"Climate sensor fault"

Greetings fellow Reatta-philes. I'm planning a lengthy trip in my Reatta at the end of March.

I have a fault to diagnose by then.

I'm getting a "climate sensor fault" alarm every 5 minutes or more from my CRT. As you can imagine, getting this alarm so often on a 10 hour trip promises to get on my nerves a bit. Interior climate adjustments work fine. Do I just need to replace the temperature sensor up front or is there another problem somewhere? Outside temperature on climate display shows -39C at all times. Has any cleaning on the contacts at the sensor had positive results for anyone else?

Any input on where to start diagnostics to resolve this, either temporary or permanently, would be greatly appreciated.

This seams to be a rare problem judging by these other threads from years gone. I wish someone would post what the final issue was.

http://forums.aaca.org/f116/climate-sensor-fault-296452.html

http://forums.aaca.org/f116/climate-sensor-fault-175127.html

Please help if you can?

Hmm I'm a newbie on the Reatta but I remember on my Ranchero there was an outside sensor to prevent turning the AC on at certain temps(wasn't smart enough for actual temp display in 1976). Since that outside sensor is feeding your computer that it's -39C it may be trying to apply the same logic that the AC shouldn't be used under those conditions? I suppose it could be a wiring fault which you could inspect but I'd probably start with that sensor.

P.S. Had to jump the dead sensor on the Ranchero...talk about unobtaineum, but having air is NICE.

Thanks for the input. I've been looking for a sensor. When you say "jumping the sensor" did you unplug it or find the wire that caused the fault and disable it some how?

It was acting as a power conduit on my ancient setup. So I removed the sensor entirely and spliced the wire so power fed to the AC clutch on demand. The Reatta setup probably goes to the brainbox input as a warning since it sounds like its not stopping your climate control from working...just an annoyance. Hopefully someone else on here will have a better idea but hopefully its just a sensor replacement if you can still get one.

I went out to "just have a look at things" today. First thing I did was pull on the wire going into the sensor. One small tug and the plug separated. Holding back a little excitement I tried plugging it back in, but it refused to go. I guess the rubber seal was dry, because once a little lubricated it slid back in and snapped with ease. That was it. Works fine now. Temperature in Carstairs Alberta this morning was 54.5 F.

Just goes to show that some challenges are bigger in the mind than the reality.

kewl dude that's great news.