B0159Outside Temperature Sensor Range/Performance
- Generic OBD-II code · Body
- How the car detects it
- No public J2012 source lists B0159. General Motors uses it: bulletin PIP5094 from 2013 lists B0159 among its service information keywords, though without a description, so no public GM text states the exact fault logic. Its neighbour B0158 is GM's outside air sensor circuit code. The sensor is an NTC thermistor behind the front bumper; per the 2011 Saab 9-5 manual the cluster supplies 5 V, sees high resistance and voltage when it is cold and low values when it is hot. A range/performance fault, unlike B0158, concerns a signal that stays inside the electrical limits but is implausible, for example frozen at one value or far from what other temperatures suggest. Result: wrong outside reading.
- What you may notice
- Displayed outside temperature clearly too high or too low
- Climate control or A/C compressor behaves oddly because of the wrong outside value
- Likely causes
- LikelyOutside air sensor drifted or slow to react, giving plausible but wrong values
- PossibleSensor mounted where engine or road heat reaches it, e.g. after a bumper repair
- RareCorroded contact adding resistance and shifting the reading
- Repair
- Medium · Often possible to do yourself.Typical cost: €20 – €150
- Related codes
Explanation from obdex (CC0), exactly as the app shows it. Guidance only; confirm with a workshop.