Dave B

I was reading in my Chiltons manual about the Maxima AC systems (AC systems in general). If your AC gets cool, but doesn't seem cold, a few factors can be at play. Some of these you can fix and others you can't.

-Humidity plays a huge role in the effectivness of a A/C system....more than I ever thought. The more humid the air, the harder it is to cool. Why? Air with lots of water has a higher heat potential therefore it is harder to cool. I would consider anywhere that experiences humidity %s above 50% in warmer weather (80 degree) to be a high humidity climate. I base this on heat factors. Us in the southern Midwest experience humidity levels well into the 70-75% range in the spring and summer, and at night levels reach near 90-95%.

-changing out your coolant will help. If your coolant is old, change it. It can make as much as 4-8 degrees difference in AC performance. I will be changing out my coolant and adding some Redline Water Wetter to reduce coolant temps slightly more than stock.

-Is your AC drain tube working? I don't know where it's located, but I'm sure it's near the compressor. On humid days, you can see many cars dripping water. This is condensation water coming from the AC drain tube. If the drain tube becomes clogged, AC performance suffers and can actually back up the line and dump water into the interior. When I locate it, I'll update.

-Lastly, you might have a AC leak The easiest way to check this is to inspect all the lines of the AC. The AC system has oil which will leak out if you have a gasket failure somewhere. Look at all the connections and look for oily residue and oily dust/dirt. That is a pretty good indication of a leak.


I hope this helps and if anyone hass anything to add, please do.


Dave

bill99gxe

iTrader: (1)

All good pointers....

Using the Recirculation button once your A/C begins to cool the inside of the car will allow your A/C to start cooling the air that's already in your car, which will be lower in temperature and humidity thus allowing your interior to get even cooler.

MardiGrasMax

iTrader: (14)

This tube is located on the passanger side of the fire wall. Its easily accesed from under the car when it is jacked up. A bent coat hanger or compressed air or even a water hose can be used to unclog it. You can also take out the glove box and open up the a/c condensor box to access this area. You can get right to the hose but you can clean some junk out from the inside. I had a big tree in my back yard and it used to drop all kinds of junk on my car. It cloged up this hole by comming in through the frash air intake. I have to unclog this hole often, so dont park under trees if you can.