All you A/C experts out there… I’ve got a problem here that has completely stumped me.

My ’96 with manual climate control works great around town (blows super cold) but while cruising on the freeway, the A/C cuts off for minutes at a time and blows warm air.

Also, the A/C seems to cut out less on hot days (100 degrees) and cut out more on cooler days (75 – 80 degrees).

I can't figure out if this is a failing compressor or maybe a bad pressure sensor. Any ideas??

 

Put a set of gauges on it and raise the engine speed to simulate highway driving.
Verify system pressures are within spec.
Make sure the cooling fans are working correctly.

 

Sounds to me like you have eiher a low regrigerant charge or you have one of those bad A/C compressors Nissan updated with a new design. See TSB NTB97-098, it describes exaclty what you just said. The compressor is a variable swash plate design that sometimes doesn't build enough pressure, this is most noticed at engine speeds above 3000 rpm or highway speeds with ambient air temperatures of 40 - 68 degrees.

Anyway for 96 the updated compressor part number is 92600-40u01
For 97s the updated compressor part number is 92600-0L702

 

Is the swash plate inside the clutch assembly or is it inside the compressor? Would you happen to have a copy of that TSB? I couldn't find it in our TSB FAQ area on the site.

 

Naw man the swash plate is inside the compressor itself, its what builds the compression. I can try to scan you a copy of the TSB but really its just 1 page that just describes what I put up there and gives you a part number to replace it with and just says " If these symptoms match, replace compressor with new part number listed" and thats it.

 

Thanks Turbizzy... if that's all that's in the TSB then let's skip it. I got 140,000 miles out of the compressor so I guess that's not too bad.