Great thread - I am going to inspect all of my sensors. As of late, my PDC has been acting up on my 2003 4.6is.

Agreed, this is a great thread. Nothing like being forearmed in the event of one of these little sensors going south later on at some stage.
Thanks for tips n pics :thumbup:

Good luck on finding the culprit!!! My PDC had been bumped and damaged, that is why it stopped working. When I took it out, the PDC housing was entirely cracked and the sensor portion of the PDC had separated from the rest of the plastic housing.(that might be a little hard to understand, maybe ill just include a pic tomorrow in the daylight). What I am saying is even if the PDC doesn't appear that damaged the portion of it that is behind the bumper might be damaged and preventing it from working. Good luck and ask away if you have any questions!!

My PDC is also not working, so I just went out and tried to find the "culprit". All of the rear sensors clicked when I put my hand over them. The front also clicked, but not nearly as strong. When I activate my PDC, it has all the normal fault symptoms, long beep and flashing light. Should I inspect something in the front since it was very faint?? I hate to sound stupid here, but do you have to have the vehicle in D for the front to work? Thanks in advance.

Todder

You can manually turn on the PDC sensors in park, reverse or drive by pressing the PDC button. Then get out of the car and walk around it and trip the sensors. I don't know if the front having more of a faint beep means anything? You could give your dealership a call and describe the symptoms and maybe they would have some valuable input/information.

Are any of the sensors loose, scratched or visibly damaged? If one of them has been tapped while parking this could have damaged it and is preventing it from working.

Good luck!

Yesterday I stupid driver drove back to me and hit me from the front, it was very soft hit that when I went out I noticed no single scratch … but today morning.. I found the same problem… beep and flash light … no way the sensor could be damaged!! Unless its made of thin glass!! Any other possibility than I have to replace the sensors !!

Your PDC is most likely damaged

honestly i dont like the whole PDC solution by BMW, especially the missing of indicator bar! one sensor down, the whole system is stops! even PDC systems with $25 wont be that stupid!
by the way, did anyone replace OE PDC system with an aftermarket one? if so Plz let me know as the whole system will be cheaper than a single sensor

If it is one of your front PDC's that was damaged I have an extra one that you could buy from me. Let me know if your interested.

ok, used the sensing mechanizem to detict which sensor is damaged and it worked...exactly where the other car hit mine ... now the next step is to replace it.. but the mechanical guy said that we need to connect it to the computer dont know why not to replace it directly!!! does the vehicle needs reset!? also for my 06 X5 4.4 do i have to remove the whole front bumber so as to install the middle front sensor or it can be done otherwise?