2001 XC70 - dashboard therm reporting drastically low temp?

brian_kearney410 · Post by **brian_kearney410** » 15 Aug 2008, 11:37

My wife's XC70 reported low coolant the other day, so I topped that off, and now the dashboard says it is 33 degrees outside. It's a beautiful, sunny 84 degree day here in Charlotte - any ideas?

Edit - it's 33 F, not in Centigrade.

Thanks

Post by **vegasjetskier** » 15 Aug 2008, 12:24

brian_kearney410 wrote:My wife's XC70 reported low coolant the other day, so I topped that off, and now the dashboard says it is 33 degrees outside. It's a beautiful, sunny 84 degree day here in Charlotte - any ideas?

Thanks

It got switched to Centigrade mode?

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 15 Aug 2008, 15:01

Strange things seem to happen randomly to these cars...often, which are unrelated. I would think the outside temp. sensor has gone bad. It is located in the right hand (passenger) door mirror housing and connects by way of the PDM (passenger door module) to the combined instrument cluster (what you see on the dash). You might have to go to the dealer to deal with this as a replacement of this unit will require a software download to activate it. Conversely the temp. sensor that does not route to the instrument cluster is in the driver's side door module (DDM) and is routed to the engine's ECU for its functioning. Good luck and let us know how things go.

brian_kearney410 · Post by **brian_kearney410** » 19 Aug 2008, 15:21

I have made no changes, and the temp has reported fine over the past four days. Nothing to get too wound up about, I'm guessing.

Thanks for the replies.

Post by **MadeInJapan** » 19 Aug 2008, 15:43

That's good...let's just hope it was an electrical gremlin and things don't resurface.