2007 Explorer outside ambient temp gauge

[wheelz22]

Hi everyone...happy New Year. Wishing good health to everyone here.

Got a curious one...it's probably nothing, but we'll see. It's 40 degrees F today here in NJ (and verified by my instrument cluster outside temp gauge when I ran an errand this morning), so I figured I'd give my battery terminals a quick check, a little cleaning and give my battery a nice charge after the single digit temps we had right after Christmas for about a week. It's charging right now...battery is an Interstate...3 years old. Anyway, I had the terminals off of the battery for about 10-15 minutes while I cleaned things up. When I turned the ignition on the instrument cluster, it was reading 140 degrees F, instead of 40 degrees F. Will that reset itself after a short drive ? It's not the first time I have ever had the terminals off the battery, but I never saw it do that before. I touched nothing but the battery terminals. Anyone ever see this before ? Thanks.

 

[wheelz22]

Hi everyone...happy New Year. Wishing good health to everyone here.

Got a curious one...it's probably nothing, but we'll see. It's 40 degrees F today here in NJ (and verified by my instrument cluster outside temp gauge when I ran an errand this morning), so I figured I'd give my battery terminals a quick check, a little cleaning and give my battery a nice charge after the single digit temps we had right after Christmas for about a week. It's charging right now...battery is an Interstate...3 years old. Anyway, I had the terminals off of the battery for about 10-15 minutes while I cleaned things up. When I turned the ignition on the instrument cluster, it was reading 140 degrees F, instead of 40 degrees F. Will that reset itself after a short drive ? It's not the first time I have ever had the terminals off the battery, but I never saw it do that before. I touched nothing but the battery terminals. Anyone ever see this before ? Thanks.

I figured someone would have seen this problem before ???

 

[07EddyB]

Never seen anything like that before - have you started/driven it since?

 

[wheelz22]

Never seen anything like that before - have you started/driven it since?

I've started it, but not driven it. I will be driving it tomorrow morning so I guess I will see if it corrects itself....it will be about 30F tomorrow when I drive it. Any idea where it's located ? I'd imagine it must be in front of the AC condenser somewhere in the air stream ? .

 

[michael loibl]

I haven’t had that problem On my Explorer, and battery must have been disconnected at least 10 times since new. However, on one of my trucks at work (2013 F550), every time we start the engine, The dashboard reads -40° and slowly climbs to actual temperature but it takes about 30 minutes for it to get up to the correct temperature. If you turn the truck off even for a minute it will go back to -40° on the start up

 

[wheelz22]

I haven’t had that problem On my Explorer, and battery must have been disconnected at least 10 times since new. However, on one of my trucks at work (2013 F550), every time we start the engine, The dashboard reads -40° and slowly climbs to actual temperature but it takes about 30 minutes for it to get up to the correct temperature. If you turn the truck off even for a minute it will go back to -40° on the start up

Thanks for the help....no luck with mine this morning. I went for a short drive to the convenience store and it stuck at 140F. It would be a complete guess on my part, but perhaps it the sensor fails or there is an open circuit to the sensor, it defaults to 140F ? Perhaps 140F is the upper limit of a properly working sensor and the way the system is designed, makes it go to that temp when there is a problem. Do you happen to know where it's located on a 2007 Gen 4 Explorer ?

 

[wheelz22]

Thanks for the help....no luck with mine this morning. I went for a short drive to the convenience store and it stuck at 140F. It would be a complete guess on my part, but perhaps it the sensor fails or there is an open circuit to the sensor, it defaults to 140F ? Perhaps 140F is the upper limit of a properly working sensor and the way the system is designed, makes it go to that temp when there is a problem. Do you happen to know where it's located on a 2007 Gen 4 Explorer ?

Further info. I located the temp sensor...it is mounted on a the radiator/AC condenser upright (driver side). You do it standing in front of the vehicle, no parts need be removed to pry it off...it's up top. All one has to do is pry it from the mount with a screwdriver (it's attached by those plastic "fir trees"). You just pry it off the mounting point with a screw driver and un-clip the sensor from the connector which when removed caused the instrument panel read-out to go to 75F as opposed to the 140F it was stuck on. So I guess that's telling me that the wiring has continuity because by removing the sensor I created an open circuit (which I guess defaults it to 75F). So the next move is to test ohms in the house at 72F and then leave it outside for a bit at 33F and see if it reacts in terms of resistance.

 

[michael loibl]

Very interesting maybe you can figure out why my work truck reads Negative 40 degrees, but yet eventually does reach the correct temperature!

 

[wheelz22]

Very interesting maybe you can figure out why my work truck reads Negative 40 degrees, but yet eventually does reach the correct temperature!

Well, I just solved mine this morning by replacing the outside ambient air temp sensor purchased from Rock Auto online for $18. . Allow me to explain. I had no specs for what the range of resistance (ohms) should be for a normally operating sensor. Note: an outside air temperature sensor is generally an (NTC) "negative temperature coefficient" sensor that informs the HVAC control module of outside air temperature on an automatic climate control system because the system needs to know that info to function correctly. On any NTC sensor, the resistance (ohms) decreases as the outside air temperature increases...and vice versa (on a normally functioning sensor). Generally speaking, it's the opposite...on most electrical items and wiring, the resistance rises as the component or the wire gets hotter. That's why a sensor like a "negative temperature coefficient" sensor is called "negative"...because it does the exact opposite of what electricity usually does. In my case, I have the manual HVAC system....so my temp sensor most likely just feeds the instrument panel to display the outside temp. I doubt there is a control module for the manual HVAV system. Anyway, for only 18 bucks I figured let me try a new sensor. But before I bought it, I measured the resistance across the two electrical pins of the old sensor. When I removed it outside in the driveway at 35F and measured it, it was something like 4K ohms (4000 ohms) and the instrument cluster was reading 140F. When I brought it inside and let it warm up to 72F, it was about 14k ohms (14000 ohms). So I knew then that it was acting the exact opposite of what an NTC sensor should operate like. As I said, the warmer the sensor gets, the less the resistance should be. So yesterday afternoon at 2pm, I ordered the sensor from Rock Auto ($18) and requested the 2-day Priority Mail option for $5.99. Lo and behold, my sensor was on my doorstep from the local post office at 8:30 this morning (it got here in 18 hours for $5.99 shipping). I live in NJ and the closest Rock Auto warehouse is in NY, about 25 miles away. So I immediately grabbed it up while it was still cold outside (28F) and measured it the minute I took it out of the box. It was something like 32K ohms cold (32000). Then as it warmed up inside the house, the resistance steadily started dropping from 32K ohms down to about 27K ohms and falling. So right there I knew that it was operating as designed for an NTC sensor. Plus the range of resistance from the bad one to the new one was a vastly different range in ohms so I was pretty sure that it was a sensor problem before I ever installed it . So I plugged it into the truck and the temp display immediately started dropping from 72F down to 29F which was the actual temp outside this morning. So for your F-550, Rock Auto has this for the 2013 F-550 6.7 liter diesel (MOTORCRAFT DY1160 {#AU5Z12A647B) for 8 bucks. The 6.8 V-10 gasoline motor uses the same sensor. It appears that the sensor works on both manual and auto HVAC systems on your 550 and my Explorer since the Rock Auto catalog does not ask you to specify if you have manual or automatic climate control. Most likely the sensor output just goes to a different place (the HVAC control module on an auto system...and the instrument cluster on a manual HVAC system). So long story short....for only 8 bucks, it might be worth popping in a new sensor on your F-550. If that does not solve it....there may be a problem with the wiring, but I doubt it. Hope my info was thorough enough and helps you.

 

[07EddyB]

Wheelz22 - thank you for the detailed follow up. It would have been easier to walk away from the forum since you didn't get your solution here. But you didn't do that and I appreciate it.

Someday I'll search for this problem and hit your thread.

You da man

 

[wheelz22]

Wheelz22 - thank you for the detailed follow up. It would have been easier to walk away from the forum since you didn't get your solution here. But you didn't do that and I appreciate it.

Someday I'll search for this problem and hit your thread.

You da man

Hey....the pleasure is all mine. The way I look at things is "you get what you give". I've been helped here before, so there's no reason not to pass along information on a diag and fix if it saves someone some time down the road. It's just an addition to our database. I appreciate your kind words !

 

[michael loibl]

Yes thank you for your “above and beyond” follow up not only of your solution, but of mine as well.

 

[wheelz22]

Yes thank you for your “above and beyond” follow up not only of your solution, but of mine as well.

You'd do the same for me...I'm sure. You're very welcome.

 

[Matthew Chanowski]

Well, I just solved mine this morning by replacing the outside ambient air temp sensor purchased from Rock Auto online for $18. . Allow me to explain. I had no specs for what the range of resistance (ohms) should be for a normally operating sensor. Note: an outside air temperature sensor is generally an (NTC) "negative temperature coefficient" sensor that informs the HVAC control module of outside air temperature on an automatic climate control system because the system needs to know that info to function correctly. On any NTC sensor, the resistance (ohms) decreases as the outside air temperature increases...and vice versa (on a normally functioning sensor). Generally speaking, it's the opposite...on most electrical items and wiring, the resistance rises as the component or the wire gets hotter. That's why a sensor like a "negative temperature coefficient" sensor is called "negative"...because it does the exact opposite of what electricity usually does. In my case, I have the manual HVAC system....so my temp sensor most likely just feeds the instrument panel to display the outside temp. I doubt there is a control module for the manual HVAV system. Anyway, for only 18 bucks I figured let me try a new sensor. But before I bought it, I measured the resistance across the two electrical pins of the old sensor. When I removed it outside in the driveway at 35F and measured it, it was something like 4K ohms (4000 ohms) and the instrument cluster was reading 140F. When I brought it inside and let it warm up to 72F, it was about 14k ohms (14000 ohms). So I knew then that it was acting the exact opposite of what an NTC sensor should operate like. As I said, the warmer the sensor gets, the less the resistance should be. So yesterday afternoon at 2pm, I ordered the sensor from Rock Auto ($18) and requested the 2-day Priority Mail option for $5.99. Lo and behold, my sensor was on my doorstep from the local post office at 8:30 this morning (it got here in 18 hours for $5.99 shipping). I live in NJ and the closest Rock Auto warehouse is in NY, about 25 miles away. So I immediately grabbed it up while it was still cold outside (28F) and measured it the minute I took it out of the box. It was something like 32K ohms cold (32000). Then as it warmed up inside the house, the resistance steadily started dropping from 32K ohms down to about 27K ohms and falling. So right there I knew that it was operating as designed for an NTC sensor. Plus the range of resistance from the bad one to the new one was a vastly different range in ohms so I was pretty sure that it was a sensor problem before I ever installed it . So I plugged it into the truck and the temp display immediately started dropping from 72F down to 29F which was the actual temp outside this morning. So for your F-550, Rock Auto has this for the 2013 F-550 6.7 liter diesel (MOTORCRAFT DY1160 {#AU5Z12A647B) for 8 bucks. The 6.8 V-10 gasoline motor uses the same sensor. It appears that the sensor works on both manual and auto HVAC systems on your 550 and my Explorer since the Rock Auto catalog does not ask you to specify if you have manual or automatic climate control. Most likely the sensor output just goes to a different place (the HVAC control module on an auto system...and the instrument cluster on a manual HVAC system). So long story short....for only 8 bucks, it might be worth popping in a new sensor on your F-550. If that does not solve it....there may be a problem with the wiring, but I doubt it. Hope my info was thorough enough and helps you.

Thank you for taking the extra time to explain, in detail, you experience. Wish more people were as thorough. Helpfully.