MVS Contributor and new 2004 S60 R owner rolsen11 replaced the broken cabin temperature sensor (thermistor) in his S60 after damage caused a short, triggering a fault code and forcing the Climate Control Module (CCM) to use a default 25°C reading. This led to poor AC performance in warm weather.
The CCM relies on the thermistor’s changing resistance to accurately measure interior temperature and adjust the blend door, blower, and other components accordingly. rolsen11 measured resistance values across a temperature range using a Resistance Decade Box and VIDA diagnostics, creating a helpful reference chart from -40°C (190k ohms) to 85°C (1.4k ohms). He then installed a compatible 10k? NTC thermistor after disassembling the CCM, providing step-by-step photos and warnings like disconnecting the battery first.
rolsen11 »
I recently replaced the cabin temperature sensor in my 2004 S60 R since at some point, somebody stuck something into the little vents in the CCM and broke one of the leads of the thermal resistor (thermistor) causing it to rest on the other lead creating a 5V short. This made the CCM throw a code and resulted in a substitute value of 25C being used as the cabin temperature at all times. This obviously made the climate controls not work very well, usually not enough AC as I want during these warmer months since I bought the car at the end of this May.
Function
The Climate Control Module (CCM) uses a thermistor to determine the temperature of the inside of the car. When the temperature increases, the resistance of the thermistor decreases and as it gets colder, the resistance increases. The CCM measures the change of resistance to determine cabin temperature and automatically adjusts the blend door, blower speed and other items according to the temperature you have set with the knobs. If you have the temp set to 70F after the car has sat in the sun for a while, the car will try to get the cabin temp down to as close to 70F as it can using the data from the cabin temp sensor. As I mentioned, if this sensor (thermistor) is broken, it substitutes a value of 25C and the climate control doesn’t do a good job of managing the temperature.
Measurement
I used what is called a Resistance Decade Box to determine what resistances correspond to what temperature using VIDA software. The resistance decade box has a number of switches on it that you can flip to add any number of values together for a specific resistance value. I managed to get the leads from the old temp sensor to poke through the CCM slots so I could hook up the decade box using alligator clips. The temperature range that the CCM can measure according to VIDA is -40C to 85C. Unfortunately VIDA does not have any information on resistance values which is why I needed to do this test. I started at -40C and kept punching in resistance values until I got the correct resistance corresponding to the temperature I want to get. Here is the following table I made showing resistance for each temperature in C going up by ten with the exception of 25C (which is the base value of the resistor and VIDA as it is considered “room temperature”) and 85C as it is the end of the CCM measurement range:
Degrees C--------- Resistance (Ohms)
-40 -------------- 190k
-30 -------------- 114k
-20 -------------- 69k
-10 -------------- 43k
0 ---------------- 28k
10 --------------- 17.5k
20 --------------- 12k
25 --------------- 10k
30 --------------- 8.2k
40 --------------- 5.7k
50 --------------- 4.1k
60 --------------- 2.95k
70 --------------- 2.24k
80 --------------- 1.6k
85 --------------- 1.4k
The yellow highlight indicates roughly the range that you can set the temperature dials to.
Photos
Replacement
DISCONNECT BATTERY BEFORE REMOVING CCM IF YOU DO NOT HAVE VIDA OR A HIGH END SCAN TOOL, FAILURE TO DO SO MAY RESULT IN SRS AIRBAG CODE THAT WILL NEED TO BE CLEARED
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Last Updated on July 27, 2026
