It's been really hot here on the East Coast. My SC430 is parked in a garage which is basically underground. So when I get in, it says that the outside temperature is 70 degrees.

I then go out into the absurdly hot weather we've been having and start driving around. The outside temperature display starts increasing slowly, but after 45 minutes the temperature reading had climbed to only 85 degrees.

Is it normal for the temperature display to climb so slowly? This is only my second summer with the car and I can't say I noticed this last year.

 

mine goes from 85 (garage) to 120 (vegas) in a couple minutes

 

Hmmm.....

Any quick fix come to mind (other than move to a city where the temp is the same as my garage)?

 

I've never had that problem, and this is the first time I've heard someone mention it. Sounds like your outside temp sensor is malfunctioning or possibly hindered by something covering the sensor. Hope it's a simple fix for you...

 

Anyone know where the sensor is so I can see whether it is obstructed?

 

Well I am on the east Coast as well (Boston) and I found the same thing this weekend. My temp gauge was very slow to respond from the cooler garage to the 95 outside temp. My 03 did the same thing. I thought this was normal for the car.

JTMav

 

I would think that the mass of the car would act like a large heat sink and even though you drive out into 95 degree heat, the metal that isn't exposed to the sun will slowly rise in temperature as the mass of all the steel and aluminum absorb the heat from the air and not the direct sunlight. This will have an effect of the air around the sensor. This should have the same effect when you go from a hot city street back into your garage. The mass of your car will have to slowly cool down to allow the air surrounding the sensor to cool also.

 

Mine is slow too -- that said, I really don't care -- either it's too hot for the top to be down, or too cold, but either way I can tell by opening my window.... not worth the trouble to fix, IMHO.

 

Sounds logical, norman52.

Whereas my outside temp gauge takes 2-5 minutes to get an accurate reading, the original poster is saying it's taking 45 minutes to get an inaccurate reading. Sounds like a problem to me. I'm certainly not an expert though.

 

Can you define "very slow?" As I said, mine kept increasing for 45 minutes! Are you in that range?

Maybe it was the absurd humidity.

I also wouldn't be surprised if the car computer had some sort of "limiter" and the sudden 100+ degree temperature and 80% humidity triggered something which told the computer "this can't possibly be correct" and thus restricted the amount the display was allowed to move. I mean, if they are worried about the length of the antenna for different FM stations, it wouldn't be that surprising to worry about this too.

 

My temp gauge started to do this a few months back. I first thought it was the Wald front spoiler I put on. Now I am starting to think something is going bad.



Mark (da-bizket)

 

JohnnyCake,

MY SC430 is in the same hot/humid weather that yours is and, while mine doesn't instantly change, it's accurate no more than 10 minutes after I've started driving it.

From what I understand, the temp. sensor is under the hood but, it's near the front of the car, in front of the radiator. So, if the car is parked, it tends to read the air temp under the hood of the car (tends to read high if you park the car and go somewhere for dinner) but, after just a few minutes of driving (and a few minutes of air flowing across the sensor) it drops down to show fairly accurate ambient air temp.

 

Just so you know...
I live at the beach (temps are 50-75, damp mornings) and drive to Death Valley once or twice a year. Outside display has no trouble reading temps in the 100's. Last time I was there, I observed 115 on the display. It jumps around according to the time of day too - seemed highly accurate.

 

I am a mature adult.

One of the things I've learned that's part of being a mature adult...is admitting when you're wrong.

JohnnyCake...You're right.

Parked my car in the garage at work this morning. It sat there, undisturbed, all day. When I got into it tonight, it showed 78° as the "Out Side" temperature.

For those of you not living in the Washington DC area...it's 95° out today....freakin' hot!

It took me over 30 minutes to get home. And, in that whole drive home, the temp only crept up 5° to 83°.

You're right...it's slow. I don't know why but, it clearly is. The good news is, it probably isn't your car unless your 2006 and my 2003 are broken in the same way.

 

Mine was in the same range 30-45 mins. I wasn't really that focused on it, but the heat was pretty strong(98) and the garage cool (72) so I guess I noticed it more. My '03 was the same way.
YMMV
JTMav