Ambient temp reading stuck at 80 degrees.

Hi all. So I ran my 2019 Tacoma through the car wash and now all of a sudden my ambient temp sensor reading on the instrument cluster is reading 80. Outside it’s like close to 100. Before running it through the was it was reading pretty accurate. The reading did read to 81 when I got home, but something doesn’t seem right. I inspected the sensor underneath the hood and there doesn’t seem to be any visible damage. Anyone have any ideas or experiences with this issue?

 

Warranty if it doesn't change back soon.

If it does, you'll get the 'cannot replicate response, which may well be true.

Best to present it to them while errant.

 

How long has it been "stuck" at 80?

 

Just as a fun aside, based on previous anecdotal evidence, when that sensor goes psycho and thinks it's like 10deg outside, it will disable your AC.

So don't put off fixing it if you enjoy your AC.

(Anecdotal evidence, single data point only, on a very odd failure, but still...)

 

I'm assuming Automatic A/C...you can run a partial diagnostic through the control panel.
Maybe it'll pop a B1412/12 code.

 

Thanks for the replies. If it doesn’t go back to normal by tomorrow I’ll make an appointment to get it checked out.

It has been stuck at 81 now for about an hour. I haven’t driven it since I came back home, but it’s still at 81 and it’s like 96 here we’re im at.

 

And the AC is working just fine as of now. The truck has 4400 miles.

 

Go for a drive.

 

This should help you

 

Ah, thanks for that ktbell. I guess I can measure the resistance of the sensor, but I paid too much for this truck I’ll let the dealer do it lol. Thanks.

 

Sensor works off resistance, getting water in the sensor connection will change resistance. Since this happened after a car wash, my bet is you’ve got water in a connection or sensor housing. Wait for the water to evaporate and all will be fine. But it will happen again, if this is the case.

 

Actually that was probably the issue because now the sensor is reading 100 which around what it is here in SoCal. Funny that I actually disconnected the sensor to check for any moisture and didn’t find any. I might have the dealer check it any how. Thanks for the replies, as always. Awesome forums!

 

More than likely you got moisture in your sensor rather than in the connector. But wouldn't hurt to have them take a look at it just to be on the safe side.

 

Dealer won’t do shit unless it’s inaccurate when you take it in. So wash it exactly in the same way you did, before taking it in.

 

I just made an appointment to have them look at it and then to do my 5k service since I’m there. And I will indeed run it through the wash again before taking it.

 

I had similar problems with my sensor - not after a car wash, but after heavy rains/snow in Northern California, or, today, in heavy fog in Oregon. The outside temp indicator would go all over the place, the fuel gauge would act odd, and eventually the predicted range would to strange. This caused me to start using TRIP A to measure per-tank mileage. Until today, it has always returned to normal on its own.

Dealer couldn't find anything wrong, of course, and now it's out of warranty.

Today, not only weird ambient temp indication (for a while ---, then up in the 80s ranging over 100, which it definitely is not in Portland) and then the TSC OFF started coming on and off. And finally it apparently threw a code, lighting the CHECK light, and disabling cruise control ... and now, just to add to the fun, TRAC OFF is permanently on.

I'm on a road trip, of course, so I don't have access to a scanner to read/clear the code. Sigh.

 

Auto Zone can read it, disconnect the battery to clear it.

 

Thanks! And what else will disconnecting the battery mess up?

 

Mess up? Nothing. But I guess that depends on your definition of mess up.

 

Well, in older days, disconnecting the battery would reset the ECM, reset the stereo, etc...