M52B28 crank or cam sensor issues

[russellc2 9]

Hi all,

Problems with the racecar this time (E36 - 328i 95/96 model) Bit of a long-winded description sorry!

Having an intermittent issue where the car cuts out / loses all power an needs to be restarted. Seems to be losing signal to crank position sensor, although the fault codes (read with INPA) don't seem to match this.

I have recently fitted a new camshaft sensor as I was getting a constant code for this using INPA. I'm not 100% sure yet this new one is working correctly. Got it from Milland and never had an issue with anything from them before, so I'm thinking it's something else causing the issue. The old camshaft sensor wiring was stuffed at the sensor end. All 3 wires had lost their insulation so were touching each other. Not sure if this was old age and heat that caused this or something else? I'm guessing this short may have damaged the old DME too maybe?

So I have also just fitted another re-flashed MS41.0 DME (7K rev limit / tuned for M50 manifold which I have also just fitted / EWS delete + other bits)

With new DME / new cam sensor I am still getting this cut out which feels like crank sensor, but I've only seen one code in INPA relating to crank sensor. Cleared that and it's not come back, although I keep getting cam sensor fault every time I start the car without fail...

I'm about to order new crank sensor (looks to be 2 of them) but rather than just throwing money at the issue I thought I would ask some guru's on here first as someone may have had the same issue?

Also can anyone confirm if cam sensor fault will actually stop the engine on an M52? I know the vanos won't function as the DME can't tell cam timing but when one of the 2 cam sensors died in my e39 540i, the engine still ran ok just down on power & never died. I was going to unplug cam sensor to test this theory too.

Cheers, Russell

 

 

 

 

 

 

[russellc2 9]

And last question for now, is there 1 or 2 crank sensors on these motors? Looks like 2 wires splitting off from the plug under the manifold.

Update: Appears I was looking at wrong connection and the 2 splitting off wires are for knock / ping sensors?

 

Edited August 15, 2016 by russellc2

[thorburn 121]

1x crankshaft sensor. Most nz models have them on the front. Some other countries have the trigger wheel on the crank inside the block.

 

 

[russellc2 9]

Thanks James, yes confirmed mine is on the front too - don't know why I was looking for a crank sensor on the side of the block in the first place! Do they fail very regularly? Can they be tested fairly easily?

[BM WORLD 1286]

they wear out ,

insulation crumbles , pull back the boot on the plug and you will see .

just replace it , they have a 10-15year life if you are lucky

[russellc2 9]

Thanks Brent, got one coming from Milland. Will report back to confirm it resolves the issue

[Mad_Max 233]

I had the same issue with my car, found out through lots of research when one goes, the other usually goes, so best to replace both cam and crank sensors at the same time. Car will run with just the crank sensor working but won't run without it.

Interestingly enough, they also both throw the same fault codes in INPA, i.e. failed crank sensor can show as a failed cam sensor when checking fault codes.

[russellc2 9]

Thanks for the info Mad Max! turns out that's exactly what's happened in my case too. All the insulation on both the cam and crank sensors has gone old and brittle and disappeared on a fair chunk of the wiring!

I just hope it's not the same further up the wiring path for each sensor to the DME... Hoping the new crank sensor turns up today. Here's a pic of the wiring

[russellc2 9]

new crank sensor installed tonight and it's running well again with no stalling  

Still got a cam sensor fault before I went for a drive but it feels like everything is working as it should, and great fun with the M50 manifold when it keeps on pulling to nearly 7k!

Will check codes again tomorrow but I think my issues are resolved - thanks all

[Mad_Max 233]

Lol same problem I had...... except I was stuck, so managed to splice and solder 3 new wires from the plug to the sensor..... and it's still holding to this day.......

[russellc2 9]

Hi all, looking for more help as I'm still getting a cam sensor fault through INPA which won't go away with the new camshaft sensor & crank sensor.

If I unplug the cam sensor, the car wont start. Plug it back in, clear codes, start car and continue to get error 65 Camshaft Position Sensor. I was told that a faulty MAF can also show as a cam sensor fault, so temporally disconnected the MAF & started the car ok after clearing codes again. Now I just got a MAF fault as well as cam sensor fault. 

The car is running ok, although if cam sensor is playing up I assume the vanos won't be working so I may be down on power a bit.

I was trying to read values when the car was running with INPA (on XP laptop) to confirm I had no vanos activity but inpa keeps erroring when ever I start the car?? I can only read stored values & clear for some reason...

 

 

 

[SWR 0]

Did you have any update on this, Have had the same issue with a few cars over the years and after replacing Cam and Crank sensors still no luck. Cheers

[aviation_hacker 5]

 

On 10/27/2023 at 2:32 PM, SWR said:

Did you have any update on this, Have had the same issue with a few cars over the years and after replacing Cam and Crank sensors still no luck. Cheers

Hey SWR (and Russell - sorry found your Part 2 thread, then this one!) - a similar question I asked Russell/replied to in his Part 2 thread, but did you use a Genuine Cam Position Sensor in your car, assuming it's an M52? Haltech has some interesting information on the sensors, namely that they're not a standard Hall-Effect Design, but a custom design where there's a base frequency fed to them, and then a cam/metal moving past it modifies that frequency - so essentially the result being anything that isn't Genuine BMW doesn't seem to work, at least from what I'm reading on the USA threads as well.

https://support.haltech.com/portal/en/kb/articles/m50-engine

https://support.haltech.com/portal/en/kb/articles/m52-engine