Great idea turned bad... you may want to know this (disable A/C) (temp sensor)

[Hlf Pnt]

Okay I had a great idea. I noticed that on the passenger side of the car there is a huge open area under the dash board. So I thought "oh wow" I can stuff "stuff" under there. So I did. I put a rolled up blanket, a small tool kit, an emergency kit with flares, and a first aid kit in there. It all fit very nicely and out of sight. The only thing I had to do was to hold them all in with the hook side of a velcro strap. Wa - la!!. Okay, now the "turned bad side" of this great idea.
Shoving all that "stuff" into that nice neat area was a bit too much. Apparently if you have air conditioning, there is a small temperature sensor in the air duct right there. This temperature sensor is small and has a small wiring harness pigtail. Well, guess what. It does not take much to break that pigtail from the sensor. How I found out was on a very hot day -- no air. A half day visit to the dealership ended up with me learning I now need a whole new wiring harness just to get that pigtail. The expense, the tear down of the dash board, and an over night dealership stay is now necessary. I know, I know why not just solder or connect them back on. Yes you can do that but you have to see how small and tiny these wires are. They are like hairs on a baby's butt (that is as small and as close to each other as I can describe them). BTW, in case you want to poke fun at me about what kind of babies I am familiar with that have hair on their butts -- there is microscopic hair on babies' butts. And that is the point I am trying to make about how tiny these wires are.

Word to the wise, if you have air be careful what you shove into that nice open area under the passenger side dash.

Regrettably,
Half Pint

[Brabus]

Can you take a picture of this temp sensor or wiring harness? I'd be nice to know what it looks like as I've considered taking apart that side of the dash, but fortunately I've not done anything creative other than playing with wheels sizes on my Smart.

(I don't need to see the baby's butt. jk)

Originally Posted by Hlf Pnt

Okay I had a great idea. I noticed that on the passenger side of the car there is a huge open area under the dash board. So I thought "oh wow" I can stuff "stuff" under there. So I did. I put a rolled up blanket, a small tool kit, an emergency kit with flares, and a first aid kit in there. It all fit very nicely and out of sight. The only thing I had to do was to hold them all in with the hook side of a velcro strap. Wa - la!!. Okay, now the "turned bad side" of this great idea.
Shoving all that "stuff" into that nice neat area was a bit too much. Apparently if you have air conditioning, there is a small temperature sensor in the air duct right there. This temperature sensor is small and has a small wiring harness pigtail. Well, guess what. It does not take much to break that pigtail from the sensor. How I found out was on a very hot day -- no air. A half day visit to the dealership ended up with me learning I now need a whole new wiring harness just to get that pigtail. The expense, the tear down of the dash board, and an over night dealership stay is now necessary. I know, I know why not just solder or connect them back on. Yes you can do that but you have to see how small and tiny these wires are. They are like hairs on a baby's butt (that is as small and as close to each other as I can describe them). BTW, in case you want to poke fun at me about what kind of babies I am familiar with that have hair on their butts -- there is microscopic hair on babies' butts. And that is the point I am trying to make about how tiny these wires are.

Word to the wise, if you have air be careful what you shove into that nice open area under the passenger side dash.

Regrettably,
Half Pint

[John_H]

Is the sensor not connectorized? I thought everything plugged in to the wiring harness. If the wires broke, either the run from the connector to the sensor would be replaced or the wiring harness would be repaired with the standard kit that all Smart Centers should have.

[ElementalDragon]

Thread hasn't been touched in a few days, but i'm also kind of curious as to what this wire/sensor looks like, and where it's located..... just in case i should go poking around.

[Pops900]

This is an interesting and expensive lesson on what to store in the space. I remember reading a post several months ago where someone had stored a few items there (can't remember exactly what), not realizing there is a heater discharge vent in that area.
I have not looked underneath for close inspection but this is a good reminder on being careful what you store. I certainly wouldn't put road flares under there
Let's be careful out there,
Pops & Car-lito

[jetfuel]

...pic of the sensor location..
...dude ..don't know what kind of baby's butt you're looking at 'cause those wires are at least 22 gauge...lol

jetfuel

[forestacademy]

Originally Posted by jetfuel

...pic of the sensor location..
...dude ..don't know what kind of baby's butt you're looking at 'cause those wires are at least 22 gauge...lol

jetfuel

Yourl lucky, I Am not feeling challenged by you.

[NCC1701]

Hmmm, my recent stereo upgrade included placing a crossover in that cubby hole. WAY up in there, it's a stretch to touch it.

[jetfuel]

Originally Posted by forestacademy

Yourl lucky, I Am not feeling challenged by you.

................................... ...........

jetfuel

[Carlarm]

Thanks for the warning! I also use that space to store stuff. I put velcro on the bottom of one of those cheap food containers (brand = Glad) so it would stick to the carpet and tossed the lid away. I keep my TomTom GPS unit plus suction mount there when I'm not using it. I leave it plugged into the cigar lighter when not using it so the battery stays charged. I just now grabbed a flashlight and located that temperature sensor you mentioned. My storage box doesn't look like it'll cause a problem but it's good to know of the potential for snagging those wires.

BTW, I'm an electronic technician and the only difficult part I see in repairing the wires in that pigtail would be the awkward position my body would be in when I'd be working on it. I normally (under a microscope) solder electronic components the size of sesame seeds. Those wires are gigantic in comparison.