Outside temp sensor not reading correctly...

As long as the sensor works when you're not spraying it with cold water, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Maybe it's still drying off? Maybe it takes a while to warm up again? Rain is likely to be closer to the ambient temperature than water from the hose, and shouldn't affect the reading too much. I don't have the manual in front of me to look up where the sensor is, but I hunch that may give some clues to its behaviour. Let us know what the dealer says.

 

Mine does the same thing. No need to replace it, as you know it will correct itself. The new one is going to do the exact same thing.

Since the outside temp is not crucial to driveablility, and is just helpful, I am not too worried about it.

 

Another factor is that it is most likely taking an average temp over a period of time, hence the gradual adjustment. This allows the car to compensate for changes in temperature between sun/shade etc. I know mine takes a while to adjust to the correct outside temp after leaving the parking garage at work.

Regardless, this is much better than the Volvo I traded in for the Prius. With that car, the sensor was too close to the engine. Whenever I was stuck in traffic, the 'outside temp' would climb, frequently 20 or more degrees above the actual air temp, even in cold weather.

 

zzz

 

there is only one sensor. it's in the very front, in front of the radiator. if you look in the exact center of the lower opening in the front of the car (where the foglights live), there's a metal bracket. attached to the passenger side of that bracket is the sensor.

sounds normal actually- when you wash your car, you're cooling the metal near the sensor when water gets in that opening- assuming you're using regular old cold hosewater. since this thing isn't exactly near the surface of the car sunlight won't warm it back up right away, the local air temperature in that particular area takes a bit to equilibrate.

don't recall how often it samples the air temp and does updates to the MFD.

 

Replacing the sensor is a waste of time and money - even if it's their money. EVERY car I've ever had with this feature, including all of our Mercedes, exhibits the same behavior after being hit with water whose temp is significantly different from the ambient air temp.

Having it recycle in an hour is actually pretty good - on our MBs, if often took longer than that.

My advice is to quit worrying about it. And leave the one on the car now alone - replacing it only increases the chance it could have problems in the future.

 

Car temp sensors aren't always the best. Think of them like the temperatures reported by the bank signs.. somewhere in the ballpark, but probably not actual ambient shade temp.