I was driving home from the office and it was kind of foggy/misty on the roadway. In the middle of the foggy/misty "cloud" there was a traffic light, so I shifted into neutral to wait for the light to turn green. My engine alarm went off, notifying me that the temp outside was 36 degrees. I've barely completed a thought of "HUH?" when my engine suddenly shuts off! I was finally able to get the engine to turn over and noticed that the "Service Engine Soon" light is on...and the temp is showing -40 degrees Fahrenheit. My son, Johnathan, was a bit unnerved because the car also made a horrible "twanging" sound...like someone twisting metal back & forth.

I took a pic with my cellphone and then called Checkered Flag to let them know what happened.

So...did I drive through a paranormal cloud or ???

Weather.com shows the current temp as 56 degrees as of 8:05pm. The "incident" occurred at 7:59pm (according to the timestamp from when I called Checkered Flag).

 

-40 o ? I had no idea that the OBC would even read that low......

Were you driving thru...........The Outer Limits ?

 

HA! Funny you should say that...my friend sent me this in response:

"Good picture. I figured it out. A time continuum distortion…yep a time warp. You were transported to the planet of dumbfoundland that has a surface temp of -41 during the summer. It was a very short visit…hence all the noise.

Suggestion: drive the car through the main window of Checkered Flag and tell them to keep it."


To which I replied:

I have a vague recollection...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDCYFshhSkQ


Of course he had no choice but to reply:

"Touché

http://www.rockymusic.org/showvideo/...abddf1417c.php"

Which was VERY funny...



However, it is still a serious issue because most of my driving is interstate/highway and the L-A-S-T thing I need is for this to happen on 3 lanes of traffic during rush hour!

 

BTW, my radio stations & clock did lose any stored settings or change at all...

 

Seems my "ambient temp sensor" was the source of the issue.

Apparently, when it's gone bad or missing, the "code" appears as -40 degrees Fahrenheit.

This diagnosis came via asking a local race shop (Atlantic Autowerks) vs. any helpful info from the actual dealership. When I mentioned the sensor to the service advisor, he promptly stated that it could've been damaged in the accident I had on 03/15/08...and if so, it'd be the responsibility of the insurance company...unless I wanted to pay for it out of pocket.

Anyhow...I bought the sensor this afternoon and will install it tomorrow, weather permitting.

I was considering using heat-shrink electrical tubing to cover the connection, but decided against it. I do have a roll of sticky "cloth" electrical tape...I can't remember the actual name of the product, but it's similar to what is used on the wiring harnesses.

It was interesting to see the temp reading go from 70 to 36 to 74 to -40 and then jump to 122!

Has anyone replaced the ambient temp sensor? It looks simple, since it's a plug-in connector, but I was wondering if there is anything special I need to do to eliminate the error on the OBC.

Thanks!