Cam positioning sensor.

[jmig]

What are the signs of this sensor going bad. A couple of times when leaving on my morning commute, I've noticed the car upon starting have a rough idle for a minute or two then it smooths out to the normal idle speed.

Is there a way to test this sensor?

And if it needs to be replaced, is it a DIY job?

And finally, how much does the sensor cost?

[DanT]

What are the signs of this sensor going bad. A couple of times when leaving on my morning commute, I've noticed the car upon starting have a rough idle for a minute or two then it smooths out to the normal idle speed.

Is there a way to test this sensor?

And if it needs to be replaced, is it a DIY job?

And finally, how much does the sensor cost?
A faulty cam sensor would most definitely set a check engine lamp and the symptoms are usually more drastic. Symptoms would include engine dying or cutting out accompanied with a chk engine lamp.

[Seaglej]

I just had this problem with my 2001 525i. The check engine light accompanied and I had problems with running rough and stalling out. I don' know about DIY but it cost around $450.00 for the dealer to install.

[raakME-CU]

I just had this problem with my 2001 525i. The check engine light accompanied and I had problems with running rough and stalling out. I don' know about DIY but it cost around $450.00 for the dealer to install.
I believe that the Intake Cam Sensor causes the stalling problem. I got the Service Engine Soon light for my exhaust cam sensor but that did cause any driving problem.

Both can be DIY. I did my exhaust cam sensor replacement myself.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=165718

[DuckofPrey]

I have a 97 318 and my camshaft position sensor died on me a few weeks ago. When it goes, your engin will simply die without warning. It will then come back alive in a few seconds and die agian at random. This happened to me on the highway and it freaked the begeezus out of me. :yikes:

I limped to the nearest dealer and had them fix it. It cost me a little over C$300. C$100 was for the part.

In terms of symptom, the early sign was probably the engin stalling on start up. For the last 2-3 months, my engin would occationally stall right after I start the engin. There was no Check Engin light and it only did that once or twice on start up. With the belief that it will eventually go away, :tsk: I paid little attention to it; until it let go big time.

The advisor at BMW told me that the stalling at start up is related to the sensor. Indeed, its been over a month and my car never stalled, even at start up. So, if your car stalls at idle, that's a good sign that your cam sensor is about to go. Hope that helped...

[TheMatrixz]

The sensor costs $70 (with BMWCAA discount) at local dealer, it's a DYI job, it only takes about 10 minutes to do. There 2 of these on a 540.

I never had any noticeable symptom accept for the CE light which came on every few weeks then turned itself off after 3 successful startup. After I replace 1 CPS sensor and drove for 500 miles, my mileage increased about 1.5mpg (from 19.5 to 21mpg), strange but true, I guess the bad sensor had instructed the DME to compensate for the wrong timing.

[hmr]

I just had this problem with my 2001 525i. The check engine light accompanied and I had problems with running rough and stalling out. I don' know about DIY but it cost around $450.00 for the dealer to install.

That's about a $350 labor cost for a 15 min job (ok, maybe 30 min to hook up the OBDII reader). :eek:

[raakME-CU]

That's about a $350 labor cost for a 15 min job (ok, maybe 30 min to hook up the OBDII reader). :eek:
I think $450 is the rate for 2 sensors replacement (both Intake and Exhaust).