Camshaft Position Sensor - M44

[RickyBobby]

Appears this is a fairly common fault code and fairly straight forward to resolve once the necessary sensor is aquired.

So having replaced the sensor on my previous 3.0i I placed my order with Sytner BMW Sheffield expecting the cost to be somewhere in the region of £120 incl VAT as before.

Big mistake - yes they had one and yes it would be available for collection the following day. The bit that took me by suprise, the bit that made me involuntary leave my seat and lay on the floor briefly was the price.

For the M44 they wanted £232.61 incl. VAT.

I thought it couldn't be right so called Harry Fairbairn in Kirkcaldy - but unfortunately they just confirmed the price albeit with discount they only wanted £203.50.

Maybe the saying big is beautiful is right and I should wave goodbye to the M44 and get back in an M52 / M54

 

[t-tony]

I would be tempted to try such as ECP for a Delphi or Haas brand.

Tony.

 

[RickyBobby]

I would be tempted to try such as ECP for a Delphi or Haas brand.

Tony.

So I think we'd call that a 'no brainer'

 

[t-tony]

Got to be worth a try for the Delphi.

Tony.

 

[Ianmc]

I would try Sopers, always seem competitive to me, with forum discount.
In my view, only an OEM part will do for this. Replaced mine in June 2017; part was £98.36, plus O ring (99p). No issues since. Original one lasted for 20 years!!

 

[AntStark]

The BMW OEM for my M43 was made by Delphi anyway. I’d go for that

 

[Trevor /chedder]

I used a cheaper one has been fine.

 

[colb]

Autodoc carry a vast range of Brands at really good prices, I have used Hass brand sensors and had no problems with them. Most of the Sensors on the market no matter what the Brand come from China. I always look at oem fitments then compare what Autodoc have. The well known brands Valeo, Delphi, Meyle and Hass are my usual choices and seem dependable in my experience.
Just replaced a post cat lambda sensor on the Z4 Bank2 and replaced it with a RIDEX brand, worked straight out of the box and when monitored in live data was performing in line with its counterpart on Bank1 will be adding RIDEX to my trusted Brands when I have given it some time fitted to the car just to make sure on its longivity.

 

[Peter1450]

Not sure what’s going on with some of the oem spares pricing, ordered some handbrake cable brackets that bolt through the drop links were about 1 dollar on real oem imagine my surprise when they arrived the invoice was about 50% more than I expected for the package , been charged £10 each for a nasty piece of steel that must cost pennies to manufacture, I ll be checking prices next time I place an order!

 

[colb]

Prices gone up for everything of late all jumped on the bandwagon to cover their increased costs all round inflation hurting us all

 

[Zephyr]

Back in the day I had the E46M3 I did a full preventative maintenance with non oem parts (meyle, valeo) and even picked some non oem connecting rods and they all lasted for over 60.000 km. when I sold the car with a total of 140.000 km practically everything on it was non oem (but some reputable after market brand) and for 40% of the price I enjoyed the car without any issues.
No idea on how a cheap alibaba part will behave though.

 

[t-tony]

Parts I ordered recently were quite a bit higher than quoted on Real.OEM.

Tony.

 

[colb]

I don't think OEM prices get updated reckon they are a good few years out of date.

 

[Peter1450]

There’s out of date and there’s taking the p***!

 

[t-tony]

It probably tells you on the site when prices were last updated, but, I for 1 couldn’t be bothered to look. Sopers gave me a good discount.

Tony.

 

[Stevo7682]

Real oem prices way off but gives you an idea if the part may be expensive or not it should be more just for location of the required bit and getting part numbers toallow to search for it .
Stephen.

 

[Oddly Godly]

I replaced my m52 camshaft sensor with a Febi. The car run like a dog so I ended up with a genuine bmw part in the end for almost £100 more than the febi.

 

[Ianmc]

I replaced my m52 camshaft sensor with a Febi. The car run like a dog so I ended up with a genuine bmw part in the end for almost £100 more than the febi.

This exactly echoes my experience. I will only use OEM parts for replacing key components. BMW Z3 parts are a lot less expensive than many specialist sports cars. You make your choice and pays your money - only once hopefully!!

 

[RickyBobby]

Fitted the Delphi Technologies sensor today and can confirm the associated fault codes have been cleared

 

[Zephyr]

I replaced my m52 camshaft sensor with a Febi. The car run like a dog so I ended up with a genuine bmw part in the end for almost £100 more than the febi.

Have you tried to reset adaptations before ditching the sensor?
From experience I can say this worked for my after market idle control valve.
had a very low idle at 600rpm and reseting adaptations solved the issue.