to then install the 13mm bolt and washer to secure the bottom of the air spring to the wheel carrier. There are two ways to do this (1) you can remove the cap from the quick connect fitting on top of the air spring so you can pull down the bottom of the air spring to meet the wheel carrier or you can (2) use a second floor jack to raise the wheel carrier to meet the bottom of the air spring.
- use the 13mm wrench to install the 13mm bolt and washer, the torque is only 15 ft-lbs but it is hard to get a torque wrench in there because there is simply not enough room, so carefully estimate the torque required and don't over tighten because the threaded insert is only inserted into the plastic base of the air spring.
- reinstall the wheel and the quick connect fitting to the top of the air spring and make sure it is secure. You will have to once again use the needle nose pliers to once again squeeze the tabs on the fitting to retract the piece that locks the quick connect fitting in place and push down.
- lower the car part way or all the way, your choice.
- reinstall the negative battery terminal.
- open the door of the car if the compressor does not come on to raise the car, insert the ignition key and advance it until the commpressor is heard, no need to start the car. The ride height should raise to the same height as before the failure of the air spring, no adjustment should be required.
- check all the air connections and replace the floor panel behind the rear seats with the three 10mm bolts.

be interested to read your write up on this DIY.

Check this out. It's a UK-based E39 forum. Good info in the thread.

http://forum.bmw5.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=21434&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Once you finish this ought to be a sticky. Thanks for the contribution.