Wednesday 24 February 2021

The Weather Broke My Car!

Ok, total click bait title there but a tiny bit true anyway!

Our cold snap the other week had cold temperatures, wind chill and then snow.  The first snow was on a Friday night and I drove home when it had just started to stick and I didn't drive it again until the roads were clear and the weather had warmed up.  (I wasn't avoiding driving, I just didn't need to so it wasn't an issue.)

By the time I did take my car out again, the streets were clear if wet, and there was snow piles around but I don't think I drove through any. It had also warmed up significantly and my weather app suggested it was around 6 (Celcius).  My car's "external temperature" thingy said it was minus 2.  I was pretty sure it wasn't minus two but maybe where I had parked it was colder and would warm up?  Nope.  -2.

Uh oh.

Next day, I drive it somewhere again.  This time the weather apps tell me it's somewhere around 8 degrees.  My car says it's negative two.  Crap.

I google sensor information for my vehicle.  No way to reset the system.  Hmmm... what to do.  I mean it's not like I can't live without knowing what the outside temperature is, but I don't like my instruments to be off and I'm used to having an idea of what the temperature outside is....

Next day.  Warm outside again.  Car now says -1.  Ok, progress!  It's moved!

And the next day I drove the system seemed to have fixed itself and was saying.... whatever. plus 6 or 8 or whatever it was, YAY!  No need to take it in anywhere.  (I had considered taking the battery out for a minute to see if that reset things, but no need to do anything anymore!)

My best guess is that the week of v. cold and very little driving confused the system somehow (since it is older now?)  Jason's guess is that maybe some snow got up to where the sensor is (near the radiator area or something?) and froze and maybe didn't unfreeze?  That kind of makes sense to me too, but I didn't like having something like that not working on my car and it kind of made me wary about my car now being older than I'd like to think it is (it's a 2010 after all, and that date keeps getting farther and farther away.... sigh) and that I'm not in a financial position to try for a new or newer car and, well, I'm attached to my car anyway but things and parts do age.  Even if I would rather they didn't.

So yeah, the weather broke my car.  Just a little.  I don't know how or why, and it seems to have fixed itself but that was a first!

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