Buying a Galaxy Tomorrow. Outdoor Temp Gauge Showing -15c

[essjay]

Hi guys,

I'm buying a 2005 MK2 Galaxy (around 85k miles) tomorrow and everything looks good on the car apart from the external temperature gauge. When I took it for a test drive on Sunday the gauge was reading -15c (it was definitely warmer out, maybe around 10c).

Is this something I should be concerned about? The car is a Ghia so has "climate control" (I think). Is this gauge tied into the air con to enable automatic heating or anything?

The owner is pretty sure that the gauge is functional as no warnings came up on the diagnostics. Perhaps I need to reset it or something (if that's possible).

Appreciate any advice.....

[SilverBeast]

May be just the wiring or the sensor disconnected.  Not sure if it's used for the climate, it may stop the air-con coming on as I don't think it will run if the outside temperature is too cold.  But i've been wrong before (many times  ).  I believe the external temperature on the clinmate display, and the external temperature displayed on the dash (in models with trip computer) may both be from this sensor.

It's behind the front bumper cover, you can see it through the grill.  Here's a shot of it with the front bumper cover off.  It's below the bumper to the right of the hose.

[attach=1]

Not used for auxiliary heater that's clipped to the back of the wiper mechanism.