some people need something else to do, I don't even pay attn to mine...I'm too busy having fun and listening to the sc whine...I whine enough about other things...

 

Try stickng it in a body orifice and see if you get 98 or 99 degreees.

 

Waldig!

That "resistor" your replacing is NOT a RESISTOR! It is called a THERMISTOR. It is a temperature variable resistor, when the temperature goes up, the resistance across its wires decrease. When the temperature goes down, the resistance increases. In no way will a fixed resistor work in this application. Your insertion of a fixed resistor in the IAT sensor is to "fool" the computer into adjusting the fuel/air ratio making it burn more gas for the air entering the intake. This does increase a little, the power you have available since it is running rich all the time. This also costs more in fuel used, but you don't care if your goal is more power.

I digress, the temperature sensor is a THERMISTOR, its function is to just display a value digitally, given its range and application. Its very word (thermistor) tells you it is a temperature sensing resistor. Its construction and function differs greatly from a fixed value resistor. If you install a fixed resistor in this application, your display will read almost a constant value across a wide temperature environment.

 

Resistance goes down as the temperature decreases if I recall. At absolute zero there is no resistance.

 

Your recall is correct IF you were referring to a CONDUCTOR. A semiconductor such as this thermistor has different properties

 

"It was a one in a million shot doc"

 

Well at least I was half right, that's better than being half wrong.

 

You buffer the thermistor with a resistor to add to or reduce its setting at a given temperature. It will still only be right at a given narrow range after buffering, its a cheap part and not precision, Woody

 

My A6 has a disclaimer in the user manual that the temperature reading can be a few degrees high when the motor is running just due to engine temperature. BTW, in a roadster you have a pretty good idea of the temperature all the time if you drive with the top dropped.