Hello,


I have a 2010 Nissan Maxima. The AC was working great on Tuesday and then not at all on Wednesday this week.


Upon inspection it was quite clear the AC Clutch isn't engaging and disengaging. The fuse in the IPDM was fine.


I read that clutch wont come on if the Refrigerant R-134A is low.
Well the low pressure and high pressure line were equalized at 110 psi when the clutch is not engaged. So there is no way to add R-134A unless the clutch is engaged and the low pressure line actually has a low pressure, correct?


I went on to accomplish the AUTO ACTIVE TEST. There is no click, or clutch movement. So does this eliminate the low pressure switch at this point and lead to the relay built into the IPDM?


I would still like to do the following:


1. Jump the low pressure switch to verify that is not it, and to find out if the AUTO ACTIVE TEST bypasses this switch anyway.


2. See if the A/C compressor is getting power and not when turned on and off with a volt meter at the component.


3. Provide the A/C compressor clutch an alternate 12volts to see if it works or not. (can you buy just a clutch vs the clutch/compressor assembly)?


Any answers to my questions, further troubleshooting steps, or further information would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks


Mike

 

Adding refrigerant will trip the pressure switch. The clutch does not have to be engaged to add refrigerant, in fact it should engage while adding refrigerant.

 

I did try to add a 12oz can of R-134A but it didn't do anything. I also tried jumping the pressure switch and it didn't do anything.

I still think it is the relay or the clutch and I wont be able to get it on the lift for a couple days to do more troubleshooting.

I also don't think it is possible to add refrigerant from a can to a system that is pressurized to 110psi. Every can says to add while AC running (Clutch engaged) and through the low pressure line. So this is a catch twenty two. Compressor wont run with lack of refrigerant but there is no way to get more refrigerant into the system.

Is there anyone out there that knows the AC system well and has worked on it in a 2010 Nissan Maxima? I would love to get some answers to my questions.

 

Doesn't appear that many people read this forum huh?

Anyhow, incase anyone cares I think I found the problem tonight.

Compressor Clutch was getting power with AC on.

Hooked up an alternate 12 volts to the clutch and nothing.

Ordered a replacement AC compressor clutch kit tonight. Will replace this weekend and hopefully it will be fixed.


Mike

 

did you replace it and did it work i just changed mine i have pictures if you need

 

id love some pictures im in the same boat

 

hey whered you find the clutch kit? did it fix your problem

 

I had the same problem last week on my 2012. It was a relatively warm summer day.

I just got out of a PTSD inducing traffic congestion episode, saw the straight empty infinite road ahead and just floored the gas. Went up to 115mph. Such a release/relief. Except it started getting warmer inside.

Took it to the shop, they diagnosed a bad compressor.It was totally weird considering the compressor was in excellent shape until it stopped one moment. It blew ice cold in the morning and just stopped when I floored it in the evening. They quoted $499 for the compressor and $350 for the labor, then taxes. My jaw dropped. I thought it was a fuse or something small, the way it went out. It wasn't a gradual decline in performance until it could no longer keep up with the weather or anything. It didn't warrant a near $1000 repair. I paid them for their useless diagnosis and recommendations. And researched on here.

It was the coil in the compressor clutch assembly. Got an entire clutch assembly for $65 on Amazon with prime, and finally took up the recommendation from a colleague -- of a local truck driver, who works as a mechanic just as a hobby on weekends. He replaced the thing and took $50. I could have saved more on this project if I had just bought the coil for $25 on ebay. But I was pressed for time if I missed the weekend, as the guy wouldn't be available until the next. So I bought the only thing I found with prime shipping and it all worked out.

I think OEM part could have been built better. They sell these cars near $40grand. They really crapped out on this.

 

I think you should take that $65 part out on the highway and mash it to 115 mph to see if it still works afterwards.

 

We read it...just can't always respond right away.

If you can get away with just changing the clutch, more power to you. I've never had any luck with that, and end up changing the entire unit with a Rebuilt one. Last time i tried this on my Maxima, i changed it 3 times before finding a decent rebuilt (pain-n-the-****).

Let us know how you make out...

 

I ordered the clutch kit from Amazon two weeks ago. Easy swap with the old unit and the AC is as cold as it ever was.

Make sure that you use the shims (old & new) to get the factory required gap in the clutch though. I had to play with that a few times before I was comfortable that it was working properly.

 

That is a really odd suggestion...

 

Nobody's ever heard of compressor clutches going out, at least it isn't common. Either Nissan makes/procures crap electromagnets, or everyone gets ripped off into replacing the compressor when this exact thing happens, so nobody thinks it is the clutch specifically. Considering that the former (Nissan = Crap) is more likely than the latter (Everyone = Fools), I'd say this $65 part will survive a stress test. It's not really the 115mpg that matters as much as the RPM of the engine at which the coil blew.

The odd thing is that the compressor's power supply has an electrical fuse.So there's a certain stress point amperage above which the fuse would have blown to protect that coil. And none of my car's fuses were blown. That means the OEM part crapped out within it's own operating conditions, else the fuse would have blown. I doubt the new part will do that, as that is uncommon.

I don't know if I gradually drive up to 115mph anything will happen at all, as a real stress test would be to just floor it with the AC on, while in your garage when the car's in Park/Neutral. In any case, I am completely uninterested in further fixing what ain't broke no more. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

I had same problem three years ago, a bud did a temporary fix (tack weld engaged clutch) and worked till I got the part from ebay, he replaced and three years later... still blowing cold.

 

This is literally what just happened to me, I floored the gas up to about 90 last night and now my AC is not blowing cold. I have someone looking at it and they say the compressor doesn't seem to be getting any power so they don't know if its the compressor or the Clutch. Tires Plus could just be raking me over the coals I wish I knew what could be going on. The Tires Plus guy is telling me that if the computer diagnostic says that the power to the compressor issue is the coil he will only replace the entire clutch/compressor assembly over a 1k job for what seems to be a $65 part. I can't even double check the guy if he is BS-ing me - what fuse would I need to check, and what code would be thrown to show that the coil is the issue?

 

I checked the fuses that hide under a cover, by the car battery. I didn't know which was which, but none of them were blown, in my case. The mechanic also had a look at some of them (probably knew which ones to look at) and said fuses are fine. The car doesn't throw out any code (OBD2) if it is just the coil. It just blows hot air. But it does throw out a code if it is a failure of the ECU to power the compressor, which rarely happens.

If you are a 100% certain that a sudden acceleration (mechanical cause) caused your AC to stop cooling (without any other long term indicators (thermodynamic or electrical) of AC failure), then yes it is the coil. You can buy the coil itself for under $30 on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/High-Qualit...4/143299477904, and it should be enough.

But I bought the coil+clutch assembly for $65 from Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CVS9RFV

Also NOBODY's solution so far, turned out to be the fuse or the ECU (not powering a working coil). So like I said before, statistically it is the compressor clutch coil. It happens a lot and people shell out many hundreds, if not over a grand to replace the whole compressor. They are rarely presented with economical alternatives.

 

I have to disagree. I'm in a 2011 Altima 3.5 and my clutch failed at 51k. This also happened to a couple of other Altima owners that I know. I've seen a number of posts from Altima and Maxima forums and the culprit has usually been the AC clutch.

 

Hello all, I have a 2012 Maxima with 68K miles when this happened.
I had the same issue as the OP and everyone else who has ended up here looking for reasons why a perfectly working A/C decides to quit after (in my case speeding up and passing another car), which did rev the engine to a pretty good amount, but no different than any other time. However it was a pretty hot day around 100 degrees. Couldn't have happened at worse time, was headed to a wedding. I am my own mechanic so I trobleshot it down to the coil right away, Open coil, infinite resistance. So I proceeded to remove the Wheel, inner cover and belt to get to it, removed the clutch bolt and clutch. I was about to pull the pulley off when I noticed a small amount of UV oil down in the throat of the compressor, just a smig, so I thought I'd just change the compressor since it had a leak, all be it very small if it did at all, could've been there from manufacturing, who knows. Anyway New Compressor, Expansion Valve, Drier, Freon, Oil & $750.00 later all was back to normal and cooling again. The old compressor has been in the back of my truck for over a year now waiting to get rid of it. The other day I decided to pull it apart and check it out to see exactly what went on and if I could see a definite failure. Pulled the clutch, pulley & coil off and strait away I saw a thermal fuse integrated into the coil, Shaking My Head I thought, How Fing stupid to put a fuse buried down in the compressor that cannot be changed. So I decided to jumper the fuse with a piece of buss wire and put it back together and test to see if it would still work. Did that, hooked it up to a Battery and low and behold it was working, Then I hooked it in series with a current meter to test the current and it was only pulling 3.22 Amps. Well below the 10Amp fuse in the circuit. Now I get Nissan trying to cover their A$$es by maybe preventing a fire from a fried coil and somebody putting a too large of fuse in the fuse holder to over come it from blowing the 10Amp fuse but the thermal fuse that they put in is 1A @ 250V 187 Degree C device. I believe that as the RPM's are increased the high side pressure increases and the high limit pressure switch is then opened and the coil disengages and there is an inductive kick back in the coil because the rpm's are extremely higher than normal, add in the excessive heat and it surpasses the limits of this little device. I searched the web for a while looking for someone who has found this as I did and all I came across was this forum, so I joined to rant rave and share my findings in hopes to help someone else. There are a lot of compressors being replaced without need, big time $$$$ repair bills for people, all because a .59 cent part fails. I was able to find someone on the web who was taking a compressor apart for some reason, the way I found it was by searching for some of the numbers on this thermal fuse and his web site came up. I do not know exactly what he is talking about on his page because it is in a foreign language that I can't read. I will post it here if someone wants to explain it. https://xn---35-6cdk1dnenygj.xn--p1ai/18585-12/ . If you look at his coil it is the exact thermal fuse that is in mine. His does however have a suppression diode across the coil leads where mine does not. In my pic below you can see my jumper wire and the image of the fuse that I found a pic of on Alibaba, the one in the pic is a 2A but the one in our compressors is a 1A fuse, its only there as reference. You can see in the second pic there is no diode across the terminals. I may keep my old compressor around and if my new one ever fails I may get a new clutch and reinstall it and save the money. It has been sealed since its removal so no contamination inside. I found a new Clutch, Coil & Pulley on Amazon for $59.00. I just wished Nissan would do a little more extensive testing on their vehicles. Like one person said you spend $40K+ on these cars for a .59 cent part to fail and cost as some have stated thousands of dollars in repairs. I do hope this helps someone. Thanks for reading...…

Jumper in place of thermal fuse



No diode across terminals

 

Disagree with what? You just agreed that Nissan's compressor clutches are crap. Isn't that one of my hypothesis anyway?

 

Mine lasted 425,000 miles before it needed to be replaced on my 7th gen. Seems to be pretty reliable to me, certainly not crap.

 

I replace the compressor and clutch and changed the fuses still not working help

 

This was a huge help. It gave me confidence to change only the clutch and not the whole compressor, and it worked! Thanks!!

 

all the above describes the issue im having as well