I have an 05 Dodge Grand Caravan I bought a couple of months ago, I got a check engine light last week and took it to the dealer who told me the ambient air temp sensor got knocked off while driving?!

Now I am new to mini vans, I drive a mustang the van is for my wife, but the only air temp sensor I know of would be part of the mass air flow assembly? If thats the case what would it be doing on the bottom of the car in the first place?

I know the engine code was 0071 which I pulled using the key trick, the dealer would not confirm what the code meant until I brought it in then they tried to charge me $90 even though it is under warranty. Which I am not going to do.

Any help would be appreciated, is this sensor what I think it is? Does it do something else entirely? How hard is it to replace, and where can I find one, I have checked Autozone and Parts america and they can't seem to find one.

 

P0071 is ambient temp sensor performance. The sensor is located behind the front bumper, down at the bottom in the center of the vehicle. You can see it from the front of the vehicle through the holes in the bumper. Its probably a bad sensor as you would have to practically destroy the front bumper to damager the sensor. Also Chrysler products don't use mass air flow sensors (except the mitsubishi cars)

 

Thanks, the dealer I ended up taking it to here in Indy told me the sensor was hit by a rock and was gone? He also said it was on the exhaust so I got the feeling he was full of it.

Gonna go try to find a replacement at Autozone, appreciate the help.

 

I looked at my 05 T and C and you would have to destroy the bumper to break on the sensor, its fairly well protected. I don't understand why they just won't replace it, its a new van.

 

I just wanted to post up that the sensor ended up costing me $6.95 and it is right where you said it would be.

I am pretty pissed that the dealer was going to charge me almost $100 to replace it considering it took about a minute and a half to replace.

Right about now I'm pretty glad I did not give them the $1500 for the extended warranty, I think I'll just get used to working on this thing myself now.

 

Is this the same sensor that tells the temperature on the overhead console? My console temp (outside tempurature reading) reads way off and I noticed that the little sensor behind the license plate is cracked. Where did you get one for $6.00?

 

Got it from the dealer, could not find anyone that sold them other than the dealer parts counter.

 

Need help - I got this same code ( P0071 Ambient Temperature Sensor Performance / Rationality) on my 2007 Dodge Caravan that is still under warranty with 24K miles. Dealer showed me the sensor and the plastic that holds it was broken. It was apparently hit by a rock or stick. The sensor itself looked undamaged. Dealer claimed warranty would not cover since it was broken and wanted to charge $130 to have the sensor replaced.

I asked how do you tell if the existing one is still good. Dealer said there was no way to know for sure and If I did the work myself by installing a new one, the van would not recognize the new one, or the existing one if still good for that matter, becasue the van would have to be reprogramed regardless.

I left becasue I saw on this post that Mike 302 replaced the sensor himself and did not mention reprograming. So, does anyone know if the vehicle really needs reprograming or not? I've driven 40 miles since and the check engine light has not come back on yet.

 

You don't need to relearn anything.
Just replace the sensor and clear the code.

 

Thanks Rambler - so no need to reprogram?......I replaced the original and looks like the dealership cleared code........no "check engine light" so far. I think the sensoer was hit and the plastic that holds it broke. I hope the sensor itself is undamaged.

What exactly does that sensor do? Is it the same temp sensor that lets the engine know the temp of the outdoor air so that the proper amount of air/gas is introducted into the engine?