Loose wire after bumper upgrade!!

[Armitageshanks]

Hi,

Should have asked this one last year, but it did'nt affect anything. Last year i went from standard bumper to facelift type on my Mk4 ibiza. There was a wire with some sort of sensor or plug fitted on the end which was slotted into the original bumpers inside , at the front,which i dettached . When putting on the new bumper there did'nt seem to be anywhere to attach this wire..........so i left it!!
Anyway it has'nt had any consequence really, so im asking can anyone tell me what it is for.
just thought it might have played apart in my low bhp figure of 102, pre-remap, although my car is a 100pd, the mapper said, and i've read, they usually come in at around 110bhp.

Maybe the resistor in a box mod i used to run did'nt help or possibly the 90k mileage.
Anyway now pushing 144bhp (Reddot racing)

 

[sydoggkdy]

will that not be for the ambient temperature sensor ? im sure thats where it is.

does your car tell you what the outside temp is (i think in the little screen below the rev counter?)

si

 

[Armitageshanks]

Yes i've got an outside temperature reading on my computer,so that would seem a good bet then!!

 

[muddyboots]

Yes it'll be the outside temp sensor.

To work properly it needs to be somewhere where it can sense the temperature but not be subjected to moving air (ie windchill) or pick up too much heat from warm components (engine, exhaust, radiator etc etc). So normally it's tucked up inside the bumper.

I'm not entirely sure what exactly uses this sensor.
Pretty certain it gets used for your external temp display, and will probably be used by the climate control, and very probably is used to determine whether it's safe to run the aircon compressor or not (they don't run when the temp is approaching or below freezing).
It could also be used as an input to the engine ECU, although I have a feeling that may be taken from elsewhere (MAP sensor may have a temp sensor in ?).

So if I were you, I'd try and find some way of fixing it up in a suitable location (ideally same area as it originally was), otherwise you'll probably be getting false readings that may have unforseen effects.
Plus it's not good to leave things dangling, the movement will eventually cause the wiring to chafe through and break or short out.

 

[A.m.C_Ibiza1]

on the mk3 it controls the climate control! if it goes below 4.5 degrees the air con gets disabled lol!

 

[Muttley]

In the Leon and Toledo the outside temperature sensor only gets used for the dash display. The air cooling system uses a separate sensor in the cabin air inlet pipe, downstream of the pollen filter. But on the Ibiza, as you say, it is used by the climate control - however on these cars it is in one of the door mirror housings. Ibiza's with air cooling but not climate control have an outside temperature switch under the windscreen

 

[muddyboots]

In the Leon and Toledo the outside temperature sensor only gets used for the dash display. The air cooling system uses a separate sensor in the cabin air inlet pipe, downstream of the pollen filter. But on the Ibiza, as you say, it is used by the climate control - however on these cars it is in one of the door mirror housings. Ibiza's with air cooling but not climate control have an outside temperature switch under the windscreen

I thought on the Mk4 Ibiza, the location changed from door mirror housing (as previous models) to being in the bumper ?

 

[Muttley]

Um - You're right, I was looking at Mk.3 diagrams. The Mk.4 seems to have the same setup as the Leon/Toledo - outside air temperature sensor in the bumper feeding the dash display only, and a separate sensor in the cabin air inlet duct for climatronic/cooling system control.