[rationull]

We just picked up a white 3s sedan for my GF last weekend, and she loves it so far. One minor problem she alerted me to this evening after work, though:

The ambient temperature display seems to be incorrect. For instance, I just turned the power on in the garage and the display says 36 deg F. The display on my Civic right next to the 3 says 53, which is correct. Both of us are pretty sure it was reading correct on Sunday when we were driving it back from the dealer but it looks like now it's reading low.

Is there some kind of calibration process I should try? What should I check out to resolve this?

 

[danielj]

There is no calibration process that I'm aware of. These read pretty accurate so I'm assuming there is a problem with the one on this car. Since it's new, I'd take it to the dealer for inspection.

 

[MicaGT]

Where is the ambient air temp. sensor on the car? If it sits where I've seen most, it's possible for it to get hit by a rock while driving. It's far fetched and most likely a sensor gone bad but you might want to visually inspect it before you take it in to the dealership. If it appears OK, then drive that puppy in and let your problem become their problem.

 

[danielj]

The sensor is directly below the hood latch down by the lower grill.

 

[rationull]

Thanks. The sensor looks fine (it's there, and not physically damaged). I jiggled it a bit to see if that would fix it, will find out later today. It's strange that it worked before and now doesn't -- I wouldn't think a solid state sensor like that would go bad.

I'll let her drive it for a few more days to see how it behaves and then I guess we'll start using the warranty if we have to!

 

[DRoc7822]

mine was working correctly then all of a sudden one day it said that it was 130 degrees outside and it was like december haha and knew that wasnt right. It then seemed to be working right then started messing up again so I never go by it anymore. Cause I know for a fact its alot colder than what it says.

 

[rationull]

Any particular reason you haven't gotten it checked out?