the ambient air temp will update after 5 miles of driving, particularly if you are unplugging and messing with it, go drive it at least 5 miles and check againI'm completely confused by these Temps sensors..
so today I checked the diagram, yep only intake air sensor wiring is in the maf. so I go pull up the scanner, start the truck and watch the intake temp and the ambient air temp. they are different by about 20deg.
unplug the maf, the intake air temp goes to its default of negative whatever, the ambient temp doesn't move, then I plug it back in and intake temp goes back to 120ish, all of a sudden the ambient temp goes to 14deg F and both cooling fan kick on max. like wtf? I didn't touch the sensor in the bumper.
so check codes and ambient air temp open code, very weird. havc still says 98deg. yesterday when I unplugged then air sensor in the bumper the hvac detailed to 58deg. I force update that by hitting the 2 buttons, it jumps to 100deg. scanner still reading 14, fans still on max.
so I pull out the tech 2, check everything, havc module still reading ambient Air raw same as havc display (ish 2deg off). go into ecm data and intake temp normal, ambient 14F. clear codes a few times, cycle power. still the same, so I take it for a drive thinking it needs to reset at a speed. take it up to 60mph and still 14, weird.
drive it back to the shop, pull in, turn the ac off and the cooling fans go off high speed, pick up the scanner. now the ambient Air temp is 17F.
i got nothing. parked it, went inside for a bit, checked it later and it's at 18deg F. fans not on, no codes for anything. my only guess is it will reset itself slowly over time. it's gotta be a fake temp like oil temp, somehow using maf temp and math to guess for something filtered.
not that any of this matters to anyone else haha, but if you want to compare the outside air temp to your intake air temp as it passes thru the maf, you'd have to force update the hvac display temp and look at the manifold air temp to see how well your cold air box is working. mines about 20deg different cruising, creeps up to more like 30deg at stopped in traffic.
and if you ever get a ambient Air temp sensor fault code, but the hvac temp is correct. I have no clue how to fix that haha. maybe an intermittent wire in your maf sensor plug.
if you suspect it is faulty, replace it they do get brittle and break easily from being exposed to the elements