Yukonmax

Just wondering if anyone else on this forum has experienced problems with their heater.
My car only blows cold air even after idling for over 30 minutes, although if you drive it for a short distance it begins to warm up somewhat.
The needle on the temp. gauge is in the middle, so the engine is plenty warm.
The thermostat doesn't seem to be sticking, as the rad and hoses are all warm as well. Had the coolant checked and it's good to -65 F.
Couldn't come at a worse time, as yesterday it was -52 F here. "Warmed" up to -42 today though.
Any ideas? ( Besides moving to Florida )

MaxMus

sounds like a heater core issue. but i'm no mechanic, so i'll let the more experienced guys chime in.

DougJones

Sounds to me like it's just too d@mn cold out.

I'd head to the dealer and have everything checked out.

Yukonmax

Yeah, it's definitely too cold!
I did take it to the dealer this morning, and they've never had this problem before.
It's still there, so hopefully they can fix it. All that electronic crap! I miss the old heater controls that simply had cables. At least you could find the problem quickly.

fredk

This is not related to your problem but I'm curious to know if your info screen is working at that temperature? Mine just gives up or is very slow when it's very cold.

Yukonmax

The screen IS very slow to register and faint at these temperatures. However when the heater worked, it was back to normal in about 5 minutes. I didn't find it to be faint and slow until about -25 C. By the way, the info screen only registers to - 30 C.

Monotaur

Mine is pretty slow at 5 degrees or colder.

Speaking of extreme cold though (and I don't mean to distract from the original poster; sorry) - does your outside temp reading stay accurate at cold temps? It seems like mine doesn't match bank clocks or more "official" readings after about 10 degs F... which isn't uncommon since many electronic reading devices are not linear at all...

Thanks

Yukonmax

My temp reading is usually off (reads warmer) by about 3-4 degrees of the temperature that my digital thermometer that I have in the house shows(which is very accurate). It is also quite slow to respond when going from a heated space to the outdoors.

joemax1

mine is too! usually the difference ranges b/w 2 to 5 deg, with my reading being warmer. anybody knows the reason why? thanks!

Monotaur

Since my temp sensor is fairly accurate at warmer temps, I'd say that it is due to the non-linear nature of the thermistor (or whatever device they are using) at lower temps. Again, you would think in a 30K car that they would find a reasonably well ranged device (especially for those living in Canada, etc).

CanadianMoFo

Yeah, my old VW used to measure accurately down to -49C. Lots of times I don't know what temperature it is outside because the Maxima only goes down to -30. Ist it a big deal? Naw. Do I really care? Naw. Would I pay an extra $5 to get an accurate display? Naw. Once its cold enough to freeze the ***** off a brass monkey, the display stops, and thats about all you need to know. lol

CM

Tvetti

Cannot imagine how you guys manage -50F...

today it was -20F, i took my car to an automatic car wash and before I was out , the water droplets froze and turned into ice...

Manitoba Max

I was wondering why my display only showed -30 today...

Sounds like you may have an issue with air in the heater core. A pretty common problem in these. I get plenty of heat, and it's been -40 a few times lately.

It does seem like it takes a while for the temp to register properly, about 3 or 4 minutes to adjust from -5 (in garage) down to -30.

lightonthehill

I can't imagine living in such arctic conditions. My wife would follow me to the jungles, swamps, mountains or desert, but would never follow me to sub-zero climes. Not that it matters; I wouldn't be going there in the first place.

I know nothing about what happens to cars at such awful temps. But I would like to comment about the onboard thermometer.

I keep my '04 in a garage, and whenever I am leaving the garage, the Maxima temp jibes with the wall thermometer in the garage.

If there is a large disparity, say twenty degrees, in temperature between the garage and outside air, it usually takes the Maxima several miles (up to five) to fully adjust. I understand this, as the sensor has no way to totally avoid being influenced by the temperature of the part of car to which it is attached.

Additionally, once it is acclimated to the outside air, I find the thermometer in my Maxima agrees with the 'official' local temps as given by the TV 'talking heads', as well as the Weather Channel. It may sometimes read one degree higher or lower, but that is to be expected. I am very pleased with its accuracy.

Back to the Yukon; is it true that when one spits (or otherwise excretes liquid) up there, it hits the ground as ice? Such visions blow my mind . . .

Jaws

Holy crap! Someone from Swan River. My in-laws are from Kamsack. Anyway, even on my 2k2 -30 is as low as it goes, and I have no idea why since its a simple RTD, and the element itself would still have a resistance below that temperature. I guess the Japanese engineers don't realize it gets below -30 anywhere their car is sold.

Yukonmax

Got the car back from the dealer last night. They figured, as Manitoba Max did, that there was air in the cooling system. Apparently because of where the heater is located (higher than the rad, or so they say) it's difficult to get the air pockets out. They elevated the front of the car to have the rad at the highest point and bled the air out that way.
Not a great design on Nissan's part! Something else that would have been nice is to have heat come out of center console vents that are directed at the back seat.
Although I now have heat, it doesn't seem as warm as before. Maybe just psychological. However if the car is idling and I hold my hand up to the vent, then bring the RPM's up to 2-3000, it warms up considerably. Does every Maxima react this way?
As to taking a leak or spitting in -50 weather and having it freeze before it hits the ground, yeah, it's true especially with a slight wind, but in the 32 years I've lived up here, I can't recall being dumb enough to hang it out when it's that cold!
By the way, the -52 F did not include the windchill factor. Thankfully it's up to -26 now.
You get used to the cold and dress and drive appropriately. I'm sure the guys from most parts of Canada as well as Alaska are very familiar with this type of weather.
I don't know how you guys in the southern States cope with your scorching summers.
At least we can add clothing to get warm, you can't remove your skin to get cool though!