E39 Exterior temperature sensor failure

[yng_750 247]

As is apparently not uncommon for e39s my car came with the dash readout telling me it was -40'C

Abit of research told me the sensor is in front of the right hand wheel and is in a delicate spot and prone to damage.

I went looking and found this.

the entire plastic panel that holds the sensor / wind deflector / brake duct. was missing most likely from hitting a curb or similar.

i picked this entire unit up including the temp sensor from Pick Apart in TGA for $11.50

second photo shows the bottom and the sensors position.

my original plug was still there but had been damaged so i still cut and spliced the wires to use the plug that came with the sensor

the brake duct goes on first, two bolts at the rear and one hiding up the front right behind the aircon drier.

the min inner guard/ sensor mount clips into that then has around 5 bolts securing it

final result looks like this

the car seems slower to respond to the idea of rapid climate change than the act party and over the space of 12 hours its slowly crept up to saying -10'C

although on function 7 of the hidden tests it does read out the current EXT temp as 14 so i presume the dash will slowly catch up

hopefully this is helpful for others in future