i've got a forester s-turbo which has an outside temperature gauge (lcd read-out) on the instrument panel. during the recent cold snap, i've noticed that the temperature reading at any given time seemed a little high. discussing this with a colleague with a vectra with a temperature gauge heightened my suspicions. last night i left a thermometer on the outside of the windscreen. this morning the thermometer was reading 2degC, when i got in the car, the gauge was reading 4degC. hmmm …..

has anyone else noticed similar symptoms?? can these things be re-calibrated??

now i know this all seems a little sad but i’ve got 2 points here …..

1. if the gauge is giving a false (high in this case) reading, i could be led into a false sense of security, potentially dangerous if there’s ice on the road
2. if you pay £22k for a car, you would expect them to get the outside temperature right!!

thanks

ock

 

I think I may have the same problem with mine (MY01 WRX). Yesterday it read -3 all the way to work which is a 15 mile drive, parked up at work came back to the car 10 mins later and it read +5. I have also recently had +20 on it after it has been parked for half an hour or so, the outside temp at that time of the day was about +5. Having it checked tomorrow with 12 month service.

 

Personally speaking mate, I'd never trust a temp gauge with my life, whether it was reading correctly or not

Was out for a drive about 3 weeks ago when outside temp was 7 degrees, then went into a shaded dip where the sun never got on to it all day and found it to be covered in thick frost (which was well polished by all other traffic skidding on it), and it was interesting to say the least

Use it as a rough guide but don't follow it blindly

 

I have also seen the issue where the LCD reads higher after parking. This happens in the summer too. It must due to the position of the thermocouple (sensor), it must be affected by some heat soak when the car isn't moving.

These sensors are set not to respond too quickly, hence why the shaded part of the road wasn't detected / show a lower reading. If they were set too sensitive they would be fluctuating all over the place and be totally useless.

Cheers

Bogie

 

Mine was checked and it is working ok. It will read higher when left standing due to, as Bogie says heat soak. But should come down to the correct temp fairly quickly when driving again.

Si.