Outdoor Air Temp Sensor
 

Month ago I had a large piece of semi-truck retread thrown up into the front passenger side of my Msport bumper at 70mph (recently replaced and painted bumper...another story). This lady was texting or something and made no maneuver to avoid the debris..leaving me a split second to get out of the way.

Long story short, I got off pretty easy with some minor scuffing, missing piece of the mesh grill, and a broken foglight. I took it to a body shop that is recommended by BMW and they dropped the bumper, fixed the fog light and grill piece for about $250. When I picked the car up the check engine light was on. I asked about it and he ran the codes. Said it was the ambient outdoor air sensor. Re-set the code and it was fine for 2 weeks. It comes on and off now. Doesn't seem like a huge issue.

Questions -

1) Is the sensor in a area that could have been damaged by the road debris I hit? If not Ill just take it in and have it checked out under CPO warranty.

2) I could not find the part or price on multiple parts websites. Anyone have a part ID? 2010 535 Msport

3) Could this sensor cause damage to the car as is?

Thanks for the input.

The sensor is on the front bumper on the lower ledge possibly on the driver side. I'm guessing it's a bad sensor or bad connection.

RealOEM.com BMW E60N 535i Temperature sensor

I use this website for all parts reference. I really can't see how this affects car performance but, I could be wrong. Good luck.

+1. Mine was disconnected for a week one. Perhaps it became loose or was not reconnected correctly when the bumper was hit or repaired. A sensor is not much and easy to replace.

The outside air temp sensor located in front of car near bumper is only used for the instrument cluster display of the outside air temp. This sensor has nothing to do with the engine management system and will NOT throw a "CEL" error code. The ambient air temp sensor is located somewhere else. Not sure, but might be built into the MAF.

Hmm..Ok Ill have to do some more digging because it definitely threw a code. Im due for an oil change under CPO in a month so I might watch it and ask the dealer to take a look then. Thanks everyone.