T4r 2014 outside temp readout
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1engineer
Moderator
Just because you put a question mark at the end of a statement does not make it a question? Lol seriously, if your question is "Can it take up to ten miles for the 4Runner outside temperature sensor to register correctly?" The answer is yes. Also the term "correct temperature" is subjective. What might be on a bank sign or on your phone app might not be what the 4Runner sensor is actually sensing.
I'm pretty sure that the sensor is coded much like your average mpg monitor, meaning it only updates a few (I think it is four for the mpg one) times a minute. When it does update it goes in small increments along a PID type curve until it gets to the current temperature where the sensor is located. Why? Let's say you are in 34 degrees and it is drizzling. Most normal people driving in those conditions are extra careful driving across bridges because of freezing surfaces for example. If the temperature sensor was exact and changed quickly it would be easy to hit a 45 degree pocket of air, then a 29 degree pocket of air, etc. Now how would you know what the real temperature is? Also, going 75 mph it would be quite common to fluctuate 10 degrees either side of your "shown" temperature because you are covering a lot of ground and could be driving across a ravine, over a river, next to a city, etc that can cause great temperature differences. What good would it do to know that? Hope this helps.
I'm pretty sure that the sensor is coded much like your average mpg monitor, meaning it only updates a few (I think it is four for the mpg one) times a minute. When it does update it goes in small increments along a PID type curve until it gets to the current temperature where the sensor is located. Why? Let's say you are in 34 degrees and it is drizzling. Most normal people driving in those conditions are extra careful driving across bridges because of freezing surfaces for example. If the temperature sensor was exact and changed quickly it would be easy to hit a 45 degree pocket of air, then a 29 degree pocket of air, etc. Now how would you know what the real temperature is? Also, going 75 mph it would be quite common to fluctuate 10 degrees either side of your "shown" temperature because you are covering a lot of ground and could be driving across a ravine, over a river, next to a city, etc that can cause great temperature differences. What good would it do to know that? Hope this helps.
Ron4RNevada
New member
To add to that; on the 2010 - 2013 the temperature sensor is located in the space between the grill and the radiator. So:
If the truck has been parked for a while it will at first read what the temperature was in the garage for a few minutes.
If it was recently driven and then restarted it will have been higher having been in the radiation from a hot radiator.
If driven slowly it will take a while for the sensor and the void between the grill and radiator to come to the ambient outside temperature.
If driven at highway speed that void will reach outside temperature sooner.
- - -
I find that when the truck has been driven for a couple miles that the temperature readout is very close to hand held thermometer held outside the truck. Obviously when off roading at less than 5 miles per hour the temp reads higher than the hand held.
NoDak
Senior Member
don't need 2 thread with the same title from the same person. merge or delete one of the threads.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-g...r-outside-temp-readout-wrong.html#post2034955
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-g...r-outside-temp-readout-wrong.html#post2034955
HerT4R
New member
agreed. mods, please assist. [MENTION=48772]Jesse1983[/MENTION] [MENTION=24995]SV_Dude[/MENTION] @mods
nothing i hate more than repeat threads clogging the forum. :spam2:
ToyotaDoodz
New member
Isn't it hard to go offroading that way? j/k :cheers:
ToyotaDoodz
New member
I like it. I like vehicles that give info more so that ones that don't. I can disregard what I don't want to see, but I can't see what's not there. I drove dumb vehicles for so many years, I like all the info provided for free in the newer ones.
We get a lot of ice, black ice in OK. The temps tend to be on the edge of freezing or not so if I'm driving between areas of different temps, it's a nice feature to know if you're approaching that danger temp threshold.
Jhalko
New member
I've never seen black ice in Colorado, it's like when I ski here and people say it's icy, I just laugh. I lived in NC for 25 years, I know what ice is.
I've become so used to my truck I actually had forgotten there was a temp readout, I'm a get in, turn on music, and forget the center stack kinda driver. Maybe if I had entune, but I rarely even answer my cell phone while driving. Drives the wife nuts.
I can see value in knowing the temp, but sounds like accuracy isn't always there at times. Didn't the 4th gen guys have it even worse, I thought there was something about that.
ToyotaDoodz
New member
We get the ice because we're right on the temp boundary between warm and cold plus the gulf moisture. We get ice before snow most of the time, except the last few years which have been more like Alaska.
The temp on my '03 worked just fine. I never had issues with it.
None of them are perfect and I just use it as a guide.
Ice storm causes incorrect readings?
Resurrecting an older thread:
I drove my 2017 LE through an ice storm today from NYC to Vermont. As we went through Massachusetts on I-91 (about 60 miles) I ended up with 1/2 or 3/4 inch of ice on key areas (wipers, mirrors, rack, etc.). Happily we were safe and sound.
Except that the external temperature gauge went bonkers and became profoundly unreliable. For a while it was hovering between 28 and 32, which was expected. Then it started rising and crept all of the way into the mid 50s. All of this while rain was continuing to freeze on the corners of my windshield.
My guess is that the ice blocked the air flow to the temperature sensor which was subsequently influenced by the engine. But this seems like a poor design. There is no time that you need an accurate temperature reading more than in freezing rain conditions.
Has anyone else seen this happen?
Resurrecting an older thread:
I drove my 2017 LE through an ice storm today from NYC to Vermont. As we went through Massachusetts on I-91 (about 60 miles) I ended up with 1/2 or 3/4 inch of ice on key areas (wipers, mirrors, rack, etc.). Happily we were safe and sound.
Except that the external temperature gauge went bonkers and became profoundly unreliable. For a while it was hovering between 28 and 32, which was expected. Then it started rising and crept all of the way into the mid 50s. All of this while rain was continuing to freeze on the corners of my windshield.
My guess is that the ice blocked the air flow to the temperature sensor which was subsequently influenced by the engine. But this seems like a poor design. There is no time that you need an accurate temperature reading more than in freezing rain conditions.
Has anyone else seen this happen?
