strange slotted thing on my dash- what is it?

Ok, my curiosity got the better of me and I gently pried up the little 1x1 slotted plastic plate on the top of the dash, between the two central air vents...
It's a black cylinder with a simple 2 prong electrical attachment (this has two brown and one blue/black wire). WHAT DOES IT DO????
-shawn

[Holson Adi]

Isn't it the temp sensor for the Automatic Climate Control?

[84300DT]

yes

[MVK]

Dont mess with that plastic thing. It is the ACC temperature sensor. Its like the thermostst in your house. A bad one can make the whole ACC go crazy. If I was you I will gently put it pack in. Its usually surrounded by some thermocol in many of these models.

MVK

If you pried it up, you may have disconected the air flow tubing that connects it to the little fan that draws air past the sensor. That is if the tubing has not rotted.

Take out the glove box and you will see a pipe running horizontally behind the box. It has a foam hose that connects from the pipe to the sensor you were playing with. The foam hose is commonly rotted and disappeared which causes the climate control to erratically function (at best.)

Use foam hose from home depot that is sold as pipe insulation. This is the perfect size and thermal property. Just cut a piece and slip it over the pipe and the sensor outlet.

Good luck,

[rickg]

Did you take apart your mom's toaster when you were a kid? LOL

Larry Bible,
does the hose you are referring to stick into the side where the cut out is?

There should be a nipple off the side of the sensor. The hose slips over the nipple and then over the plastic (I think) pipe that runs horizontally behind the glove box.

Good luck,

I totally tracked down my rotted foam tube connecting the T shaped white thingie to my ambient temp sensor. Behind my glove compartment I also found a pretty long length of plain black rubber coated wire coming from behind the console (right by the rear defrost switch) and ending in a metal tip that is supposed to be screwed on to something else (think of a pop bottle cap with a little nipple in the middle)--- where's that supposed to go? It's obviously been disconnected for a while!

shawnster,

What you described sounds to me like a coaxial antenna connection of some sort. A previous owner may have left behind a cable that was previously used for a scanner, CB radio, HAM radio or some such. If everything in the car is working okay, I wouldn't worry about it.

It sounds like you found the rotted hose. If you replace this with the pipe insulation I described, you climate control will be much more useful.

Good luck,