A/C not cooling like it should. What's up with that?
 

I bought my 2001 GXE, with 160,000 on it, just a few weeks ago. The air conditioning worked well until a few days ago and now it's blowing only slightly-cool air out the vents. The temperatures have been near the 100s so the A/C not working well is a bad thing. The somewhat-cool air coming out makes driving in the sun tolerable but not as nice as it was. What do you think is happening?

Thanks.

low on refridgerant.

Low refrigerant would be my first check. But if you have the auto climate control, run the self diagnostic and see what the temperature sensors are reading.

The auto climate control has a self-diag mode? How do you run that?

search the forum... there are 3 different sensors that actually read temperature... I did it before but I cant remember what the steps were... its here on the forum just search

The ac also cant really keep up in those temperatures especially if yhe sun is beating in. Whats the temp of the air at the out vent? Just adding refrigerant might help buts its best to do a evap and replace. Removes any moisture kn the system that adds pressure but no cooling.

Get yourself the FSM, section HA and start on page 37.
http://boredmder.com/FSMs/Nissan/Maxima/2001/HA.pdf

One part of the diagnostic takes a bit of time, so just be patient. The temperature sensor readings are the last part.

Interesting. My car cools just fine, but then it only gets up to 105 - 110 degrees here. I park outside in the sun and granted it takes probably 15 minutes to cool the interior down to where I'm cutting back on the cooling.

Whats the temp at the out vent. Make the thermometer is not in sun and is calibrated correctly or use the self diagnostic if you car had it. Then pull out fsm and check against the ambiant temp.

One Perfect Fit
 

Thank you for the replies. I'm not much of a DIY kind of guy when it come to cars. I can do some basic things but I'm not sure how to do a diagnostic on the A/C. I really do think the high outside temps have something to do with it. I'm assuming part of the problem is it's just taking longer to cool the very hot interior which would be well over 100. I did notice I got cooler air out of the vents after driving the car for awhile.

I'm betting it is low refrigerant level problem. I bought the car from my brother who was the second owner. He bought it used in 2002 (the car is a 2001) and I'm almost certain the refrigerant has never been serviced in the last 12 years.

yup...low free on..also make sure you A/C switch turns on...

thanks!!!!!