Camshaft Position Sensor!!!

[Yeehawbob]

New to the forum, and I have an urgent issue.

My "check engine" light had been ON for a couple of days so I decided to take my car in for checking at the local DINAN shop. They offered to diagnose the car for $120, which was significantly less than the $tealer's $220.
Dinan gave me a list of things that are wrong with the SRS system (but as long as I do not get into a crash I am okay) and the major problem is the "Camshaft Position sensor" that is malfunctioning.

DINAN is asking $236 to replace it $116 for the sensor and rest for labor.

What I want to know is if this is a DIY job and/or if I can get the SENSOR a bit cheaper from some place else????
If Possible can anyone tell me where is this sensor loctaed???

Please help!

Thanks
Bob

[himes]

I had the Check Engine light come on last fall. The dealer, kindly enough, charged me $39 to read out the code. Don't know the code number, but they said it was a bad cam position sensor and wanted $330 to replace it. I bought the part for $68 here at Pelican, and put it in myself in about 30 minutes. On my car, it was definitely an easy job.

[Yeehawbob]

Howdy,

I know you have a totally different engine than my car but can you please tell me where is the sensor located on your car????

Thanks

[himes]

On my car, the cam position sensor is near the front of the engine, driver's side, near the top, just underneath the VANOS solenoid. You'll need to unscrew the VANOS solenoid to get to it but that's easy with a big wrench or large pliers. The sensor is positioned just off the side of the front end of the cam shaft.

[Yeehawbob]

Well, I did a little looking around and found the Sensor, and it was right in front, very easy to access.

I unscrewed one nut and pulled it out. I sprayed some carborater cleaner on it wiped it clean with no lint cloth then sprayed some Carborater cleaner again and put it back in its place.

The check ingine light went away by itself, and the car is running smooth.

[himes]

Cool. Mine hadn't any sign of dirt or sludge on it. Maybe only had a little oil on it. As I recall, I might have disconnected the battery and then reconnected it, just to see if that would make the CE light go off. It went away but then came back on, prompting me to go ahead and replace the sensor. Hope you got away with just cleaning it.

[Yeehawbob]

Well,

My CEL came back and I kind of knew that it was the sensor, so I went out and bought one from the $tealer.
I looked and looked but could not find the plug end of the sensor on the engine.

A friend told me that I have to remove the top half of the intake manifold to get to the plug end.
I have not tried to do that yet as I do not know how easy is that and what else is involved when you take off the intake manifold.
Is there any seal or gasket that I will need or how to unscrew the screw towards the back of the manifold???

I do not have any repair manual for my car, and Bentley does not make one.

Does anyone here have any kind of manual for a 318Ti???
Please help if you do.

Thanks

[himes]

On mine, the wire from the sensor was about 10" long and ran to a mating connector held in place by a bracket under the intake manifold about mid-way back. It helped to remove the oil filter canister top and maybe a couple of other things, to get my hand in under there. I did not have to remove the intake manifold, but it was a tight squeeze.

Use a lot of light to see where you're going, and perhaps engage the assistance of someone with a small hand to disengage and re-engage the connector, for you. Getting it apart is a tad easier than re-connecting the new one. Then you have to figure out a way to hold the socket while you plug the new one in. I think used a pair needle-nose pliers or hemostats for that.

Of course maybe this is all for naught, and you have no choice at all but to remove the intake manifold. Good luck.

[Jeron]

If you need more room to reach under the intake manifold it might help to remove the air intake and MAF sensor boot. These are very easy to remove.