The Nissan Path

2010 pathfinder, anyone else's outside temp read bizarre numbers sometimes? It's 85 out mine reads 101. A few morning ago it read 49...I live in south Florida lol

My 2012 does it occasionally. Usually after driving for awhile and then being shut off for a short time. When I start it back up, the temp is at one extreme or the other. Seems to come back to normal after driving for a few minutes though.

If you sit and idle it goes all wonky. Once you have air moving over the sensor (which is near the front grille) it smartens up.

Sometimes dirt on the sensor will affect the reading. You can clean the sensor with a soft rag damp with a solution of water and a little dish washing detergent.

smj999smj wrote:Sometimes dirt on the sensor will affect the reading. You can clean the sensor with a soft rag damp with a solution of water and a little dish washing detergent.

Are we talking the same sensor? The little square box that clips in on one of the radiator supports in the very front? Not really much that can be cleaned on that. You can get a little grunge on the wire going into it, but the sensor itself is sealed.

About the only time my temps seem accurate is when I'm driving. If I let the car sit with the engine off in the sun and/or shade, it will affect the temp reading. I have fun with it in the summer because it will read something like 109 when I hop in after work, but will then drop down to 100 or whatever (the temp might be) as soon as I get rid of the hotter than ambient air around the sensor.

Yup same here. I usually take that temp reading and add +/-5 degrees

It's not very accurate considering where the temperature sensor is located, right next to the radiator

Mine is kind of fruity but it comes/goes. The other day it said it was 31°F....I had the windows down and was enjoying the actual 70°F day.....most of the time it's ok though.

Not nearly as fruity as my HVASC. Yesterday I had to keep turing it up to get the AC to stop freezing me out. Finally switched to low blower once I hit 86 then about ten minutes later it goes into "HELL" mode and blowing heat like crazy. So I turn it down to 76 and it sort of normalizes for awhile. Then I got out of the car for a minute and restarted and it went back into Eskimo mode.....

Older Nissans used to have a bulb end on the ambient sensor. They may have changed that on the R51s. I'll have to take a look under my hood later!

Hi New to this forum and realy enjoying it.
Hope this helps a bit
2006 2.5d R51

AMBIENT SENSOR
Component Description INFOID:0000000003935920
COMPONENT DESCRIPTION
Ambient Sensor
Ambient sensor (1) is attached to the radiator core support (left side). It detects ambient temperature and converts
it into a value which is then input into the A/C auto amp.
• ⇐: Front
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE INPUT PROCESS
The A/C auto amp. includes a processing circuit for the ambient sensor input. However, when the temperature
detected by the ambient sensor increases quickly, the processing circuit retards the A/C auto amp. function. It
only allows the A/C auto amp. to recognize an ambient temperature increase of 0.33°C (0.6°F) per 100 seconds.
This prevents constant adjustments due to momentary conditions, such as stopping after high speed driving.
Although the actual ambient temperature has not changed, the temperature detected by the ambient sensor
will increase. This is because the heat from the engine compartment can radiate to the front grille area, location
of the ambient sensor.

Hi guys I have issue with ambient temp sensor reading is absulutely not acurate only when I driving temp reading looks stable .Sometimes it goes crazy outside is like 14C and car show -5C. I have auto climate control and probably this sensor making my climate control inconsistent. I tried disconnect sensor with ign on and its still show 10C (is there any different sensor for outside temp than one behind grille? or its default temp) when I reconencted sensor still 10C than after 4th restart of ign shows 28C what wasn't accurate) .GOOD OLD ANALOG CLIMATE CONTROL I hate this automatic crap. So tomorrow going to junk jard pull spare sensor and try with it again. Also thinking about relocation is there any better place where put sensor than original steal plate close to radiator ? I never had any issues with temp reading in my old 2003 xterra.

So I changed ambient temp sensor. I found couple of temp sensors on our local pick and pull yard from old pathfinder they have two of them behind grille (almost all nissans after 2002 using same sensor except 1st gen xterra).Now after couple days of use temp reading is much better don't even need drive reading is stable right after start. Temp changing faster when I leave my garage and is almost accurate .My climate control is consistent repair cost was just 5cad .

Its back again outside is 15C and car shows -6C .Maybe software is messed .Is it there any update or something what dealer can do ??