Euro Outside Temperature Gauge

The outside temperature display on my 05 Euro has been playing up the last couple of days. Last night, at a BOM-comfirmed 24 degrees, my gauge wouldn't budge from 27 degrees during an hour-long drive. And today, during a drive lasting over 30 minutes in cheery 38-degree heat (gotta love Adelaide), it's stuck on 33 (although it did move to 34 degrees for the last couple of minutes of my trip).

Has anyone else experienced a temperamental outside temp gauge in their Euro? ;)

I know I can adjust the gauge up or down 3 degrees, but mine seems to be sticking, both over and under the actual temperature. I guess it's time to visit the dealer.

Cheers, Ads

Mine playing up occassionally, I think this needs adjustment too. Aday, press "i" button for 5 secs and you can find configuration for temperature if I'm not mistaken.

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Originally Posted by Euro76

Mine playing up occassionally, I think this needs adjustment too. Aday, press "i" button for 5 secs and you can find configuration for temperature if I'm not mistaken.

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Mine's the 05 model without the trip computer, so I don't believe I have an "i" button. But there are instructions for altering the temperature gauge baseline in the owner's manual. That's all I've found so far.

carry a thermometer with you so you can confirm the local temperature.

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Originally Posted by aaronng

carry a thermometer with you so you can confirm the local temperature.

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My route today was always within approximately 3km of the BOM weather station in Kent Town, Adelaide. Pockets of variation will exist, of course, but not to that degree, and besides that, my temperature indicator just about never budged. At one point today I drove my Golf V around the block to see what it thought: 39.0 degrees.

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Originally Posted by aday

My route today was always within approximately 3km of the BOM weather station in Kent Town, Adelaide. Pockets of variation will exist, of course, but not to that degree, and besides that, my temperature indicator just about never budged. At one point today I drove my Golf V around the block to see what it thought: 39.0 degrees.

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Don't those weather stations measure temp a certain way - eg always in the shade at a certain height? Your temp reading in the Euro is never going to be as accurate as BOM. As a reference I was in my dad's Volkswagon Passat yesterday and it was showing 37 and at one stage 39 degrees temp - but the temp in Melbourne didn't go over 34 yesterday. I think you are being too fussy if you expect it to be perfect.

If you think there is a problem with the thermocouple, then you'll have to get the dealer to look at it.

Aday

Calibration steps from the workshop manual below in case you wanted to do this yourself (sensor behind front bumper beam). Looks easy enough. The submerge test looks like a good way to see whether your sensor is working properly.

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Calibration:

The outside air temperature indicator's displayed temperature can be recalibrated ±3° to meet the customer's expectations.

1. Turn the ignition switch ON (II).

2. Push and hold the reset select button for 10 seconds. While you continue to hold the button, the display will scroll through temperature settings from +3° to -3° as shown.

3. When the desired correction value appears on the display, release the button, and the recalibrated outside air temperature will be displayed.

NOTE: To recalibrate the display to the true temperature, remove the outside air temperature sensor (A), but leave it connected. Submerge the sensor and a thermometer (B) in a container of ice water (C). Select the calibration mode as described above, then recalibrate the display to the true temperature

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/yfin/TEMP.jpg

Looks like a trip to the dealer aday.:(

Is there any way to view the inside temperature on the center console besides using that special debug mode?

LOL. Dont you guys realise what the BOM says and what you get will always be different due to the fact that the BOM is measured IN THE SHADE in a controlled precise environment.

You car has shit loads of variables on it like engine heat, paint colour ,air flow, proximity to the ground....

Come on. Be realistic.

I have tested many of these against a thermometer, they have all been accurate to 1 degC although no where near the outside temp.

mine is almost 1 or 2 deg different from the weather anouncement... so far so good

a lot of people complain about the thermo not reading 'accurately', but if you look at where it is actually located maybe that will give you an idea why it may be off a few degrees (near front licence plate in the grill).

yup. on a hot 30C day, the temperature gauge in my car was stuck at 24C. the outside air does fell like 30+.

the climate control, in debug mode, displayed the external temperature as 29C, which is closer.

the gauge was like that for about 1-2 days, but since that incident, things are back to normal.

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Originally Posted by MiSloVic

yup. on a hot 30C day, the temperature gauge in my car was stuck at 24C. the outside air does fell like 30+.

the climate control, in debug mode, displayed the external temperature as 29C, which is closer.

the gauge was like that for about 1-2 days, but since that incident, things are back to normal.

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That's odd because the external temperature in debug mode and the external temperature gauge run off the same sensor at the front.

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Originally Posted by MiSloVic

yup. on a hot 30C day, the temperature gauge in my car was stuck at 24C. the outside air does fell like 30+.

the climate control, in debug mode, displayed the external temperature as 29C, which is closer.

the gauge was like that for about 1-2 days, but since that incident, things are back to normal.

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Same thing happened to me. It was a hot day today. My temperature reads 24 degrees even the car was exposed fully to sunlight.

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Originally Posted by aaronng

That's odd because the external temperature in debug mode and the external temperature gauge run off the same sensor at the front.

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yup.. i thought so as well, but i had to switch off and start the car, unplug the batt to 'reset' everything.. but it does not help either..

it happened again today, temperature gauge was showing 26C, when it was very warm, the cc in debug mode, shows 31C.
the temperature gauge very very slowly climbed to a matching 30C eventually, about 4 hours later :confused:

In debug mode, while option number are you using to display the outside temperature? 1, 2 or 3?

I was under the impression that it is meant to be a rough guide to outside temperature and not that accurate? Also it depends on where you are taking the BOM temperature from, suburb to suburb obviously changes in temp.. also it depends on whether you are in the shade or sun etc so don't heed it too much it is just a general guide!

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Originally Posted by Suntzu

LOL. Dont you guys realise what the BOM says and what you get will always be different due to the fact that the BOM is measured IN THE SHADE in a controlled precise environment.

You car has shit loads of variables on it like engine heat, paint colour ,air flow, proximity to the ground....

Come on. Be realistic.

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Of course I'm not expecting the gauge to be 100% accurate. An approximation is absolutely fine. I am, however, surprised when I start noticing a significant variation after two years of good accuracy from the system. A margin of error of 5+ degrees, combined with an unwillingness to change temperature despite reported changes in the air temp, tends to suggest a potential issue.

yfin - thanks very much for your post. I'll take a look tonight and see what the gauge is reading compared to an external thermostat.

Anyway, all I was looking for was an idea as to the general reliability of the gauge on other peoples' Euros. I'll check the gauge myself, and if it continues to read inaccurately, I'll have the dealer check the sensor at my next service.

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Originally Posted by aaronng

In debug mode, while option number are you using to display the outside temperature? 1, 2 or 3?

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u read my mind.. i thought i had the wrong debug number, double check, and it showed number 2 (outside temp).

Hi Mislovic, Aday,

I know it's been a while but were there any resolution to your temp reading behaviour prob? I'll be intrested to know, i think i might have just the same issue.

Yeah my 03 Lux temp guage is always a few degrees out, when it's cool it's over and when it's hot it's under... Car OS temp readings are usually shit :)

nope.. dealer said no problems with sensor.. i noticed that happened only occassionally when the temperature goes above 30c. thus, i'm not too fussed.

1 other thing i noticed is the temperature will only show a max of 45C. 2 weeks ago, when the temperature hit 47C in melb, it won't budge above 45C. my other car showed 50C (it was baking under the sun) the same day.

I would never for a moment expect the outside temp sensor on any car to be dead accurate. Majority sit on the radiator support panel. (between bumper and radiator)

Therefore surrounded by heat from the engine, the road, traffic. So many variables and things to effect it.

Next time its a hot sunny day get the front bumper in the sun park and see how far its out then

Rob

What I have notice with my car is that the longer I have the car on the more accurate it becomes.

ie 45min drive is more accurate than a 10min drive reading

During Melbourne's heatwave of 3 consecutive 43 degree plus days in succession a few weeks back the temperature gauge on my Euro would not go any higher that 37. A couple of Saturdays ago when we had the the 47 degree day which sparked the bushfires it wouldn't go any higher than 38. That said, outside of extreme weather conditions I have found that it is usually quite accurate when you compare it to the weather updates on the radio etc.

I found out that most of the time when my temp gauge reading awfully wrong when the car is stationary. I did try wait inside the car for 10 - 15 mins (with engine turned on) the gauge reading stay still, but as soon I start driving the next 2 - 3 mins the reading start to move to where the right temp reading should be. Don't know if there's any tech knowledge to back up this weird theory? :) I'll leave it till my next 50K for the Honda to have a look at it.

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Originally Posted by MSKYO

During Melbourne's heatwave of 3 consecutive 43 degree plus days in succession a few weeks back the temperature gauge on my Euro would not go any higher that 37. A couple of Saturdays ago when we had the the 47 degree day which sparked the bushfires it wouldn't go any higher than 38. That said, outside of extreme weather conditions I have found that it is usually quite accurate when you compare it to the weather updates on the radio etc.

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is that while driving or stationary?

logically you'd think that when stationary the temp should be higher cause there is no cooling air, and so forth for when your in motion it should be cooler.

yeahh I think you might be right altough, the temp differences seems to be quite big don't you think (38 and 47)? as if it's stuck. I mean, maybe 2-5 degree out would be possible but biggeer gap that that would be quite wrong I'd say.