sensor on front of 323i

[cav]

okay, I have a 2000 323i sport wagon. it has the sport package on it. on the way home from a get together two nights ago, I hit a raccoon at a relatively high rate of speed. the resulting crunch left the front skirt dented in and destroyed the black plastic piece on the inside of the wheel well.

upon looking at the other side, I noticed a little black plastic nub sticking out of a recess in the undercarriage plastic directly inline with the fog light. it has a female plug on the back of it, into which some wires with a two pronged blue and white male plug plug into. it points down toward the front tire at about a 30 degree angle. the plug is on the same vein of the wiring harness as the headlights.

any idea what this thing is?

thanks in advance.

[KillFox]

If this is the passenger side; it is rumored that there is a round airbag sensor that sits in the front splash guard (what u said is crunched). I replaced my passenger splash guard due to a previous owner doing something along the lines of what u did; and can confirm a dangeling set of wires... However, I asked around and never got a real confirmed answer; and since everything seems to be working;put it on the to do list. The airbag sensor in the splash guard was a 02+ thing Is what i was told, but that may be disinformation.

If you are referring to the driver's side, you are definently missing the temperature sensor. Its like a $50 part, as is the splash guard. Your OBC should be reading -40 for temperature right now.

[alpinestar]

Ah interesting info Killfox.... thanx for the info.

Just this weekend, I pulled of my bumper (01 325i) for headlight and foglight replacement, and there were 6 wire/connectors. 2 for the L/R foglights, 2 for the L/R horns, and 2 for the L/R sensors. The driver side sensor was just infront of the wheelwell, bottomside. The passenger side sensor was also on the underside just in front of the wheelwell.

[cav]

Originally posted by KillFox@Sep 1 2004, 12:29 AM
If this is the passenger side; it is rumored that there is a round airbag sensor that sits in the front splash guard (what u said is crunched). I replaced my passenger splash guard due to a previous owner doing something along the lines of what u did; and can confirm a dangeling set of wires... However, I asked around and never got a real confirmed answer; and since everything seems to be working;put it on the to do list. The airbag sensor in the splash guard was a 02+ thing Is what i was told, but that may be disinformation.

If you are referring to the driver's side, you are definently missing the temperature sensor. Its like a $50 part, as is the splash guard. Your OBC should be reading -40 for temperature right now.

thanks for the info!

the passenger side is the crushed side.

i've already ordered the plastic, when it comes in (the nearest Bimmer dealership is over an hour away, i live in kansas) i'll ask the parts guy about the sensor.

[KillFox]

Glad I could help

When you looked at your splash guards, was the sensor on the passenger side round or was it kinda like a needle? I have seen rumors that it is either an airbag sensor or a second ambient temp sensor down there on the 01s. Hopefully ya remember Knowing my baby is running around with a missing part just isnt right