A few months ago, I got into my car to start it, and the outside temperature read 163 degrees, when it was about 40 degrees. Since then, the entire temp. system has been screwed up. I have to turn the heat all the way to 90 for it to blow warm air, and anything below 90 (85-60 degrees) is cold. There is no middle ground. What caused the temp sensor to mess up, and can I fix it?

Thanks!

Burdmann99, It sounds as if your ambient air temp sensor ( in front of radiator ) is malfunctioning. There is also a temp sensor in the passenger compartment that inputs to climate control. The climate control display, is it flashing at any time?

No, it does not flash... I disconnected the one in front of the readitator, then it flashed 72 degrees (when it was about 40 degrees last winter) I plugged it back in, then it read some unreal temp. like 142 or something. The temperature does fluctuate, but it is like 70 or more degrees too hot. Even when I switch it to celecius it is still too hot...

Man, why do cars have to be so complicated now days?

Thanks!

I'm with Mark. Ambient temp sensor is bad.

When you adjust the temp to either full hot (90*) or full cold (60*) the climate control will disregard the inputs from the ambient, solar and interior sensors and adjust the air mix door to the full hot and full cold positions respectively. There is no change to the air mix door as conditions change. With any other setting though, the other sensor inputs are factored in. It figures, "heck, it'* 172* outside so things are going to get warm in a hurry". So at an 85* setting, the air comes out cool.

The ambient sensor is under $20 at the dealer and is the easiest repair you can do to your car.