Inaccurate outside temperature display

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by Wylie1

Yes, the temperature gauge is a POS. Whether or not anyone complains to the dealer will determine whether or not the worthless thing is ever fixed. If you should complain be sure to mention the RIDICULOUS cig lighter/12 volt port locations as well. And don't get me started on the window gaskets!) Thank the Lord I can plug in a USB cable conveniently...which I may never do...and which despite what they told me at the dealership does not seem to charge phones, etc. like they said it would. How some of this convenience feature engineering ever got out of the design department I will NEVER know. Too busy making a fun as S car to drive I guess.

CSB. My Galaxy S4 gets charged just fine from the USB plug, and the temp sensor is accurate enough.

[Gary in NJ]

I always find that mine is off by the following formula:

(((Indicated Temp*2)*0.90)+32)

What should I do?

[The_Societan]

Mine isn't terribly accurate either, so I don't pay attention to it. I can see the concern with winter driving/freezing point, etc. I tend to drive cautiously if there's any reason to believe I might encounter an ice patch, so I doubt the reading on the dash will affect my driving habits.

[Porsche]

Originally Posted by Gary in NJ

I always find that mine is off by the following formula:

(((Indicated Temp*2)*0.90)+32)

What should I do?

Switch your speedometer over to kilometers per hour, of course.

And learn a foreign language, perhaps?

[tennisfreak]

my temp gauge is always 5+ degrees off. There has to be some way of calibrating it.

[MY13FRS]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

I'm comparing it to my experiences with my last car, S2000.

hmm....you shouldn't compare a high end car to a budget economy car like the twins.

You are right, my S2000 is more accurate than my FRS. It should only take several minutes for the feature to accurately display the outside temp.

[DoomsdayJesus]

This is as unexplainable as the thermometer on my Suunto watch telling me it's always 89 degrees

The only thing that bothers me is the inability to adjust the temperature and MPG calculation. I can do it on my '11 Outback easily, and it gets perfect temp/MPG readings (at least once it's been driving for 10-15 minutes). I could adjust it on my '03 330Ci as well. I hope there's an easter egg adjustment menu someone hasn't found yet.

Aside from that I leave the temp gauge off and have it on MPG or ODO. I have my S4 to tell me the weather.

[JDKane527]

The outside temperature display in the gauge cluster stopped working entirely. It displays the *F units, but no numbers. Connecting Torque to my car, it shows the outside temperature and is accurate within reason. Anyone else have this issue? I'm at 34k miles, and am going to be bringing it in to the dealership soon for warranty.

[wheelhaus]

Originally Posted by JDKane527

The outside temperature display in the gauge cluster stopped working entirely. It displays the *F units, but no numbers. Connecting Torque to my car, it shows the outside temperature and is accurate within reason. Anyone else have this issue? I'm at 34k miles, and am going to be bringing it in to the dealership soon for warranty.

Thread resurrection... Almost one year old!

Maybe check the sensor itself if you can find it. It's possible the ECU gets it's temp reading from the intake air temp sensor or somewhere else, which may be what the Torque software may be displaying... The dash gauge likely only uses the simple ambient sensor.

[DJCarbine]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

What difference does it make? It's a feature on the car that doesn't work properly.

Thus I don't see the harm in posting on here to see if it's a common occurrence or not. You'll have to excuse me for wanting everything on my brand new car to function properly.

What other temperature reading are you comparing the vehicle sensor to?
Temperatures outside can vary due to gusts of wind, sun exposure, etc.... its hard to get super accurate readings using a single temperature probe.

If you find its always off by a certain amount, looking up the sensor information and find out of if its a simple thermistor and what the voltage/temperature scale is, then clever application of a resistor may bring the results more in line with what you deem accurate.

I find that mine is accurate within reason, as in a rough estimate of the outside condition.

You could probably pull the sensor off, take it to a climate controlled room, check resistance and compare it to what it should be reading at a certain temperature. This information might even be in the shop manual, I've had good shop manuals that let you bench test most sensors on a car if they are able to be bench tested

[wparsons]

I can't believe for all the complaining in here, not one person checked tech stream to see that it is an option that can be EASILY set.

It's just a compensation, so if it's always reading 5* too hot, put in -5 for the compensation.

[DJCarbine]

Originally Posted by wparsons

I can't believe for all the complaining in here, not one person checked tech stream to see that it is an option that can be EASILY set.

It's just a compensation, so if it's always reading 5* too hot, put in -5 for the compensation.

Forgot all about techstream, my previous BMW let you add compensations for the MPG gauge, outside temp, etc.

Sometimes the most simple solution is overlooked

[JDKane527]

Originally Posted by wheelhaus

Thread resurrection... Almost one year old!

Maybe check the sensor itself if you can find it. It's possible the ECU gets it's temp reading from the intake air temp sensor or somewhere else, which may be what the Torque software may be displaying... The dash gauge likely only uses the simple ambient sensor.

Anyone have any idea then where the sensor is located? I'm hoping its not on the dash...in which replacing the sensor would mean ripping out the dash. The only issue I'm having is the ambient air temp sensor. The ambient air temp reading on Torque is within a few degrees of the local weather I check online. The gauge cluster just doesn't seem to be getting any of that info from the ECU though.

[andrew20195]

Originally Posted by JDKane527

Anyone have any idea then where the sensor is located? I'm hoping its not on the dash...in which replacing the sensor would mean ripping out the dash. The only issue I'm having is the ambient air temp sensor. The ambient air temp reading on Torque is within a few degrees of the local weather I check online. The gauge cluster just doesn't seem to be getting any of that info from the ECU though.

Sounds like you have a LAN/CAN problem. If the sensor is reporting to the ECM correctly, it's not a faulty sensor.