I have a 2014 Altima with 35K mi. The a/c started taking a long time to cool down and then was inconsistently blowing cool (not cold) air. Took to my mechanic who charged it and said it was better. Was not better, took it back to mechanic and they found that the Electrical control valve which controls and regulates the amount of cold air going from compressor to car was not signalling properly. They called Nissan to find out if they could buy just the part they needed to fix the car and Nissan said no, only the whole compressor.

Has anyone else had this problem? I would really like to know because this sounds like a total quality problem to me, and Nissan should be responsible for this type of problem.

I own a 2005 Frontier which blows ICY air and never has a problem. I had a 2004 Xterra for over 10 years which never had any a/c issues.
I think the parts on the Altima were cheaped out.

Thanks for any input.

I worked in OTC auto parts, and A/C was a huge problem. People never work on them right nor as completely as the job requires, and that very commonly includes the mechs as well. A/C typically requires several parts when the systems come apart or the job comes undone very shortly after doing it. I have done all of my own A/C work my entire life (40+ years) and can shortchange at times when needed but it is extremely risky and why the OEMs won't do it, they do not accept only a partial fix there as it gives bad flak back on the company. As well, the entire car industry has been going to a 'parts unitizing' theory, where common associated parts are now made or considered together as 'necessary' even though not really. They are simply lumping them together to make buyers buy whole packages of parts to only get the one smaller part needed there. Like specialty one-off bolts, they may only be gotten by buying the subassembly they get used with. The idea being to push parts sales profits way up to make up for lagging car sales.

I went to Rock Auto and the compressors there were packaged ('kits') along with the expansion valves (your likely electrical control) and expected to buy both and similar to when I sold compressors, the buyer not receiving any warranty at all unless the compressor, accumulator or dryer, any filter needed there, the metering device, and often even the condenser were all changed at once. Why? Any trash getting into one small part means there is likely trash in the system to tear up other parts in short order, A/C has to be kept perfectly clean inside or the system will go down again and again to cause whoever warranty issues into bankruptcy. The people working on them I spoke of above come into play there, they refuse to clean all parts as needed trying to cut costs and the part manufacturer must then require them to buy ALL parts in protection from that. The bigger parts buys then protect somewhat by giving more money throughput to cover excessive warranty issues.

Often A/C can be fixed for as little as a couple dollars or with only one part, I've done it bunches, but the larger market tends to screw that up in search of the massive buck there. The system issues need to be correctly diagnosed as well or the costs will go up hugely. OP may well be there right now.

You can go rogue like I have for 40 years and say screw any warranty to only buy one part to fix successfully to go on, but if you gotta have the comfort of that warranty you gotta play their game. I for one don't. I AM my own warranty there. But then I have never taken a car anywhere ever to be fixed by others, I do it all. Most will not have that option though, I am definitely the odd bird there.

I just went through a similar situation with my 2014, It always took long to cool but since I bought it used I thought that was normal but the thing that I noticed is that it would not start the ac up on idle and I would have to press the ac button off/on to get it going, of course just driving would always start it and it would stay on even at a stop light. I decided to get a manifold gauge to see if the pressures could tell me something, you must note ambient temperature and should be taken indoors or at night to eliminate sun heat, have your doors open, full ac blowing and know if your radiator fan is in low or high mode as it will change the readings. I saw my pressures were running higher than the manual specs. On a hunch I tried bleeding down to low 43 high 170 psi and this actually made the ac come on at start but it still took like 5 minutes to get really cold. At 86f I put in enough new refrigerant to get to 44 175psi w/radiator fan in low mode, if you raise rpms to 2000 it will make the high fan come on and psi will go down to 40/150. These psi levels have allowed the ac to come on at start and idling, better still ac can be felt much faster reaching max cold in 90 seconds which is a lot better than it was before. However if the car is really hot it will take an extra minute before I start feeling cool air. Also the static pressure at 85f was 98/103 at night after waiting an hour.

You are at R12 gas pressure numbers there, R134A works at roughly 100 more psi highside.

the 2014 manual suggests at 86f you should be around 35/175psi so I'm inclined to use that as a baseline. The fact that my low end doesn't get closer to 35psi concerns me though, i also suspect these eco gas saving cars try so hard to not bog down engine while idling it could affect the ac behavior but as soon as you drive things start up. ahh it never ends.

The IAC (if equipped) or electronic TB takes care of the idle a/c load. Or supposed to anyway, often older fours will have trouble with idle lugging with a/c on as the engine has worn rings by then to not have as much rollover torque at idle speed. The software needs changing then and I have often said there needs to be a software update just for older cars with lots of miles, but they would rather hassle you with it as it sells more new cars.

FYI, a too low highside coupled with a too high lowside signifies worn compressor with low output, if that is what you are saying. It won't output max pressure and it won't eat as much either. Can be expansion valve sticking too far open too.