I bought a used 04 a few days ago and am having problems with the climate control. Cold air blows from the floor vents when the car is idling. I have only driven the car once - home from the dealership. The temperature was fine during the trip but idling in the driveway after I got home I noticed the cold air. My wife says the problem has repeated itself at stop lights, etc. It is very possibly user error but if someone who has had an 04 for a while longer could provide some insight it would be greatly appreciated.

 

I am having very similar - if not the same problem - I know that is is blowing cold air -way to often - but I had not noticed that it was when I was idling or not.
What I do know is that it was 7 degrees today and I was not able to ever get warm in my car. I did drive for many short trips but the car was completly warmed up according to the temp. gauge
I have had my car since July with 16k miles on it - I have not enjoyed the climate control system at all yet - as my local paper stated during its review of the maxima 04- " the system was somewhat baffling"

 

Make sure you turn the AC button off. it tends to come back on by itself if you hit some of the other buttons.

 

Yeah, what he said! I've noticed as well, that when messing w/ the heating controls, if you hit other buttons to adjust, the A/C will engage... I think this is partly design, for Nissan integrated the A/C for "true" climate control to help eliminate interior fogging (which Nissan vehicles have been notorious for over the years)... That's my two cents worth anyway...

 

The AC will also always come on in winshield defrost mode... so if the system decides it needs to switch to defrost, the AC will be engaged. If it does come on, I'll just hit the AC to turn it off.

 

The compressor cycles, it doesn't just stay on. If the A/C didn't remove humidity your breath would fog the windows.

 

Yup, understood... that's what I meant.

 

The A/C being on isn't your problem. That is a normal function of the climate control that is there to remove humidity. You can still get hot air w/ that button lit. You have another problem.. I'd take it to the dealershp and have it checked out.

 

Hasn't happened to me, but page 4-18 of the Owner's Manual lists the following disclaimer:While this doesn't exactly sound like your problem, clearly the foot outlets have some separate logic from the rest of the climate control and may be malfunctioning.

 

Thanks for all the replies, It is not a case of the AC button truning onby itself - I have that also - this is cold air coming out when the car is not moving(parked,stop signs,or stop lights)I spoke with a dealer that said he had some problems with past maximas but mostly altima - he had to drain the heating and cooling to make sure the mix was right and to make sure that there were no air bubbles. Does this make sense????

 

Hello All!

I think there is a TSB about air in the cooling system. This would cause the problems you describe. When at idle there would not be enough water moving to over come the air pocket in the heater core.


I have a problem myself. The rearseat vents blow only cold air no matter what the system is set at. Is this normal?

 

I think that the TSB is listed as the "Heater Core gurgles", which has to be fixed by removing all the air from the heater core.

Just as Pendarus said, this is probably your issue. Good luck with the dealer.

 

Yep, that's apparently "normal" ... at least it's been observed by a bunch of us here. No one's figured out how to get warm air through those rear outlets!

Mike

 

Thanks for the insights. Air in the heater core sounds like it might be the problem. I have actually heard the "gurgle." I have an appointment with a dealership on Tuesday and I will suggest this as a possibility.

 

Turn off the AC. That's all you have to do. I heard of this problem before!!!

 

Turning off the AC is not the fix. It was the first thing I tried. I have tried every setting but the problem persists. Why would the AC being on only effect the temperature when the car is idling?

 

I'm the lucky guy who had my evaporator tray crack, dump H2O all over my carpet last summer (see old post, pics). Well, they had to purge the coolant to get the thing fixed, and they never got the air out of my heater core (I listen to it gurgle every morning). Yes, there is a TSB but it's a lot of crap to go through to get the air out. Make a custom reservior, jack the car front end WAY up, etc. My dealer tried the TSB (of course I had to tell them about it), same gurgle.

My dealer's techs are pigs (scratched my display lens, I could go on). So I'm waiting to get it up to a new dealer to try the tsb again.

You are also correct about the heat! At idle this car sucks for heat, probably the trapped air in my case, but I'll believe it when I see it. At highway speeds it's ok, but not great. The A/C has nothing to do with it if your temp is set near 90 Deg and the blend door is functional.

My buddies Murano heater works great, same engine, guessing same parts bin on at least some of the other components.

I'm in Minne-snow-ta so I know my heaters....
Good Luck.