Outside Air Temperature Sensor
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Aug 2014
Posts: 13
Likes: 1
From: Texas
Outside Air Temperature Sensor
The reading I'm getting on the A/C screen is not close to what the air temperature is outside. My 2011 has the auto A/C system that shows the inside temperature setting for the driver side, then the outside air temperature and then the passenger side inside temperature setting. Because the outside air temperature is way off, I think it is effecting the cold air output of the A/C system. Today I started the car and outside air temperature showed 61 degrees when I know the actual outside temp. was at least 79. After I drove the car for a few miles the outside temperature started rising until it hit 79 degrees. Is the battery not giving the temperature sensor enough voltage to work properly. I bought a new sensor and I get the same result. Any ideas what is causing this?
Moderator, Tech Contributor
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 15,599
Likes: 4,057
From: Cape Coral, Florida
This OAT sensor is a simple 2 wire thermistor type circuits…the light green/black wire is the signal wire and the yellow wire is a “low reference” or ground…don’t know your electrical skills but if you unplug the sensor and with ignition on you should see 5 volts on that light green/black wire when you have the voltmeter lead connected to battery ground…now use the yellow wire as your voltmeter ground…both of those 2 voltages should be close…if you read 5.00 volts on battery ground but 4.80 volts using the low reference wire as a voltmeter ground you have high resistance on the yellow low reference wire…we are just comparing the ground circuits.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 2,507
Likes: 1,166
From: Northern Wisconsin
At startup, the outside air temperature display shows the last value when the car was shut down. After startup, the car has to be driven for some time before the display starts to change. This agrees with what you are experiencing, so I would say your system is working normally. I believe the owner's manual explains this in detail.
Racer
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 427
Likes: 142
From: Kingman AZ
You can do a 'soft reset' on the climate control. Press both defroster buttons and the fan speed up button together. Press all 3 at the same time, and it will reset the outside temp. I have to do this every once in a blue moon with mine.
