The outside temp reading on my '03 consistently reads about 2 deg Celsius too high. When I say consistently, I mean summer, winter, sunshine or not. Is there a calibration for this that I can do myself, or is this a dealer fix?

-GT

The outside temp reading on my '03 consistently reads about 2 deg Celsius too high. When I say consistently, I mean summer, winter, sunshine or not. Is there a calibration for this that I can do myself, or is this a dealer fix?

-GT

Celsius? :confused: You must be in another country, right?

These are accurate at 35-40 miles per hour.....................

I think this guy needs Kilometers not mph.:)

Celsius? :confused: You must be in another country, right?

Ok, I'll translate it :helpless: :

The outside temp reading on my '03 consistently reads about 4 degrees too high. When I say consistently, I mean summer, winter, sunshine or not. Is there a calibration for this that I can do myself, or is this a dealer fix?


-GT

Yeah, mine reads 4 degrees high also. Definitely noticable in the summer when it reads 100 and every local weather station is reporting around 95.

Anyone know how to calibrate it?

High by what standard? Don't count on temp signs on banks etc as being any more accurate than your car. I worked in a profession (Geodetic/GPS Surveying) where temp affected the precision of our measuring instuments and our results. We used very good thermometers costing in the hundreds of $$ and still had to verify with NWS before using. At one location the temp could be 75° and 500 ft away is could be 74°F or 77°F. The temp reported on TV or radio is taken at one location and is general for the area. That does not mean there will not be variations from this.

So I am saying the only place you can compare temps is at the same location and only using calibrated equipment. 2° is well within the precision expectations of most consumer thermometers, so I would not be concerned about this. You are never going to certain which is right...

OK... Now that the thread is getting a bit long, lets ask the question again. Is there a way that the user can calibrate or enter an offset to make the temp indicator read correctly?

Sure . . . . mentally remove 2C (4F to us yanks) from the DIC reading!:D

Seriously though, I doubt that there is anything the user can do. GM assumes the average owner doesn't need to be fiddling in their software. You could ask the dealer if there is a calibration that they can do with re-flashing SW.

Understanding tempratures,

When a radio station reports a certain degree thats an average for the area. There are warm pockets and cold pockets of different degrees float ing through the area. good test. Go to a place where you drive on cement, then goto a place with black top, the temp will be higher on teh black top. So it mostlikelt is accurate for your little area your in. Sitting in traffic will be hoter too cause of all the cars generateing heat.

but thats what I say,
What do i know? I only own a cadillac

First of all, 4 degrees off is not bad for a temp sensor on a freaking car guys!
I'm surprised this thread doesn't talk about how to fix the clock being 5 minutes off as well. Alil nit picky if you ask me. But then again, I'm on my 3rd rear end, so our problems are on very different levels.
I do have a trivia question though... Where is the outdoor temp sensor located?

First of all, 4 degrees off is not bad for a temp sensor on a freaking car guys!
I'm surprised this thread doesn't talk about how to fix the clock being 5 minutes off as well. Alil nit picky if you ask me. But then again, I'm on my 3rd rear end, so our problems are on very different levels.
I do have a trivia question though... Where is the outdoor temp sensor located?

I disagree. It makes a *huge* difference when the temp is showing me 36 and it's actually 32. In areas where the winter months drop below freezing the temp sensor is an important piece of safety equipment IMO.

The reading is plain wrong, and consistently so by 4 degrees. If this were a question of warm & cold pockets or the sun heating up the blacktop the difference would not be consistent.

Given that nobody seems to know how to calibrate it I will ask the dealer - just didn't want to look like a fool - like the time I went back after an oil change and told them they forgot to reset the engine oil life to 100%!

I've also had the analog clock synch problem. The dealer moved it behind by about 3-4 minutes and said in about a month it would become synchronized. It actually took about 8 months, but it is now synched. I don't know if it will stay that way, but this doesn't worry me too much.

BTW, I also have the diff. whine. I've reported it twice to my dealer. First time they said they couldn't hear it. Second time they said it was the tires (even though I pointed out that the noise goes away with your foot off the gas, or medium-heavy on the gas). I even told them I was pretty sure it was the diff. Glad I found this forum - will be demanding a replacement this week when I bring it in for an oil change. Hello? I'd like to have an oil change, and while you're at it might as well change the diff, LOL!

-GT

Sounds like the answer to the original question is: No.

:)

The funny thing is that the actual temp sensor isn't a real thermometer, but a measuring device that predicts the temp based on a lot of different varible factors

Holy mother of ****ing God !!!!!!

are you all so damn dense as to make all these posts and show how ignorant you are ??

I can not even fathom I bought a car that you stupid loosers did .. Im now completely embarrased ...

first off .. there was a question ... regardless if you seem to feel it is trivial .. the current temp IS something GT is interested in .. it CAN be measured .. and even acurrately .. and begs to ask the question why isn't it and if not why not ?

do you loosers also seem to feel 4 lug bolts are good enough ??

for Christs sake ... I have a fix .. and out of sheer discouragement from these posts ( of whick I believe this is my first and last on this forum ) I am going to reply in private to GT who only came here among peers to not be ridiculed but to ask for help ..

for all those wondering how you calibrate your temp sensor ( so you can feel a degree of safety knowing there is a chance of frost or isce on roads even in you US "too stupid for metric areas " )
don't wonder .. and don't ask ... GT . you have a PM with the answer ...

i'm outs

Holy mother of ****ing God !!!!!!

are you all so damn dense as to make all these posts and show how ignorant you are ??

I can not even fathom I bought a car that you stupid loosers did .. Im now completely embarrased ...

first off .. there was a question ... regardless if you seem to feel it is trivial .. the current temp IS something GT is interested in .. it CAN be measured .. and even acurrately .. and begs to ask the question why isn't it and if not why not ?

do you loosers also seem to feel 4 lug bolts are good enough ??

for Christs sake ... I have a fix .. and out of sheer discouragement from these posts ( of whick I believe this is my first and last on this forum ) I am going to reply in private to GT who only came here among peers to not be ridiculed but to ask for help ..

for all those wondering how you calibrate your temp sensor ( so you can feel a degree of safety knowing there is a chance of frost or isce on roads even in you US "too stupid for metric areas " )
don't wonder .. and don't ask ... GT . you have a PM with the answer ...

i'm outs

The post is from freekin June 27th! You think he still CARES about the outside temp reading????

Adios Muccacho!!! GREAT to hear you're not posting anymore!!

One of those elephants running up and down the halls got him while he was distracted stomping on pissants.

xtro,
So when you talk about loosers, do you mean losers? Because looser is something that happens to clothes when you lose weight. And let's work on the grammar. But hey, maybe the rest of us loosers aren't good enough, of whick I am also embarrased to be among.

i'm outs too

The post is from freekin June 27th! You think he still CARES about the outside temp reading????


Well actually, yes I do. The dealer said there was no calibration setting and that it would not be replaced under warranty because 4 degrees was within their acceptable range (not mine).

-GT

Well actually, yes I do. The dealer said there was no calibration setting and that it would not be replaced under warranty because 4 degrees was within their acceptable range (not mine).

-GT

WELL, did he PM you with a solution as he posted or what? Share it with us.

There is no more acurate thermometer for a car. Your car is not a weather station. Just see it as an indication.
If you want to be warned about icing, listen to the weather forcast too. Might as well be an outside air temperature of +3 degrees Celcius and still have spots with ground frost with icing. And I thought the system will warn you about possible icing from at 2 degrees Celcius or so?
I am not talking you down, but you shouldn't be too disappointed about a temperature reading of a CAR thermometer being off 2 degrees... I hope this issue will not hunt you!

Happy rollin'!

Actually if you want to get technical (and Lord knows I really don't) it's amazing that it reads the correct temperature at all.
It's positioned about 2 inches from a 200 degree heat source, in front of the radiator.
There is software that controls "when" the thing takes a temperature reading so it's easy to believe that it's not always going to be 100% accurate.
The purpose of the thing is to let you know about what temperature it is outside and it samples the temperature at various rates based on the speed of your car due to it's location. You MUST be moving in order for it to even change, and the faster you go, the more it samples and updates.
Also it won't even change for up to 3 hours after you shut your car off.
So if it's 50 degrees in the morning and 80 when you go to drive a couple hours later, it will still read 50 until you get moving.

If you are so picky that you want to change the reading by a degree or two, I think you are kind of SOL. Modifying the circuit would be pointless since the temp sensor is a variable resistor that, like any other solid state device, has an acceptable variance in it's calibrated values.

Just put a calculator in your car, so you can read the temperature and then subtract 2. (sorry for the jab, I couldn't help it)