Just came back from lunch and I drove into the driveway at my job a little too fast. I thought I scraped the front spoiler, so I parked and checked for damage. Luckily there's no damage, but I did find something. Does anyone what this device does? Maybe it’s there to measure airspeed or could it be an altimeter, J/K. Any other ideas out there?

 

Temperature sensor...

 

This must be the third one of these threads so far this week. Weird.

Anyway, it's the outside temp sensor.

 

Thanks, ssimaniac and hawkeye18, for the quick reply

 

I thought we agreed that it's a laser gun

 

It's always strange to see that threaded temp sensor hanging down there like that. That same sensor is used in a number of Ford apps.

 

Indeed, the exact same sensor is in my '95 Taurus SHO as the outside temp sensor - and the IAT. So Ford's been using this sensor for, at the very least, 22 years (it was in the '89 as well). Must be a pretty good sensor.

It's mounted in the place it is so that it gets the best, most uninterrupted flow to accurately measure temperature. In my SHO it's behind the grill, about 1" off the condenser core, so it always reads about 2-3°F high, more if sitting still. Since it's well away from the condenser core and exposed to direct airflow, it should provide quite accurate readings in the S197.

 

Why is it so big? (yes, that's what she said...) seriously though...why? I have a temp probe for my heads up display for an RC drone application thats 1/4 inch across on the end of a thin cable...

 

Cut it, it's blocking airflow to the radiator !

 

Because it costs Ford far, far less to use a very common, time-proven, standard air temp sensor that they've got billions of than it is to develop a new, smaller temp sensor that may or may not last a long time. Reliability is as much a concern as anything else when it comes to these things. Those sensors are cheap as dirt and known to last forever.

 

Thanks. I was wondering the same thing. I noticed it as I was washing and waxing my new GT for the first time.