In dash temp sensor way, way off after reassemblig the bike

[sportsguy]

I took some time this weekend to rebuild the cowl on the Tenere - simple job as I only replaced 3 pieces...one being the entire headlight assembly, which comes as a $450 single unit - plug & play.

As part of the work, I removed the dash (called the meter in the tech manual) and placed it aside. Upon restarting the bike, I noticed the odo was still reading accurate mileage, which I expected. The trip odos reset to zero and the clock started fresh at 12:00, obviously.

On the ride to work this morning, however, I noticed the ambient air temp was way high. It was 48 degrees when I left the house and my dash was telling me it was a balmy 63!

So...

Is the dash reading a signal from it's own source (this being a 2012 model) or is it coming from the air intake temp sensor?

And how the heck can I correct this?

I do not believe I did anything to move that sensor at any time, but it might be worth tearing into the bike again to check and make sure. To be clear, if the signal is coming from the air intake temp sensor, well, I'm pretty sure I was nowhere near the intake...

 

[Firefight911]

Very well documented issue.

The sensor is located inside the airbox and is not technically an ambient air sensor but an intake sensor. It's location is influenced by the surrounding air box pieces and the heat from the motor. Correct it? Not really. Just ignore the variance. Reality speaking, change the readout to a more important indicator, water temp.

 

[markjenn]

As said, the temp is the airbox temp (if you raise the tank you'll see it on the underside of the right side of the airbox) and as such tends to be subject to errors due to heat soaking from surrounding materials and being buried up inside the bodywork. But it usually reads within a few degrees of actual ambient if you're moving consistently in open air and you take a long-enough ride that the heat-soaking aspect is minimized. If you're firing up your bike right out of a 70-deg garage, especially if you're the sort who likes to idle the bike up to normal temp (not recommended BTW), then it might take a pretty long ride before the airbox temp comes down to a 50-deg ambient. The question here is whether the behavior has changed since you did the repairs or whether you're just noticing it for the first time.

Another aspect of this is that the readout is very granular - it doesn't move in 1 deg increments, but instead moves in increments of 2 or 3 degrees.

- Mark

 

[sportsguy]

As said, the temp is the airbox temp (if you raise the tank you'll see it on the underside of the right side of the airbox) and as such tends to be subject to errors due to heat soaking from surrounding materials and being buried up inside the bodywork. But it usually reads within a few degrees of actual ambient if you're moving consistently in open air and you take a long-enough ride that the heat-soaking aspect is minimized. If you're firing up your bike right out of a 70-deg garage, especially if you're the sort who likes to idle the bike up to normal temp (not recommended BTW), then it might take a pretty long ride before the airbox temp comes down to a 50-deg ambient. The question here is whether the behavior has changed since you did the repairs or whether you're just noticing it for the first time.

Another aspect of this is that the readout is very granular - it doesn't move in 1 deg increments, but instead moves in increments of 2 or 3 degrees.

- Mark

Excellent point, Mark and one I can clarify.

This behavior started only after I reinstalled the dahs on Saturday evening. Prior to this, the readout was pretty accurate.

I have a Garmin Montana 650 mounted on the bike, with an ANT tempt sensor for the Garmin mounted on the second motorcycle, and typically they were within a couple degrees of each other - now, they're way the heck off. (Just used the ANT sensor on the KTM for reference and testing while parked next to each other.) I could just swap that sensor to the Tenere, form the KTM, but...

This should just work as expected on the Tenere and I see no reason for it to be so far off now.

Yeah, I could just swap to a different readout, but regardless, this should still be working as expected. Sigh.

Thanks guys - appreciate the info, clarity and feedback.

 

[markjenn]

Definitely a puzzler. Might be interesting to raise the tank and see if something is amiss in the wiring to the sensor. (Extra credit if you remember which one of the left side panel bolts doesn't have to removed to get the panel off.) But I'd take a few more rides and see if you can define the behavior better.

- Mark