An apparatus includes an interface and a processor. The interface may be configured to receive a plurality of sensed values from a sensor under a plurality of conditions. The processor may be connected to the interface and may be configured to (i) generate a plurality of patterns in response to the sensed values, where each of the patterns includes a plurality of positions of a plurality of bad values among the sensed values in a corresponding one of the conditions, (ii) identify a plurality of consistently bad values among the bad values in the patterns and (iii) indicate that the sensor has been replaced where the positions associated with the consistently bad values do not correlate to a plurality of known positions of the consistently bad values previously identified in the sensor.