I thought I had seen something on this here before but I haven't been able to find it... Anybody notice that their outside temperature gauge is verrrry slow to 'warm' up? I can get in my truck during lunch when its 82 outside (and 100+ inside the cab) and the truck will show 62 - the temperature it was when I got to work 4 hours earlier. It may take 15 - 20 minutes to make it's way up to 82 degree on the gauge.

Along the same lines last winter I would notice the gauge move around 30 - 34 degrees within a matter of minutes driving through mountain passes.

 

I've had troubles with my gauge and it's already been replaced once. The biggest issue I've had is that it doesn't always seem very accurate...lately it's been fine, but in the colder winter months it was reporting 10 - 15 degrees warmer than it actually was.

My service department continually tells me that it takes several miles of driving before it becomes accurate...but my problem still occurs from time to time while driving 30 minutes on the interstate to work.

 

DON'T FIX IT! Somehow the temp. reading tells your a/c how cold to blow. Believe it if you may, but I've read about it here and experienced it myself. After my gauge was fixed, it read a more accurate, higher temp, but the a/c won't blow as cold now.

 

Ford bulletin.

Make : FORD Model : F150 Year : 2004
Service Bulletin Num : 17261 Date of Bulletin: OCT 01, 2003
NHTSA Item Number: 10004914
Component: EQUIPMENT:ELECTRICAL:AIR CONDITIONER
Summary:
INACCURATE AMBIENT TEMPERATURE READING AND/OR POOR AIR CONDITIONING PERFORMANCE. *TT

Mike

 

I can't imagine my a/c performance any worse than it already is. Currently it's no difference then putting a plain fan in front of my face. So in my case, with my poor a/c already, it may be worth getting it fixed

 

Mine is going in tomorrow to fix my temp reading, It has been getting close to 100 almost every day. I will post here to let you know if it screws up my A/C. So far my A/C has does ok

 

Den01, any a/c update since you had your truck serviced?

 

InboundFX4

They replaced the sensor yesterday. It now gives me a accurate reading within 2-3 minutes. The last two days have been 98+ and the a/c has had no problems keeping up. I also had them reflash for the throttle lag. That was a big help also. Down side is that I am now going to have to buy tires a lot sooner then I want to.

Den

 

I think the AC blowing temp is based on the outside temperature, the inside cabin temperature, and then the desired temperature....I did a lab for my electrical engineering degree a couple of months ago where we did a similar thing to control a fan which used the temperature and the brightness of the light in a room to adjust the cooling fan speed based on fuzzy logic rules that we set...anyways, it worked well, but there were some times when it didnt make sense, so we had to make a lot of adjustments to get it just right...maybe thats the problem Ford is having with the AC...on the otherhand, my AC works great, but my temp. reading does lag somewhat.

 

That's my point (Kinda). The A/C is programmed to bring the inside temp. down about 10 degrees or so cooler than the outside. With the outside temp. gauge reading too low, the A/C works harder to bring the inside temp. 10 degrees lower. When your temp. gauge is fixed, the reading is higher and thus the A/C does not blow as cold.

One thing I forgot to add, though. Before my temp. gauge was fixed my A/C blew a lot colder. One day with the A/C blowing full my truck went crazy, knocking and jerking. I'm wondering now if having a reading that was too low caused the A/C to work too hard, which caused the engine malfunction. Maybe, maybe not.

 

If the ac blows out air that is 10 degrees cooler than the outside air, then that means when its 110 degrees here in Phoenix, the ac is blowing out 100 degree air?! That means I should be well done by the time I get home! I don't think it works like that.