SouthernBoy

Well as some of you may know, I had a bad experience with my outside temperature display. In August, it went flatline. Then 30 hours before I was to leave for vacation, using my TL of course, the battery turned up stone dead. I had not driven the car in 5 days.. it had sat in my garage with a nice wax job I wanted for the beach. I charged the battery and of all things, my outside temperature display returned when battery power was resumed.

The vacation went off without a hitch. The Nav proved itself useful several times on the trip. But I had noticed the outside temperature display was off by around 4 degrees, it seemed. It appeared to display a temperature 4 degrees warmer than what the actual temperature was (yes, I allowed for traffic and such).

So yesterday afternoon when I got home from work, I set a termometer within inches of the sensor behind the bumper. This morning (14 hours later) I checked the termometer and it read 66 degrees. When I started the engine, the temperature display in the car read 70 degrees. So I performed the calibration as described in the shop manual and by selecting the -2 degree correction, the display read 66 degrees. So now it's dead on accurate!

I also checked my battery voltage at the same two times (again, 14 hours apart). The first reading was 12.84 volts. This morning's reading was 12.74 volts; a drop of 1/10th of a volt in 14 hours. That seems to be normal so I think all is well now.

yard7man

Can you provide us with the procedure you used to performed the calibration as described in the shop manual for the out side temp.
Sounds like you fixed a common problem

SouthernBoy

Sure. As I mentioned I used an outside thermometer which I mounted right next to the temperature sensor behind the front bumper.. next to and at the same level. I let the car sit the rest of the evening and all through the night so that the engine would be cool (warm engine coolant causes the ECU to use a different algorithm for monitoring the sensor). Also, I wanted as true a reading as I could get.

Then this morning, I first read the temperature off of the thermometer and noted it (66 degrees). Then I started the engine and did the following:

o Make sure the outside temperature display is showing.

o Select the tripometer display you are not using for any mileage checks (I selected "B").

o Press the "Reset" button for 10 seconds and you will see the outside temperature display clear and then show something like "+3" or maybe "-3". Continue to press the Reset button and these numbers will scroll from +3 to -3 while you are pressing the Reset button.

o In my case, my car's outside temperature was reading 4 degrees too high. So when "-2" showed up on the display, I released the Reset button and immediately it displayed 66 degrees which was exactly right. BTW, this entire thing took maybe 3 minutes and was simple.


I just got back from a 25 mile run to go to a store and get gassed up (plus, I love to drive). As I pulled into my garage, I noted the temperature was showing 64 degrees (the garage door was open the whole time I was gone). As soon as I got out of my car, I checked the thermometer in my garage and it too was showing 64 degrees, so it looks as though the thing is dead on the money.

Hope this helps you.

jd0225

Good post!

yard7man

Thanks this looks to be very easy.

yard7man

I just performed the calibration as you described and my outside temp is now reading correctly. It was reading 79 and my thermometer was reading 75. So I set it to -3 and the car temp is now reading the same as the thermometer (which is very accurate). I will test it over the next couple of days and if it change I will let everyone know.



Thanks SouthernBoy[/U]

SouthernBoy

Great! I forgot to mention that I believe the calibration settings are displayed in celcius and that's why a -2 degrees worked for my correction.

JetJock

Is there any way to change the temperature more than +/- 3 degrees? I've tried changing mine several times and 3 degrees just isn't enough.

Ron A

The calibration settings are the same as the overall system for the car, so if you have a US model it will be in fahrenheit, and if you have a CDN model it will be in celsius. The adjustment of two degrees may have worked for you due to rounding off or minor discrepancies in the system.

There is no way. If it is more than 3 degrees off either way, it requires a replacement sensor. The service department will check the resistance of the sensor, and if it is not as specified in the service manual, it says to replace the sensor.