Ambient Air Temp Sensor
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 5,362
Likes: 3
From: Delray Beach FL
Ambient Air Temp Sensor
Has anyone had one of these fail? My outside temp is showing between 15 to 20 degrees less than what it truly is outside. I had this issue before on my 93 and replaced the battery to fix. Is the C5 electrical system similar to the C4 in this aspect? Should I replace the sensor or do the battery? Thanks in advance.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 6,213
Likes: 1
From: South Alabama
Your battery won't enter into this issue unless you're seeing all kinds of other "electrical" gremlins popping up on your DIC.
The temp sensor is a small plastic tip gizmo just visible at the bottom of the shroud under the radiator area on the passenger side. Mine failed awhile back. I don't remember the number displayed but it was below the threshold that the A/C would come on so my A/C wouldn't work either...and it was summertime
I wasted no time replacing it.
Be careful unplugging it as more than likely the inside of the plug has corroded and the little prongs will disintegrate. I ended up buying a new sensor and the plug-in. I cut off the old plug-in assembly and spliced in a new connector for the sensor and everythings been fine since. It's really pretty easy to do but it is a tight fit down there.
Someone had posted a pic from the manual for this area of the car but I can't locate the one I saved. I think it was Patches or Evil-Twin...maybe someone will repost the pic.
The temp sensor is a small plastic tip gizmo just visible at the bottom of the shroud under the radiator area on the passenger side. Mine failed awhile back. I don't remember the number displayed but it was below the threshold that the A/C would come on so my A/C wouldn't work either...and it was summertime
I wasted no time replacing it.Be careful unplugging it as more than likely the inside of the plug has corroded and the little prongs will disintegrate. I ended up buying a new sensor and the plug-in. I cut off the old plug-in assembly and spliced in a new connector for the sensor and everythings been fine since. It's really pretty easy to do but it is a tight fit down there.
Someone had posted a pic from the manual for this area of the car but I can't locate the one I saved. I think it was Patches or Evil-Twin...maybe someone will repost the pic.
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Just replace the temp sensor. Easy to do and cheap part.
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2003
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From: American Canyon Lethal Injection
Originally Posted by QuikZilver
Has anyone had one of these fail? My outside temp is showing between 15 to 20 degrees less than what it truly is outside. I had this issue before on my 93 and replaced the battery to fix. Is the C5 electrical system similar to the C4 in this aspect? Should I replace the sensor or do the battery? Thanks in advance.
with everyone else. It is ez and cheap to fix. the part is less than $10.00 and the location of it has been explained to you. When mine went bad the A/C wouldn't work. I was told that if you unplug it the sensor defaults to where you can operate the A/C. Good luck.Rsty
Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 39
Likes: 0
From: Carrollton Georgia
Guys thanks for this thread....I'm having the same issue in that my ext temp reads about 30 degrees less than the outside temp. It has not affected my A/C at this point. Sometimes it reads the correct temp, say 83 degrees, then the next thing you know it shows 53 degrees. I'm hoping this sensor repair will fix it.
