'95 LHS AC auto temp control

gosh - do I dare post an AC question, lol????

OK - '95 LHS, 118,000 miles. compressor was replaced about 3 years ago and that's the only problem I've ever had with the AC.

It can still make ice cubes.....but recently has a new quirk. Apparently, the auto temp control takes its cues from the same sensor that controls the outside temp display. Lately, I drive to work in the morning with the auto AC on set to 71.......it's maybe 68 degrees out. Auto system works fine: varies setting to maintain constant temp, turns the compressor on and off, etc.

It's parked in the hot sun all day........maybe 88 outisde when I leave work. But the outside temp display still has the morning reading on it ( 68 ). The AC won't go on full blast automatically because it still thinks it's 68 outside. So I turn the temp setting down to 65 and it will come on........temp reading stays at 68 for maybe 20 minutes, then rapidly runs up to the actual outside temperature at which point I can set in on Auto again and all is well.

A problem in the making? - or just the result of big temp swing during the day (but never did it before).

Thanks!

Reply to
Itsfrom Click
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Hi...

I sure don't have the answer, but for whatever it may be worth I've never heard my fan (94lhs) go higher than about the middle speed by itself, so...

An experiment. Went out about 10am, console said 69 degrees... which would have been pretty close to what it was. Drove about 5 miles, still 69F. Parked for 3 hours, real temp rose to at least 80. Came out, started the car and still said 69 degrees all during the

5 mile drive home. Let it sit for several hours, just went out and started it in the driveway, still 69 degrees. And if it means anything, choosing 72f full auto gave medium fan speed with output air at 50f idling.

I wonder if someone will tell us where to find the outside air sensor? Maybe dirty with "insulating" kinds of dust and grime?

Also, just in case it means anything, all of the other functions on the oh console work fine.

Take care.

Ken

Reply to
Ken Weitzel

Thanks Ken......

sounds like a common symtom if not a problem.

the temp readout in the car has always been my most accurate thermometer. I always check it before I back out of the garage in the morning.....and it will start to react to the different outside temp before the garage door is all the way down.

So this is apparently a hot weather quirk. I don't have a shop manual, but have a Chiltons or Haynes somewhere and will check to see if it shows location of the outside sensor. (assume yours is the same as mine: for the interior temp, a little fan behind the nameplate on the dash sucks interior air and runs it by a sensor.........this was my first Chrysler and made me crazy wondering what the sound was when I opened the door = pretty clever and surprised that still works after 12 years !).

Jim

Reply to
Itsfrom Click

Hi Jim...

Interesting coincidence... first Chrysler for me too, after a very long lifetime of nothing but GM. And I, too, drove myself nuts trying to figure out what I had left on :)

Don't bother with Chilton, I've been through it carefully, and the only thing that even comes close is the IAT sensor. Nor is it mentioned in the owner's manual. Don't have Haynes.

Mine's still at 69f, but our overnight low is 13C (I'm Canadian, that's about 55F), so I'll get up with the sun (as us old guys do) and check again then.

Take care.

Ken

Reply to
Ken Weitzel

Hi again...

Still find nothing for ours, but this might give us a place to at least start looking ?

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Take care.

Ken

Reply to
Ken Weitzel

You guys might consider searching or posting on

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forums. You should be able to find specific info. there on first gen. LH cars.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Reply to
Bill Putney

Hi Bill...

Thanks, appreciate the tip...

For what it's worth to Jim, got up this morning with the weather channel saying it was 50F here. Car outside facing away from the sun. Turned on ignition (not started) and the display read 55F.

Suspect that it may be working, but just reacting very very slowly.

Take care.

Ken

Reply to
Ken Weitzel

Alldata shows my '99 Concorde's ambient temp sensor to be located on the inside of the right front bumper beam.

-Glenn

Reply to
Glenn O'Connor

Thanks, Glenn, much appreciated.

Jim, on ours (assuming they're the same) just lie down with your head under the driver's side fog lamp and look up. You can't possibly miss it

Take care.

Ken

Reply to
Ken Weitzel

The ambient temp sensor is used by the ATC system to adjust blower speed, temperature offsets, evaporator temperatures and mode control. If the sensor fails the ATC system will use the battery temperature information as a back up. The In Car Temperature Sensor is part of a motorized aspirator assembly that is mounted in the instrument panel. A small fan (in the sensor) draws air through an intake on the instrument panel . This air flows over a thermistor which measures inteior vehicle temperatures In-Car Temperature Sensor.The ATC system then makes adjustments to maintain the optimum passenger compartment comfort.

The In-Car sensor will automatically turn on when a vehicle door is opened. If the door is left open, the In-Car Sensor will automatically turn off within approximately 5 minutes. If the door is then closed, but there is no ignition start, the In-Car Sensor will automatically turn off after about

2 minutes. After the vehicle has been driven, the In- Car Sensor will turn off immediately when the ignition is turned off. The aspirator motor in the In-Car Sensor operates whenever the ignition switch is ON (even when the ATC system OFF button is pushed). The fan will accumulate alot of dirt and dust buildup and can prevent the motor from spinning. When this happens the in-car sensor becomes useless. pop off the vent that has the name plate on it and blow out the sensor/motor assembly

Glenn Beasley

Chrysler Tech

Reply to
damnnickname

Thanks to all for the input......I'll be looking under the bumper/foglight to check out the ambient temp sensor.

Found my Haynes guide.....it more or less sez it's too complicated to fool with - leave it to the dealer. No diagrams, but also talks about a sunlight sensor as well as outside temp......another can or worms.

Was cooler here and less sunny today, and both the AC and the thermometer functioned fine.

I dread the day when something major goes wrong with this car - it's replacement will be less roomie and comfortable, I'm sure. So far, with all the gadgets it has, the only thing that doesn't work is the passenger door power lock..........think that's a pretty good record for a 12 year old car!!!!!

Reply to
Itsfrom Click

Everything works on my '95 Concord and it still performs very well, actually like new. Yes lovely space that I'm reminded of every time I get in my wife's Sebring with it's sloping front door tops and much less space for the front passengers feet. As for the auto climate, for years I've run it on manual fan. I just don't like the fan going at high speed. The auto temp works OK most times, but is fooled by the sun coming and going.

Reply to
who

The outside sensor has been like that all along, and you just never noticed it before. The reason is that the underhood temperature is 150 degrees, sitting there in the hot sun all day.. Now, the old car's not all that smart, but it's smart enough to know it's not 150 degrees outside. So it doesn't know what to do until the temperature drops.

I think if you leave the inside temp on auto it'll still go to max AC after a while. It seems like it takes a long time sometimes.

Reply to
Joe

Hi Joe...

As an experiment to find out whether or not mine might be faulty, I unplugged it. That (instantly) made the temp on the display read -70F

That should have really confused it - only way it could be

-70F outside and +85 inside is if it were sitting in Antarctica with the interior on fire :)

However, everything operated just the way it normally would have.

Take care.

Ken

Reply to
Ken Weitzel

Wifey's 93 Vision TSi is getting a little gnarly on the interior (cheap plastic AC grille vents are all falling apart, mainly). The cupholder finally broke a few weeks ago. But mechanically and exterior wise, its still running well and looking good at 245,000 miles. Everything works except the overhead console display. Its been a great car, and nothing on the market quite matches some of its features. The only bad thing about it is front drive, but its about the least awful front drive I've ever driven.

Reply to
Steve

We know you have a mental block about FWD.

Reply to
Spam away

I don't like cars that understeer like dumptrucks, and I don't have to deal with snow. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't have been happier with our purchase of the Eagle back in March of 1993, but back then the only rear-drive options were Ford and GM. With GM it would have been that godawful ugly bathtub Caprice, and with Ford it would have been an early Modular V8 powered Panther platform and the early Modular v8s didn't hold up to well. Given those facts, I have NO doubt that we made the right decision.

Reply to
Steve

Chrysler electronics on the first gen LH cars are MUCH more sophisticated than anything Ford, GM, or most other manufacturers had back then. The a/c control on those cars has many more "options" than most others, too. As in if you have it on "AUTO", then manually adjust the fan speed, it kicks out of full "AUTO". Just one click on the rotary fan switch is all it takes.

When on "AUTO", the fan speed WILL respond to additional light input from the sun coming out from behind the clouds, keying on the additional ambient light to adjust the a/c fan speed up for the anticipated heat load . . . and vice versa. That sensor is part of the center item in the middle of the instrument panel, near the front middle, which also has the flashing light for the factory security system.

I generally worried more about the temperature and air duct selection than fan speed. The first gen LHS was my "rent car of choice" when they were new . . . from Dollar. Then, when the Y2K New Year's Eve was about to happen, I ended up with a 300M rental from Dollar, even bought LDW (just in case), so I'd have the keys to a neat new Chrysler in my pocket should anything happen at that (allegedly) fateful hour. Our Mopar Club was doing New Year's Eve parties rather than Christmas parties at that time, so I was also in good company.

You can probably still get the factory Chrysler service manual for those cars. I bought one when my parents bought their '95 LH New Yorker. Knowing how GM did things back then, the electronic sophistication of the Chryslers makes GM products look like . . . well . . . "not fully bloomed, but less expensive to build", might be a nice way to put it.

Their '95 LH NY has about 105K on it now. Worst nagging thing is the noisy door checks, which "click" when you open the door. Trying to lube things so they work smoother only makes it worse. I think a bushing or something on the hold-down screw went away or something?

It's been serviced by the small town dealer they bought it from. When they got it in the later part of the model year, it was the dealer's wife's demo. My mother did not want an LHS (due to the "stick shift", as she's from the generation where stick/floor shifts were only on lower-level, less expensive cars), so the column shift NY works great for her.

At the 6 yr mark, although the mileage did not recommend a timing belt replacement, the dealer did. She approved that repair, so that was done then. Later, word came out about BFG not warrantying tires over 6 yrs old, due to deterioration of the rubber/cord in the tires, due to age . . even if they had never been mounted. So, that deal was gotten out of the way back then.

It had to have a pair of tie rod ends, which caused a noise similar to loose shocks in the front end. Got the steering a little tighter, too.

My mother drives the car daily, so every time she gets in, the power locks are worked. Several months ago, the rh rr lock actuator stopped working. Dealer replaced that during a normal oil change service.

Then the power antenna hung mid-travel. Got that fixed, too.

The orig Eagle GAs were replaced at about 35000 miles. I don't recall why, as it looked like they'd easily go 60K at that time, but she ended up with a set of Michelin Symmetrys on it. I don't think they might make it through the winter, though, but we'll have to see how that goes. Never has had an alignment, that I know of, yet all of the tires are wearing flat and even, with no real need to rotate to even out the wear.

At about 3 yrs, the factory battery failed. The dealer put in an Interstate battery at that time, using a different cable end on the positive cable (as flaky as that might have been). When she took it it two oil changes ago, the service man came in and asked if it'd been hard to start, or slow to start. My mother said that it did sometimes. She asked "Why?" He said that they noticed it turned over a little slower than normal, so they put the computerized checker on it and it came back "REPLACE". So she got a new battery like the old one that had lasted about 8 years.

Now, after the battery replacement, she noticed that the overhead console display was working normally again. I think she noticed it being a little dim AND the temperature display was not accurate--before the battery replacement. She had asked me about it being a little off and I replied that sometimes they were not completely accurate . . . so much for that.

Seems like there was a deal with the a/c belt tensioner or something similar?

Several years ago, I mentioned that she might ask them about doing a trans fluid/filter change, but I don't think it ever got done.

At one time, it had the torque converter shudder under certain light throttle settings going up a slight grade. I told her, when that happened, to back out of the throttle, let the speed drop a little, and then use more throttle to get up to speed (before the signal to lock-up the converter was given). It didn't matter how long you let it shudder, unless either the speed or throttle setting was increased, it would keep doing it. The dealer had a "fix kit" for that, which I suspect was from Chrysler, which helped it. Don't know if the fluid ever got changed or not. I know there's a toggle switch modification for that situation in the FAQs.

At some time in the future, it's also going to need struts. They are still good for smooth roads, but a few undulations can put a little too much float into things.

As for the factory service manual, I think it's probably about $50+ USD now, but welll worth it. There should be an order blank in the back of the owner's manual. You can probably go online to order one from the printer.

To me, the first gen and second gen LH cars are some of the best Chryslers ever built and designed--period. Even if they are front wheel drive. They have an athletic feel in the chassis that is "light on their feet" rather than the ponderous soft feel of similar GM cars, similar to how prior rear wheel drive Chryslers felt, in that respect (steering response and flat cornering).

In an AutoWeek commentary on the then-new LHS, they had previously driven a last-gen Buick Park Avenue (96?) when it was new. They'd taken the PA up into the hills (somewhere) to a fancy steak house. Those PAs handled pretty decently, they observed, on those roads. Then, a week or so later, they took an LHS to the same place. They commented that they just THOUGHT the Buick PA handled well . . . when they noticed they were driving the same roads about 10mph faster AND not noticing they were driving faster at all in the LHS. It was THAT easy to do.

By observation, if you run the tire pressures at 32 frt/30 rr, it'll make the steering response even better at it better matches the tire pressure to the weight distribution of the car. A little tighter steering response AND less understeer (understeer which is way less than any other fwd car of that type!).

When the last gen Park Avenue came out, I went to a ride-drive event for it. They had three versions of PAs there. The base car, the base car with upgraded GranTouring suspension, and the PA Ultra (supercharged V-8 and upgraded suspension). They also had a bench seat LHS there, plus a fwd Continental and something else of that nature.

In the handling section of the driving course, it was a 20mph slalom. The product specialist that was riding along with me told me to just drive through the cones and not worry about the speed, which he'd monitor.

In the base PA, by the 3rd cone, I was mowing down cones. Understeer and Goodyear Conquest tires were the culprits. Even at just over 20mph.

In the Ultra, I was mowing down cones again, at 22mph, but due to the MagnaSteer power steering rack's magnets not switching fast enough.

Then in the Lincoln, it had super easy steering and the cones were a "goner" again. This time due to massive understeer.

Final was in the LHS. I drove through the cones at about 26mph and didn't hit one! It steered clean and easy and accurately. No real tire noise either. I suspect that my many rental car experiences (many miles of "seat time") did not hurt, but with cars all of the same general wheelbase and size, it was a decent test.

As you might can tell, I like those LH cars a lot. And, as my mother's NY can prove, it's been a very trouble-free car too. Averages about

22mpg in the way she drives.

In the weekend trips I'd take in them, when new, they usually did 26mpg on the highway (65-70mph cruise conditions). A similar Concorde, with smoother over-the-car aerodynamics and a little smaller front end "profile" would do 27.5mpg in similar conditions, both with the same spec 3.5L V-6.

When I drove their '95 NY on the highway a while back, I noticed that it would "Instant MPG" at about 30mpg at 60mph, which closely matches what a 300M will do with the 2nd gen 3.5L V-6 in it (when new, which also matches the percentage increase in mpg which Chrysler quoted for the newer engine versus the earlier one).

My rental car experiences with the 300M resulted in highway "Instant MPG" of 30mpg at 60mph, which dropped to 27mpg at 90mph, with only

700rpm difference in engine speed. I think this proves how good that engine design is, with respect to fuel economy AND the aerodynamics of that chopped-off rear end 300M body.

For comparison . . . a '07 Impala LT with the VVT 3.9L pushrod V-6, 240+ horsepower, will get 30mpg at 70mph, in 3cyl mode. All the Chrysler V-6 has is OHC and a dual-path intake manifold setup, by comparison. And, of course, the 3.6L VVT DOHC GM V-6 in the Cadillac CTS, STS, and Buick LaCrosse, with similar 240 horsepower will get about 30mpg on a smooother road at a 60-65mph cruise, but when the speed goes above about

70mph and the roads have ups and downs, that mileage goes "south" quickly. So when you compare how much "tech" it takes for a GM engine to return similar power and fuel economy as a less-tech, but well-designed, Chrysler engine fo the same size . . . somebody's spending a LOT of money for not much advantage.

I HAVE rented a few of the LY chassis cars. They are nice, for sure, and the HEMI power is neat, but they feel big and more ponderous than the prior LH cars. The suspension tuning on the R/T is more "consumer" than "higher performance", from my own observations. I also feel they gave up too much fuel economy for that "blocky" look, a look I like, though. Be that as it may. And fuel economy took a hit, as did performance, with the extra weight of that body, too.

Interesting thing is that for the same EPA fuel economy . . . you can drive a new Mustang V-6 coupe . . . or a Charger R/T HEMI. Tough choice???? Not really! HEMI RULES!

So . . . for y'all with the flaky temp readings, you might do a load test on your batteries and see how they stack up. That might be the whole situation, as it was on my mother's '95 LH NY.

Enjoy!

C-BODY

Reply to
C-BODY

Definitely. If they had ONLY given them headlamps better than a pair of candles... :-/ We've liked my wife's 93 Vision enough that many years ago I shelled out for a pair of E-code headlamps for it- about $500 worth of "shelling" te be exact, plus some fabrication to do the installation. And that's not even an option on anything but the Eagle Vision or Chrysler Concorde, because no one ever *made* E-code lamps in the Intrepid or LHS/New Yorker headlamp form-factor.

Reply to
Steve

Possibility that the Eagle Vision and Chrysler Concorde were the only models they exported to Europe?

I remember many posts in here (back then) about how "lacking" the beam pattern was on those headlights. Plus some people putting 100W bulbs in them and melting the plastic headlight housings.

Enjoy!

C-BODY

Reply to
C-BODY

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