No outside temp display?

On my scangauge, at cold weather days(below 55F) highway cruising, the Intake Air temp reading was +5F above the outside temp sensor (2006 has overhead temp/compass). On a warm days above 85F, the difference can be around +8F.

Just my experience ...

 

I have no use for the compass it is informational only. Outside temp and homelink will be considerations for my next purchase. Everyone needs to express their opinions to Toyota. I write them emails when I do not like something. Not sure they do any good. Japs have a different mindset. I even mention the forum in some emails.

 

I bought a similar one through Indiana Auto on Amazon, $65. The only thing was it only had about 8 inches of wire on the sensor, I had to extend it into the cab. Works great.

 

For whatever reason, the Entune app will not work while the iPhone is connected to the USB port. Seems really dumb to me, but if you want to charge your phone while using it for data like weather, temp, etc, you have to use a different charger. Try opening up the app while it's not plugged in. Worked for me.

 

Go buy a Gentex mirror with direction and temp if you really want it. Couple hundred bucks and the trucks have the wiring already there above the headliner. Its plug and play for the direction and the temp you just run one wire to a sensor and its all set. I did it. Easy upgrade and saved me a lot of complaining.

 

The problem is that the pavement temp and the air temp can be very different. If you are relying on a temp gauge somewhere on your truck to tell you to slow down when it might be icy, you are doing it wrong.

I do the same thing coming from a 2005 4runner. I agree with the value comment. I was surprised when I saw that some of the Tacoma's didn't come with variable speed intermittent wipers. My wife's 2009 Corolla LE doesn't have them. My 1991 Corolla DX had them, along with my 1992 and 1993 non-sr5 toyota pickups.

Usually, the reasoning behind this is that while car prices have gone up (around the same as housing/food/gas), they have also had more stringent safety and equipment requirements. My '90s toyotas didn't have air bags, abs or tire pressure monitoring systems, and they weren't rated as well for safety in general. At least that is what the car maker will tell us. I do believe that while I think they are going cheap on a lot of things, the value (how much we are getting for the $) that we get from new vehicles is still very much ahead of the value we were getting from cars 30 or 40 years ago.

However, I do think the late 80's and early 90's was a very good time for Toyota specifically. Their engineering and quality were pretty top notch, but I think they have been slipping a little since then in the search for efficiency and squeezing every dollar of profit from each car.


In this case of losing a temp gauge, I think it was simply due to the fact that the rear view mirror had the backup monitor in it on the earlier models, and now it is in the dash. I wish they would have made the compass swappable for a temp readout. For me, I would much rather have a big monitor for the backup camera than the temp display. But since I have a 2015, if I wanted a temp sensor, I guess I can just buy that fancy mirror and get the best of both worlds.

 

I never plug mine in. It's connected BT only. Just like the Android.

 

Hmm, well here's what I do, and it seems to work. Make sure the app is running on the phone (in the background is fine), and that you are logged into the app. To refresh data connectivity, once the phone is connected to the radio, I open the app, and the screen just shows a "disconnect" button instead of all the icons. I have Entune premium with navigation.

 

Well I'm glad I started this thread
And appreciate everyone's input
With that said - I ordered the mirror off amizon Thanks again guys!

 

Yep... tried that and nothing. I've given up trying to make the iPhone connect except for making phone calls

 

That sucks. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

 

Thanks for trying

I'm at my wits end with it.

 

I don't know if it is the truck side or the phone side that is doing it, but when you plug the phone into the usb port on the truck, it cuts the blue tooth connection. I only discovered it when my wife was going to charge her phone, so I pulled my iphone usb cord out of the adapter and plugged it into the truck usb port and it cut off the music that was playing on my phone. I guess since the truck is trying to use it like an ipod, it cuts off all the bluetooth stuff?

Honestly I don't really care since the charging on the usb port sucks. It only charges at the standard 0.5 amps, which is pretty bad. Pick something like this up and stick it in the cigarette lighter port: http://www.amazon.com/Aukey-Charger...107_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=162QVBY9Q6MS2V4YHVRX#Ask

 

I haven't gone back and read every post on this, but, did you contact Toyota or the dealer about this? If so, what kind of bullshit answer did you get?

 

No. I didn't go to the dealership because of exactly what you mentioned. I would most likely get a bullshit answer. I did get a email today saying they are releasing a new entune app on the 20th so "hopefully" that might solve the problem. I doubt it though.

 

I'm not saying you should be using your temp gauge as your only sign to slow down when it hits 32 degrees. I'm just saying that without it, a lot of the time I have no idea if it is in the high 40's or the mid 20's when I'm driving passes. A thermometer gives you a good ballpark estimate.

 

I have the 2015 and was suprised no outside temp. But have gotten thru without one. Usually I am fine with just sticking my hand out the window. Yup it's cool nope its hot.

 

Not very accurate especially when it gets "close" to freezing. I like the idea of being prepared. I realize the temp gauge in my mirror isn't perfect but it gives me a good baseline to go by. IIRC it starts showing the "ice warning at 37*". I'm not saying you need it because you can check your phone for your specific location but it is nice being able to glance up and see "oh shit... it's getting close to freezing". I personally think it's stupid that they deleted a part that really costs them very little to add considering the wiring is still there.

 

Completely agree that's it was a stupid omission from the truck. The first month or so of having the truck we were having a bit of a heat wave and I always wanted to see what the outside temperature was and had to go to my phone. Which to be honest don't know if I trust half the time.
For the most part I never used the temp gauge on my old vehicle otherwise to complain about the heat (Thanks Denis Leary). So I don't miss not having it but as I said above I do think it was a stupid omission from Toyota.

 

Well, considering I have a temp display, it has only worked a few days since I've owned the truck. That fix to the mother board was on my own using tips I found here on the forum. I did not want to pay an extreme amount of money to replace the mother board for a feature I really didn't care much about to begin with. It worked for a few days to great effect but then caught on fire one morning while I was driving. Yeah, actual flames, haha. Luckily I had the screwdriver handy and was able to get in there pretty quickly. Anyway, I have not tried to fix it since nor do I care too. Yes, I realize I mucked it up.

The newer models not having them, depending on your point of view, could be a good thing. The way I see it, the more tech the more problems. Knowing outside temp is overrated anyway, well at least to me it is. Weather channel on my phone works awesomely....without fire. Lol