CEL Code 24 : Intake Air temp sensor.., anyone have this problem? Options

[tonytutino]

i was resetting my timing a second ago and i looked to see if my car was throwing any codes for the hell of it, and not to my surprise it did.

Code 24: "Open Or Short Circuit In Intake Air Temp. Sensor Signal"

the stupid haynes manual says let a dealer look at it, but thats why i bought the manual in the first place... so I could look at things.

oh well, does anyone have any insight? i'd appreciate it.

[Bitter]

with an ohm meter you should be able to see the sensors resistance change in relation to temperature, also check the connectors and wiring.

[tonytutino]

checked the connectors and wiring, doesn't appear to be faulty there in terms of something being loose.

i've got a multimeter with ohms on it, but my dad said it might fry the meter if the car is on. but i don't know.

even if i check the resistance and something is faulty, would i just replace the thermistor on the end?

thanks bitter, i knew i could count on you for 7afe help

[parriehunter]

The car wouldnt need to be on. there is just a metal bar and as the temperature changes so does the resistance of the bar. no power would be needed.

[Bitter]

pull the sensor from the car for testing, it'll just come out of the air box.

read resistance of it at room temp, then toss it in the freezer for 30 minutes, it should have more resistance i think. if it reads the same then its bad.

you could alternately dunk it in hot water, it should increase in resistance.


old joke, what do women and thermistors have in common? as you warm them up their resistance drops!

[tonytutino]

well i did just that bitter, resistance did indeed go up.

and the wiring harness to the sensor only has 2 wires but they disappear into the giant loom of wires and i dont know where the hell to go from there.

what negative actions does this code have towards my car's performance?

[Bitter]

see if you can find the sensor range chart on celicatech in the manual section? it could be out of range...but that code is more of a hard fault, like the pcm sees either full open or nothing at all.

if you want to, you can get a wiring diagram and check continuity between the pcm and the sensor itself. unplug the pcm and make sure the 2 wires have the same resistance.

[tonytutino]

even if i checked that and one of the wires didn't have the same resistance, where would i go from there?

i don't know if i have the capability to pull apart wires to fix them. i feel like something this simple is almost over my head, i'm so inexperienced with electrical things, but i want to learn. I just don't want to have to pay a mechanic to do this... its honestly not an option, i'm so broke lol. thats why i asked what negative repercussions this had on the engine, i might just leave it be for awhile

[Nial]

I had this fault once.....cleared the error codes and it has never come back....it might just be a hick up in the system, clear the error codes....go for a drive and recheck the codes, see if its come back.

[tonytutino]

cool, i'll try that later today man

[Bitter]

clear the code and jumper E1 and TE2 to put it into a special mode, it'll trip the light at one occurrence of a fault, instead of 2 or more. that'll tell you quicker of the problem still exists.

if the resistance were higher at the pcm or nothing (open) then you'd need to find the damage to the wires...somewhere. its NOT fun, infact the easiest and what we'd probably do at the shop is to run a parallel pair of wires from the pcm harness (spliced in) to the IAT harness (also spliced). electricty will follow the path of least resistance, and as such the problem would be resolved.

[GriffGirl]

If you decide you just want to replace the sensor itself, I've got one sitting on my desk right in front of me at work that you can have, just pay for shipping if you don't mind.

PM me if you want it.

This post has been edited by GriffGirl: Oct 13, 2008 - 7:05 PM