Which camshaft sensor for M?

tom21 · Post by **tom21** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:50 am

Hi guys,

I took a trip to wales last Saturday and noticed when I pulled onto the motorway (first time I put my foot down a bit) that I had a loss of power. I have had a similar issue before when my MAF sensor had its day so I didn't think too much of it and carried on my journey. When I had the MAF sensor issue sometimes a car restart would sort it. So when I arrived at the toll booth going into wales on the m4 I decided I would give the car a quick restart (big mistake!) When I turned it off it would not fire up again!!! So there I was stranded at the toll booth blocking everyone in my lane behind me trying to start the car. Eventually the toll booth attendant closed my lane and I was towed too the hard shoulder by the highway agency. I had no breakdown cover so I joined the AA at the roadside which cost me a small fortune and they set on their way to come rescue me. I thought I would try the car one last time because by this time the battery was nearly flat....And with a bit of a struggle it fired up again! ( so i cancelled the AA van coming out) I managed to get it to celtic manor where I was staying for a weekend. When I came home last night it start up again and I managed to drive it home slowly,still had loss of power. When I got it back on the driveway in Somerset I stopped the engine and it wouldn't start again. So the symptoms are:

Loss of power
EML
Wont start when warm
ERROR CODES:
P0365 - Camshaft Position Sensor "B" Circuit (bank 1)
P0366 - Camshaft Position Sensor "B" Circuit Range/ Performance (bank 1)

Wondering if anybody has heard of a similar problem occurring on this engine? I believe this is the part number I need 13627796054. However I am struggling to find a replacement part. There are a few made by brands i've never heard of on this page: https://www.onlinecarparts.co.uk/oenumb ... 96054.html

Has anybody used any of these before?

Thanks ,

Tom

beanie · Post by **beanie** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 12:01 pm

If you don't fancy going to BMW then I'd be inclined to remove the existing sensor and see if there are any manufacturer markings that might help you determine who makes them for BMW.

I've never heard of the brands on the site you mention but that's not to say one of them isn't the oem. If it were me and I had any doubts over the pattern part then I'd just stump up and pay the dealer price

Attilio · Post by **Attilio** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 12:21 pm

Hi,

I am not sure if this helps, but I would suggest to check realOEM. I did a quick search based on my car (M Coupe Nov 2007 - right hand drive) and this is the part number:12147539171 (Camshaft position sensor). You can find a number of compatible parts searching on eBay

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/part?id ... 2147539171

Best
Attilio

tom21 · Post by **tom21** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:19 pm

Attilio wrote: ↑Tue Mar 20, 2018 12:21 pm12147539171

Thats what I did too, wondering if i pulled the wrong part number from it now...

Position 8 also says camshaft position sensor, im confused

Attilio · Post by **Attilio** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:22 pm

tom21 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:19 pm
Attilio wrote: ↑Tue Mar 20, 2018 12:21 pm12147539171
Thats what I did too, wondering if i pulled the wrong part number from it now...

It looks like the part number we got is the correct one as the "old one" 12147830986 seems to have been discontinued.

I am sure there is a number of "compatible" parts manufactured by different suppliers...

Attilio · Post by **Attilio** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:57 pm

I found these 2 parts on ebay:

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Genuine-BMW-E46 ... SwnNBXUYbW

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Genuine-BMW-E46 ... Sws5BaX2Zu

Hope it helps
Attilio

TomK · Post by **TomK** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 8:30 pm

Funnily enough my exhaust cam sensor just went too.
Personally I think you're a bit mad to consider buying it anywhere other than BMW, £140 or so and piece of mind with a fitted 2 year warranty.

tom21 · Post by **tom21** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 9:03 pm

TomK wrote: ↑Tue Mar 20, 2018 8:30 pm Funnily enough my exhaust cam sensor just went too.
Personally I think you're a bit mad to consider buying it anywhere other than BMW, £140 or so and piece of mind with a fitted 2 year warranty.

You just taking yours in to a main dealer to be done or are you fitting it yourself? I think your right..ill be doing the same

TomK · Post by **TomK** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 9:41 pm

Mine actually went on my way down to the shop i use for some other work I was having done, so I got them to do it (note that you can fit a part bought from BMW direct yourself and if it fails within 2 years they will replace and fit themselves).
It's diyable for sure, i think the intake cam one is a bit more tricky.

TomK · Post by **TomK** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 10:07 pm

tom21 · Post by **tom21** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 10:08 pm

TomK wrote: ↑Tue Mar 20, 2018 9:41 pm Mine actually went on my way down to the shop i use for some other work I was having done, so I got them to do it.
It's diyable for sure, i think the intake cam one is a bit more tricky.

Its on the back passenger side of the engine isnt it? Ill give it a go myself, if not I know a mobile mechanic that will be able to do it.

TomK · Post by **TomK** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 10:11 pm

Yeah I'm sure there's a bunch of guides out there for it on the e46m3. It's in fact a lot easier on the Z4M as you don't need to remove a load of plastic to get to the back of the engine. Note the edit I made to my post above about buying direct from BMW. Try Harry Fairburn for a start, generally the best prices.

no fit state · Post by **no fit state** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 9:30 pm

My exhaust side camshaft sensor went a couple of Decembers ago, with similar symptoms to yours. After discussion on here the advice was to go with the BMW one. Cost about £140 with a 10% discount and I fitted it myself in about 1/2 an hour.

BMWZ4MC · Post by **BMWZ4MC** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 7:43 am

I had a cam position sensor fail at somewhere just over 30,000 miles. I’ve forgotten which it was, but it resulted in EML and the car ran very down on power (I interpreted this as a limp mode at the time). It was readily fixed by an independent garage fairly inexpensively.
In the months leading up to this, I had experienced a few episodes of very poor running after starting the car with a warm engine. Each time it cleared after three restarts (until the final episode). I’m fairly sure my code reader returned codes pertaining to the MAF or lambda sensors with these early episodes. I didn’t replace the MAF or any of the lambda sensors and I’ve not had any issues since, so I suspect these episodes were indicative of a failing cam position sensor.

I bet you felt a bit of a pillock stuck at the toll gate - somehow the merciless glee of the other drivers at the sight of a broken sports car is palpable! I blocked the inside lane of the M4 in roadworks with no hard shoulder in rush hour on one of the many, many occasions my Audi TT let me down

Spaniarduk · Post by **Spaniarduk** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:01 pm

tom21, what obd2 adaptor do you have and what software (android? Apple?) tool do you use to check the error logs

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