I had a similar problem in my old e39 touring/wagon. Turns out a wire to the sensor had broken in the trunk area, a few feet from the connector. It was difficult to diagnose until I started pulling trim out and saw the broken wire.

I doubt you have two bad sensors (old and new) that are bad in the same way. The easiest way to test is use inpa to activate suspension up & down while watching the readings (i think it's in analog values) of the sensor in question. And/or, plug in the new sensor and just move the arm up and down while watching the readings in inpa.

If the readings aren't changing for both sensors, I'd start looking at the wiring. You can pull the connector from the ehc module and at the sensor end and check for continuity going by the color of the wires, or better yet, a pinout from a schematic.

On my wagon, that tested out fine because it was an intermittent break. When I lifted the connector to test, everything checked out OK. It wasn't until I visually traced the wire and saw chaffing that I found the problem.

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2012 xDrive35d
2001 BMW X5 3.0i 5MT
and two 1987 Corvettes - Callaway Twin Turbo and Guldstrand Grand Sport 80
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