Temp sensor has gone wild!

[Hallmark]

The temperature sensor on my E39 seems to have lost it. We've had record high temps around here lately and when the air temp has been in the high 90's my dispay has wandered from a low of 58 to a high of 106 over the period of ten minutes or so. I presume it's the sensor, could it be anything else?

Is this a dealer only item? Does anyone out there have an extra sensor lying about (I actually had one from when I replaced the bumper on my E34 and I neglected to remove it before I scrapped the old bumper).

Thanks,

[GS535i]

Do you have a smell of sulphur from the exhaust?
I chased an erratic temp indicator around too long, looking at the gauge, sensor, and wiring. The sensor more often went low than high ....
What it turned out to be was a broken cage on the (brass) thermostat: the temp gauge was correctly indicating what was happening with a thermostat that was flopping around. Everytime it popped wide open, the temp dropped .... and the cold start circuit kicked in. This richening of the mixture caused the sulphur smell ..... of the sulphourous acid that ate the belly out of the muffler before i woke up ... :(
Sometimes the gauges tell the truth - we just need to listen ...

[Hallmark]

I appreciate your contribution, though.

[ryan roopnarine]

have you tried cleaning the connector like an e34?

http://bmwe32.student.utwente.nl/johan/OBC_temp/OBC_temp.html

[632 Regal]

mine went crazy after my son sprayed water in the sensor area, took a week for it to come back to earth.

[Hallmark]

have you tried cleaning the connector like an e34?

http://bmwe32.student.utwente.nl/johan/OBC_temp/OBC_temp.html :)

[Craig in Davis]

a spare if you need one.