I finally figured out why the outside temperature all of a sudden reads --- instead of the actual temp. And I assume this is normal?? It happened to me twice now when sitting on a hot day (90+) in heavy standstill traffic, the outside temp reading goes to ---. Once I get moving again, it reads 115 degrees and then slowly starts to go down to what it really should be. Must be the heat from the engine and just being at a standstill on a hot day. This morning everything was back to normal, so it doesn't happen under normal driving conditions. Does this make sense??

 

Sounds about right...my wife just told me it happened to her in southern California yesterday while idleing with the AC on for a long time. You know, she didn't want to wake the kids so just sat in front of her aunts house for about an hour. At least she turned off the headlights!

 

It's possible (and this is just a guess) that when you were sitting there, the temps exceded some upper limit of the thermometer and it read "---"

 

"---" seems more and more normal in most of cars under this hot summer. It will start to display the real temp reading after you're moving your car again, except in some extremely hot areas.

There is another interesting thread you guys may like to know. Let me quote what RavenHwk posted on Dec. 21. 03. Garage has collected it.


Indicator Logic
If engine coolant temp is 140F (60C) or higher when the ignition is turned on, the outside air temp indicated the last time that the key was turned off will be displayed regardless of the current temp measured by the outside air temp sensor.

If engine coolant temp is 139F (59C) or lower when the ignition is turned on, the the current temp measured will be displayed.

Update Algorithm
If the outsidetemp is greater than the indicated temp, the temp will increased by 1F (1C) per minute after the vehicle speed is greater than 19MPH (30 km) for more than 30 seconds. It will continue to increase until the current temp is displayed. So, the first change to the outside air temp will be approx 1min 30sec after the vehicle speed is greater than 19MPH (30 km/h). If it drops below 19MPH (30 km/h) the indicator will not update again until the vehicle is traveling greater than 19MPH (30 km/h) for more than 1 min 30 seconds.

If the outside temp is less than the indicated temp, the temp will decrease by 1F (1C) every two seconds until the current outside temp is indicated regardless of speed.







http://www.acura-tl.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67481

 

In most cases this is probably what's going on.

But there are a couple members here, me being one of them, that has had the display stick at --- for several days at a time. It takes disconnecting the negative battery cable or pulling fuses #7 and #21 to get the display to reset and start working again.

The guy who had his fuses pulled by the dealer lost his odometer, it went to all --------. but the temp display started working again. Never have heard how he came out on that either.

 

Engine 101: Engine get hot.
I recommend icing down the engine in hot weather for 10 minutes. I use 50 pounds of crushed ice and a 16 inch fan.

 

Funny that this topic has come up.

I absolutely LOVE my TL...BUT, there is only one thing that pisses me off, and it's the completely inaccurate "outside" air temp reading. I am a weather geek at heart, and always keep tabs in the weather...

Thanks for all the above info guys, but, really, given all of it, why can't the damn thing just give us the outside temp without a coorection for vehicle speed, engine coolant, and all that?

WTF?

I sold my 97 JEEP Grand Cherokee with 130K miles on it to get the TL; it had a temp monitor that was 100% DOBA (Dead-on balls accuarate).

AND this was GM, for God's sake!!!

ACURA, are you listening?