It is an air temperature sensor. I believe it has something to do with auto stop.
This is an old topic but since my Gen 1 Insight is missing the ambient air temperature in the grille I would think that if I put a 1.5 ohm resister in place of the sensor the car would think that it was always about 85F and therefore go into autostop even in cold temps. OK for me because I don't do that much stop and go in the winter.The service manual says that the sensor's resistance will grow with the cold temp.
About 11 K ohms at 14 F
6.3 K ohms at 32 F
4.0 K ohms at 50 F
2.5 K ohms at 68 F
1.6 K ohms at 86F
1.0 K ohms at 104 F
So if you can use the voltage between both terminals to provide some kind of interface, you are in business. Something that does not interfere with the car's "Climat Control"
Since my Insight has never had the ambient air temp sensor, does autostop work with the hvac system turned on when you have one? Depending on the air temp.So auto stop hasn't worked in my Insight since I got it except if the hvac system is turned off. From my what I've found on here it meant the ambient air temp sensor was probably cut or unplugged. It was both in my case. The sensor was still in the bumper, but no wires going to it. The plug was wedged in the bottom of the bumper cover. I grabbed the plug, and pulled it. It came right up, and exposed that the wires were cut. There was about 8" of length left, and it was sniped right off. Now, my problem is I can't find where the other end of the cut wires are so I can reconnect it? I'll looked all over, and I cannot locate any loose ends? Can you guys point me in the right direction so I can get this back together? I want to build a warm air intake tomorrow, as well as get this fixed. Thanks in advance.
It is supposed to work in ECON mode. Thanks to the help from the members of this board, I was able to locate, and solder the wires back to the sensor. I also relocated the sensor behind the radiator so it should read higher temps and auto stop should work more in the cold. Apparently the sensor is designed to disable auto stop in temps below freezing. I am about to go take it for a test drive. I also rerouted the air intake so it will suck off of the cat converter while I was at it.Since my Insight has never had the ambient air temp sensor, does autostop work with the hvac system turned on when you have one? Depending on the air temp.
Short answer ......... No (unless you can do electrical circuit design).So again, my question is, is there a way to tap into the data stream from this sensor to create a simple temperature display on the dash?