Ambient Temperature Sensor Issue - When Raining with Short Trips

[LDProductions]

Over the last week, any time it’s raining out the outdoor ambient temperature sensor in my truck will spontaneously fail or read incorrectly. It will read 10F when it’s 60F out for example. I’ve also noticed that when that happens it runs the ICE like it is in fact cold out, so it takes a lot longer for the battery to take over when I’m light on the throttle. Note that this tends to happen the second time I turn the truck on, while out running errands, or making a stop on a longer drive.

The first time it happened it threw a check engine light which eventually resolved. I also got a FordPass alert telling me there was a failure and that things like remote start were disabled.

I took the truck to the dealer and they were not able to resolve the issue on the first trip. They pulled up the truck and saw that it’s been throwing error codes since before I drove it off the lot. All of them were communication failures, but none triggered a warning in the vehicle. It’s going back on Tuesday.

Not sure if this is connected to the hybrid remote start issues, but it seems like it probably is. Hopefully the tech looking at it on Tuesday will be able to get to the bottom of things.

I searched the forum and saw some similar but not identical issues so I figured I’d post a new thread to see if others have experienced the same thing.

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[Ford Motor Company]

Good morning! I would be happy to look into your Maverick’s sensor concerns on my end. To get started, could you please send a message with the name/location of your purchasing Ford dealer and your VIN?

 

[LDProductions]

Good morning! I would be happy to look into your Maverick’s sensor concerns on my end. To get started, could you please send a message with the name/location of your purchasing Ford dealer and your VIN?

Message sent. Thanks.

 

[LDProductions]

Adding info to the thread in case anyone else ends up with the same issue. The service folks at the dealership determined that all of the codes and errors were being caused by a faulty ambient temperature sensor.

They have a new one on order and intend to have it installed in the morning and get the truck back to me tomorrow.

 

[LDProductions]

Update to add to the knowledge base. My dealer got the new ambient temperature sensor installed this morning and the drive home went fine. Definitely got a more predictable cut over to the battery after accelerating from a stop light and then backing off the throttle. Managed to get ~50mpg on a drive that I've gotten ~38-40 on over the last couple of weeks. Will report back if anything changes.

 

[Chris_G]

Update to add to the knowledge base. My dealer got the new ambient temperature sensor installed this morning and the drive home went fine. Definitely got a more predictable cut over to the battery after accelerating from a stop light and then backing off the throttle. Managed to get ~50mpg on a drive that I've gotten ~38-40 on over the last couple of weeks. Will report back if anything changes.

Where's the sensor located? Part number??

 

[LDProductions]

Where's the sensor located? Part number??

This is the part: https://parts.ford.com/shop/en/us/e...es/sensor-assy-7821147-1#/sectionId:446280859

Not sure on the location, but my understanding is that it's located behind the front bumper.

 

[Chris_G]

This is the part: https://parts.ford.com/shop/en/us/e...es/sensor-assy-7821147-1#/sectionId:446280859

Not sure on the location, but my understanding is that it's located behind the front bumper.

Thanks

 

[Dano]

Thanks

Love these "no drama" Ford supported and happy customer threads!

 

[LDProductions]

Well fix worked until it didn’t. Was driving in the rain today and the temperature reading all of a sudden dropped from 82F down to 49F and then by the time I got home back to 82F.

Looks like I’m headed back to the dealer. There must be a short somewhere in the connection to the sensor that’s impacted by water.

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