How to Replace Exhaust Camshaft Position Sensor 2001-05 BMW 325Xi

What's up, guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. In this video I'm going to show you how to replace this exhaust camshaft position sensor in this 2001 BMW 325xi. If you need this part or other parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description and head over to 1aauto.com.

With the trunk open, over on the right side or the passenger side, there should be a cover that goes right here. This vehicle doesn't have one, but you're going to want to remove that cover. Battery is located right here. First thing I'm going to do is take a 10 millimeter socket and a ratchet, loosen up this nut for the negative terminal. And that's loose. Slide off the cable. Slide it out of the way.

I'm going to take these push pins out right here. Just going to use some side cutters. Get this center pin, pull that up, and then slide it out. Be careful not to cut that. Get those out. Just grab this piece, slide it out. We're going to disconnect this connector right here. Just push down on that, slide that out. Then another connector right here. I'm going to slide the wiring out first, just like that, then the connector will come out. Just slide that to the side like that. I'm going to take a T25 and a ratchet, take this screw out right here.

Just going to use this trim tool from 1aauto.com. Take this push clip out. Get in there. Pull that out. All right, now that is loose. But what we need to do is we need to take the fan off, because the fan has to come out with the shroud as one.

What we need to do to take the fan off is we need to disconnect the fan clutch from the engine side. This is attached to one of the pulleys right there. So sometimes these are somewhat difficult to get off, so what we're going to do is use this tool. We actually sell this at 1aauto.com, with many different sizes. This happens to be the 32 millimeter. That's going to slide on there. And then we slide this on. And with a pneumatic air hammer, we're going to give it a couple bumps, and it's going to loosen up that nut, and we should be able to get it off.

All right, so now I'm going to take the tool. Now this fan clutch happens to be on there reverse thread, so it's going to seem like you're tightening it, but you're actually loosening it. So we'll go like that. Put our air hammer on there. Make sure you wear hearing protection and eye protection.

All right, so that's loose. Took a little bit of effort but I got it. Now you can slide the tool off. Just move it a little bit. There we go. And you should be able to just spin it off like that. Might need the tool once in awhile. Or you could use a wrench that fits, 32 millimeter wrench.

All right, now I'm just going to keep loosening this up. Be careful. You don't want the fan to fall. You don't want it to smash into the radiator. Especially if you're going to reuse the radiator. If you're replacing it, it's not a big deal.

So, as I get closer to the end, I'll just move the fan and just grab the blade. And there we go. Now I can slide this right up. Just like that.

To remove this sensor, I pulled the fan shroud out and the fan. You don't necessarily have to do that to do the sensor, although it's very tight if you're trying to do it. So I'm going to disconnect this connector. There's two tabs on the side here. You can squeeze it real tight with your fingers and try to slide it out, or use some type of needle nose that have a right angle. Squeeze that just like that, and then wiggle the connector out, just like that. Then there's a screw underneath right where the connector connects in. I'm going to use a T30 socket and a ratchet. Get that in there and loosen it up, take it out. All right, slide that screw out.

So this screw was actually very rusty and I couldn't see it too well. I thought it was a T30, of how I needed to get this out. But it's actually a hex head. You could use a hex head bit to get this out. But this one was so rusty I couldn't even tell. But, either way, I got it out.

Now I'm just going to grab the sensor, wiggle it a little, put a little force on it and pull it straight towards the front of the vehicle. And there we go. There it is.

Here's the old part. Here's the new cam sensor from 1aauto.com. The height of this sensor is the same, slightly different look on the face of it, but that's okay. The mounting position is in the same spot. The connector is the same. Get yours at 1aauto.com and you'll be ready to rock and roll.

Just going to take a little bit of engine oil or transmission fluid, just put it around O-ring. That's just going to make it slide in easier without tearing it. Now take the exhaust sensor, cam sensor, and slide it back in position. Just wiggle it a little and push it down. You should be able to get it to line up. Now I'm going to take that bolt with a hex bit, the five millimeter, so I'll install it with the correct tool. Line that up. Take a ratchet. I'm just going to snug that up. Make sure that sensor was all the way down. You don't want to have the bolt snug it in. Just make sure it's all the way down. Take the connector, line the connector up, and lock it in place. And it's good.

So, these have to go on together. Just slide this in position. Once I get this close, I'm going to start to tighten up the fan. Now these fan blades are... The fan clutch is reverse thread, so it's almost like you're going to be loosening it. There's really no easy way to do this. Just do it carefully to get it started. It's a little bit easier. Make sure that fan shroud is in properly. That's good.

All right. If you have the ability to torque this nut for the fan, you're going to torque that between 22 and 29 foot-pounds. I don't really have that ability, so I'm just going to put this tool on there and just give it a little tap. That should be good. Right here there's a push pin that's going to go back in here. Slide that in position. And lock it down. And on this side, we're going to put this screw right here. Then I'm going to use a T25 and a electric ratchet, tighten this down, just snug. I'll position this wiring harness right here and we'll plug the connector in right here. Lock that in place. Take this piece, slide this into the air box, just like that. And there's retainers right here. Take those push pins, lock them down. Then we can take the negative side, connect the negative side. Take the same 10 millimeter socket and ratchet, tighten it up. That's good. At this point, if you had that cover, you're going to want to put the cover back where it goes.

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