Hi everyone,

As most can probably tell I am a newcomer to these forums having just achieved my 15th post. BTW, I apologize if some of my posts were kind of useless but you do what you have to to get to 15 posts I guess...

I have a question about the air conditioning in the Maxima.

I have an '05 SE and the air conditioning seems quite poor. When the temperature outside climbs above 30C/85F outside I have to pretty much run the AC full tilt for 20 or more minutes to get the interior down to a somewhat bearable level and from then on keep it going at a heft pace. Even on Auto the AC seems to always be at 4-6 bars. The air seems to be cool but not really cold enough to keep up with the outside temperature.

Is this normal for this car? Has anyone else had these issues? My wife's 2001 SUV blasts freezing cold air and within minutes you are turning it down so it seems to be isolated to my vehicle or model.

If anyone could share their experiences or thoughts I would really appreciate it.

 

I havent had any problems with mine. I've had the exact opposite of what your saying. During the heat spell in DC/MD, I've had to take it off auto because it was cranking out cold air. The bars do take a little while to go down though, but the air is cold.

 

Have your car check out. I usually have to turn fan down from auto even when the temp outside is around 100F.

 

Here in Las Vegas where it is consistently above 100F during the June to September months, my 05 system is better than my 91 ever was. Only thing I wish is if the vents were able to aim lower or we had that little vent under the dash (like the 91 did directly beneath the steering wheel) that directed air at your legs to help keep them cool also.

Daryl

 

Mine kind of bites as well. I took a spin in my parents 02 Ford Focus and it's AC was crazy cold compared to mine. I'll have the dealer take a look next time to see if something can be done. I don't recall it being this wussy when I first got it.

 

What do you have the temp set to inside? That makes a difference in how cold the air will come out.

 

I'm in Washington DC and we're having 100+F days and 90%+ humidity The AC is set at 65F and either 2 or 3 bars and freezes my ***** off.

 

In a nutshell, no it doesn't make a difference until reached set temp.

 

Is this a Canadian thing or what? You might want to take a poll between Canadian Maxes, and US and others Maxes A/C.

 

Check your in-cabin microfilter. It can cause the A/C to perform below par if it is not changed periodically.

 

I have tried cranking it down to 18C/65F and the air coming out of the vents remains slightly cool but not cold. I have also tried it at 21C/70F (what I would consider a comfortable driving temperature) and the same happens.

If the setting is to Auto it is always blasting I guess because it never reaches the set temperature.

Thanks for the responses so far everyone. The fact that some are reporting it as really cold tells me that I might have an issue. Let's put it this way. If it was consistently hot (like over 90F) and this was the best that Nissan could do, I would probably have to trade in the car or invest in lots of anti-persperant.

 

Here's my take on the AC thing...

The 6th gens were designed with a range of air from 60 to 80 degrees. The engineers seemed to have good intentions because 60 degrees is pretty cool for a running temperature, but 60 isn't cold enough when you're trying to cool down your car quickly when it's been roasting in the parking lot at 90+ degrees all day. In most other cars when the air is turned on and immediately puts out ice cold air, that would be the equivalent of the other model having a range that would go down to about 40 degrees or possibly lower right off the bat.

For the Maxima, I think it would've been better if they designed the air to pump out in the 40 or below degree range and once the inside temp got around 60 to jump up and continue running at 60. To compensate, I just roll down the windows from across the parking lot so by the time I get in it, a lot of the trapped heat has a chance to escape. Then I drive with the windows down for just a minute with the AC set to 60 and roll the windows up, cools down fairly quickly but not like other cars that just have a dial.

 

Hey se-05,

Do you have leather? How new is your car? How long was it sitting in the sun?

When I first got my car it seemed that the air conditioning didn't blow cold but its fine now. I think it needed to get broken in or something but the air comes out much colder now.

I have leather and when my car sits out for a while in the sun the interior temp can reach 130-140 degrees F; I can't convert to Celsius for you b/c, well, I'm from America and we don't like the metric system down here. So the interior components are retaining and radiating the heat that they have been subjected to and it takes a while for all of those things to drop 70 or 80 degrees. I leave my auto AC on all the time when its hot and usually at 74 and I don't have any issues.

Sincerely,
BadBlack
Coolin' in Cleveland

 

Mine is Onyx with the Charcoal leather and I have no problems with mine set at 77F. I would get the dealer to check it out for you.

 

55-60F is the normal operating temp of a new car AC, any new car. A better AC system stays closer to 55. Any lower the system will not function properly and leave the system frozen and you boiling.

 

se-05, simply put, you need to take it into the dealer. I had a similar problem w/ my A/C when I arrived in D.C. and constantly had to keep it set @ 60 - 61 degrees (not one degree above that) to even get cold air (what seemed to be cold), and my "auto" wasn't working correctly to boot... When I lived in AZ (100+ degrees thru the summer), it worked fine. So when I took mine in, the service consultant said that the 6th gen MAXs have a well noted problem w/ the temperature sensor (or something like that) going bad or getting stuck. He ended up ordering a new one for me and now my A/C performs as it did when I first bought it... Since it was warranty work and they had to keep my car overnight, they gave me a loaner for free ('05 Ford F150--not bad!)... So I suggest you take it in and see what they say...

 

Some figures if you are interested.

90 degrees outside and 116 degrees inside the car. Air conditioner set to 68 degrees and automatic. All air is coming through the dash vents.

In 5 minutes air at the dash vents 45 degrees,but car at passenger seat level is still over 100 degrees.

In 45 minutes the dash vents are 39 degrees and the seat level temp is 74 degrees.


Settings of all floor or floor and dash vents will give you very different temps, and in mind not satisfactory.

 

Yeah I second that, lol.

 

I am. Where/ how did you optain these figures?

 

My mom has a CrownVic, and when my Max was in the shop I had to drive her car for a while. The air definitly blows colder from the vents than the max does. But no matter how cold the air blows, if the car is sitting in the Sun the dash , wheel and windows will continue to radiate heat for a long time and the ambient temp still feels hot.

I don't have a garage at home to keep the car in so I use a sun shade and close the sky view. When I run the AC I set it to re-circulate and set the temp to 60. This helps keep the car cool, but not as comfortable as in the spring.

 

I second that. How did u get these numbers?

 

and dont forget to use the recycle mode as opposed to taking the outside air in. I dont know if you already do it, but it makes a HUGE diff. if you have the air being recycled from the inside on those hot days, it gets much much cooler.

 

so instead of posting useless crap, you could have found at least 1 A/C thread already in existence that may have answered your question. Well now you have plenty of time to read and research.