Hi folks! I am a defense contractor, and I leave Monday morning for a three month deployment overseas. So this morning, I washed and detailed my babies, getting them ready for their long sleep under covers. I rinsed out underneath the hood since I get a fair amount of sand under there. I left it open and let it dry for a few hours in the sun afterwards. As I was putting her away, I noticed the outside temperature was stuck at 61 deg (most likely the temp when I washed it) and will not raise even though the outside temp is much warmer now.

I obviously got it wet, but I have no idea where it is located. Can anyone give me a clue as to where it is. It might dry out soon, but I would rather not leave it that way for 3 + months. Thanks!

 

Try disconnecting the battery and it might reset.
Or there is a trick on the forum, search for which 3 switches to punch to reset the temp display.

 

I think it is on the lower front side of the radiator.

 

I don't think it updates until the car reaches a certain speed for a certain period of time. So the temp it showing should be from that last time it reached those parameters.

 

Regarding the Outside Air Temperature sensor.


From the owners manual:
There is also a sensor located behind the front bumper.
This sensor reads the outside air temperature and
helps to maintain the temperature inside the vehicle.
Any cover on the front of the vehicle could give a false
reading in the temperature.

If the outside temperature goes up, the displayed
temperature will not change until:
• The vehicle’s speed is above 12 mph (19 km/h) for
five minutes.
• The vehicle’s speed is above 32 mph (52 km/h) for
two and a half minutes.
These delays prevent false readings. If the temperature
goes down, the outside temperature will be shown
when you start the vehicle. If it has been turned off for
less than three hours, the temperature will be recalled
from the previous vehicle operation.

Further from the service manual:

Condition/
Display

At start up with the engine OFF more than 3 hours/
Displays actual outside temperature

At start up with the engine OFF less than 3 hours/
Displays last stored temperature

Vehicle moving above 16 km/h (10 mph) for 5 minutes/
Updates temperature display at a slow filtered rate.

Vehicle moving at 51 km/h (32 mph) or greater for 2.5 minutes/
Updates temperature display as rapidly as possible.

When the sensor reading is less than the displayed value./
Updates temperature display as rapidly as possible.

When the Front Defrost, Rear Defog and fan up buttons are pressed simultaneously./
Updates temperature display instantly.

 

I don't know if the temperature sensor works like a thermometer but if it does a wet sensor will always read lower than a dry one. Remember grade school physics? "Evaporation is a cooling process".

Back in the "olden days" humidity was measured by recording the dry thermometer and then a wet thermometer and finding relative humidity by looking up wet bulb temperature and dry bulb temperature on a table.

 

What Paul said...

And the sensor is made to get wet, so no worries. It is just in front of the radiator on the right side, so it gets wet every time the car is driven in the rain and probably when it is washed.

 

Located on lower radiator shroud on the passenger side. If you look from under the car up into the radiator cavity you will see it sticking through the shroud. You probably got the connector wet, which is on the inside of the shroud where you were probably washing. Look down from above on the passenger side of the engine compartment, just forward of the radiator and you will see a connector at the bottom of the shroud. Mine has a blue plastic snap connector on it.