I've done a brief search and found nothing, so I'll just ask:
Has anyone experienced problems with their outside temp sensor?
Mine is accurate until the outside temps climb north of the mid 80's. Then it reads wildly high temps. For example, today it's 92 and the outside temp in the car is reading 111. A full 19 degress off. At lower temps, it's fairly accurate.
Haven't seen that. I have seen that when sitting in traffic and it's hot out the temps climb fast though. I've seen +120 on mine while sitting in traffic on a day that the temp was said to be 99.
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You can't not be home before you haven't left.
I think its a combination of hot asphalt under the sun and hot exhaust from bumper to bumper traffic, plus at this point the heat coming off of your radiator way reach the sensor.
To check this theory pull into a peice of concrete that has been in the shade for a while and sit there. I bet the temp reading equalizes closer to the ambient air temp.
In my experience, the outside temps are very inaccurate when temperatures get past 100 degrees. I think this has been discussed, but I didn't search. I do think the asphalt has something to do with it given the location of the sensor.
If it was the asphalt, then the temp should normalize while driving at speed due to the airflow mitigating the radiant effect of the asphalt and the engine components, yet this isn't the case. My car sits in a covered garage. While taking it for spin, the temp shows this high reading. The car is moving, not in stop and go traffic, maybe a traffic light or two.
Mine does the same. Air temps hover in the mid-eighties here, and my temp reading will easily hit 110 degrees or greater. I think its probably a combination of the road temps and maybe some engine heat hitting it. The external temp gauges in my other cars all seem pretty accurate.
Maybe some shielding would help, though I think the factory tried that at one time without much success.
Can't really speak for your car. But, if you were NOT the original owner, and the original owner had the panel (they crack easily), or sensor replaced, they may not have gotten the tinfoil that is on the newer panels to insulate the temp gauge from the engine heat. You might look, and if there is NO tinfoil, wrap some around the inside portion of the temp gauge. (It should also cover a small portion of the sensing wire.)
My gauge, even when it is hot, seems fairly accurate with the temps rising slightly from the asphalt heat radiation when in traffic.
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"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge."
Can't really speak for your car. But, if you were NOT the original owner, and the original owner had the panel (they crack easily), or sensor replaced, they may not have gotten the tinfoil that is on the newer panels to insulate the temp gauge from the engine heat. You might look, and if there is NO tinfoil, wrap some around the inside portion of the temp gauge. (It should also cover a small portion of the sensing wire.)
My gauge, even when it is hot, seems fairly accurate with the temps rising slightly from the asphalt heat radiation when in traffic.
++1... I would check that too.
Mine seems to be pretry accurate so far.
Ever since the dealer removed my front bumper to replace the aux fan, the temp sensor is acting up. They replaced it the sensor and made sure the foil was in place. It still is inaccurate. I think there is a way to reset the sensor by shorting some wires but I need to search for more instructions.
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2003 M5 Sterling Gray
Dinan 3.45 differential
TMS Shark Injector - 91 Octane tune
IATS Relocation - Inside Air box
Strong Strut front brace
TC Design rear swaybar brackets
Bluetooth
V1
Aux port
Linear Mode
