toro1966

This may sound like a dumb question, but is there anyway to test the outside air temp gauge to ensure it is reading correctly? Mine seems to be working, it jsut seems to be reading higher than I would expect it to be. Today it was about 69 degrees this morning outside and when I turned the car on this morning (in the garage) it showed 84. I can't imagine my garage is 15 degrees warmer than outside..although I guess it's possible....

6spdC6

Hope this helps! The gage appears to do its best when the car is moving. It normally takes a couple miles to read the right temp. after I pull out of the garage. I have seen it move up 20 degrees once I get a ways down the road.


OBTW nice color car you got!

Ranger

A better measure of the garage temperature is looking at the car's oil temp before or immediately after firing up the motor.

Ranger

toro1966

Thanks guys. I'll try that (oil temp). The gauge is supposed to display the correct temperature if the temp has fallen since you last ran it. If the temp has risen since the car was last on, it will wait until in motion to ensure a correct reading. Since my car was off the entire night, and the temp had fallen (was 92 yesterday), it should have displayed the correct temp as soon as I started it. Thanks again.

toro1966

Well I haven't had a chance to bounce the temp gauge against the oil temp yet but hopefully I will be able to do that tomorrow if the oil temp cools off enough (I just put her in the garage after a good drive).

What I did do was make a circular route on the highway and around my town and recorded the temps at various locations. Then I took my wife's 2003 Dodge Ram out on the same route. It has a temp sensor as well. The temps it displayed were between 2-3 degrees cooler than mine. A little of that difference can probably be chocked up to the fact that even though I took hers out right after I returned with mine, it was getting dusk/dark. So bottom line is it was cooling off anyway.

I'll check it tomorrow, but I am guessing I will just have to live with it being a couple/three degrees off. Anyone know what spec the outside temp sensor is manufactured to?

I know I am being **** retentive about it, but I hate it when things don't work right. Any of you checked your readings and compare them to what you know to be the correct temperature? Was the vette's reading off, and if so, by how much?
Cheers.

6spdC6

Both my truck and Vette with the temp gages appear to be almost dead on. I have a gage on my house in a shaddy area(car port) and when I drive a bit the vechicles seem to agree with the house. Same with those outdoor signs with the temp displayed (usually within 1 to 2 degrees.) I would say thats consistant.

haljensen

Keep in mind the "Pocket Climates" involved. Your inside garage temp is not the same as the temp in a shaded drive or the same as an "Official" reporting station a mile away. Shade, air movement, surrounding ground cover, etc. all make a difference. Austin has two reporting stations less than 5 miles apart and the temps will differ as much as 12° some days.

Buffy

It seems to take a few minutes to read correctly, even in the morning when its cool. It seems that there's a damping function there, as well as the "hot hold" function. I'm not sure that's what they meant it to do, but apparently that's how the code was written.

overrev64

The gauge is only accurate after the car has been moving for a time. I think you have to be moving for like 10 minutes or so at 35 mph or 5 minutes at 60 mph (something like that, it is in the manual). Also, it doesn't update in real time to avoid it constantly changing.

Vette_DD

Toro1966, here's a section of the owner's manual that you might want to review, pages 181 and 182.

toro1966

Thanks guys, I had read that part of the manual. However, it also says if the temp goes down (as it does overnight), the temp gauge should show the correct temp. That's why I was curious. Also, when I drove it around, I made sure to exceed those parameters and I still ended up getting what i think were eronious (not accurate) errors on the gauge.

Even when I cam to work this morning, the temp was about 74-75 degrees outside. Yet when I got to work the gauge was reading 80. This was at 5:30 a.m. so I am fairly sure it was incorrect. I think I am going to ask the dealer if they have a way to check it. Or I might just ask them to replace it. They are pretty good to me.

Vette_DD

There is a remote possibility that 5-6 degrees high on the sensor could be okay if you were always on asphalt or concrete in sunlight.

However, it wouldn't hurt to get the dealer to check it since that outside sensor is used to set cabin temps.

toro1966

I just came home and checked it again against my wife's dodge and it is still 4-5 degrees higher than it should be. Mine is reading 88-89 and it should be between 83-85. I have decided that rather to screw around with it any more, I am just going to replace the sensor. It is really easy to get at and only costs 10 bucks. I know it is under warranty an di should let the dealer do it, but for 10 bucks, I would rather not wait for them to do it.

One question I had is, are there any special procedures to changing it out? Do I need to disconnect the battery or anything else before I disconnect the temp sensor? Is there anything that needs to be reset or is it truly plug and play? Thanks!

toro1966

Well just for grins I replaced the outside temp sensor. It is fairly easy to get to and it was only $10 so I said what the heck. Still reading wrong. It is about 4-5 degrees off. Fairly consistently. I stopped by the dealer and I have an appointment for next Tuesday. We'll see what they say. Could it be the BCM? Is there any other interface to the temp sensor that would make it read wrong? Is there anything that should be calibrated. I know I am grasping at straws, but I was hoping someone had some info. Thanks!

kwiker

I figured i would just bump this one for my question....

Mine reads 69deg no matter what, for the past week it has been 69 the entire time i have been in my car. This is not a sex joke, i am serious. Any ideas?