Cabin Temperature control broke

[matttail]

I just thought I'd share the fun I've been having with the rest of you people here. I just intrduced my self in the appropiate stuck thread, but all the same...

I've got a Versa with 2k miles (bought it new). S model with Manual transmission. It's Midnight blue. Overall very happy.

So a day after Thanksgiving I started having problems with the temperature control knob in the car. I only had selection between coldest to about half way. A day later I only had selection from about half way cold to half way warm, and by the third or fourth day I only had from the half way point to full hot. Everything else was still working fine. Because it came at a busy time with finals approaching and all I left the problem go till I had more time.

Jump to A few days after Christmas when I finally got it to a dealer. We're visiting with the in-laws for Christmas and I wanted a excuse to be out for a while, so I got an appointment with the local dealer. I had also noticed a tick in the Left-Front wheel I wanted them to look at. The dealer was very happy to do warranty work on it even though I hadn't bought it there. They found a rock stuck some where on the wheel and apparently they also found that the fender was loose or something as an excuse to bill for warranty work.

For the temperature problem he said that the air box door had frozen and that's why I had no temperature control. However the part would have to be ordered in and it would be about a week before they would get it. Since I was only visiting in the area I told them I'd just have the work done when I got back to Chicago where I normally live.

But, later that night I moved the knob a bit, no mare than I had been before and I hear a POP, and I now have no temperature control at all. I called up the dealer the next day, explained what had happened and asked if he could rush the part or perhaps fix mine so I could have some warm air again. The service guy said that the only place that had the part was in California and was closed for the week and that he didn't have any time to put me in to service to see if they could fix it for an other week.

I then tried calling around to some of the other dealers in the area and finally found one that said he had the time to work on it if they could get ahold of a replacement part at all. He hooked me with with their parts guy and he found a replacement part to order from the factory in Massachusetts (I believe). It took them three days to actually get the part to the dealer (some overnight service), but they got me in early in the morning on Monday. I was just going to wait while they fixed it so I went across the street to Burger King for some coffee. Fast forward to an hour later and go over to check on how they're doing. Mr. Service tells me that the project is going to take longer than expected and gets me a rental car saying it should be done by noon the next day. *sigh*

Then he calls me back that evening and tells me that apparently the factory sent out the wrong part because it doesn't fit. *sigh* But he put in a Emergency Overnight order and hoped to have the part the next day. The Next day comes and guess what, they don't have the part. I talked to the guy in Parts again and he said that realistically it was probably going to take three days again to get the part like last time as it's coming from the same factory. So now I'm sitting in Pennsylvania waiting on a part to be shipped and missing out on work. *sigh*



I'll post back as soon as it's actually fixed.

--Matttail

[Ever Victorious]

Sadly, don't hold your breath on parts. If you can drive your car in the meantime, do so.

I still haven't been called by the Nissan dealership about the torque rod that was ordered 15 days ago. I never officially cancelled the service with them, so they should still show my service as active.

Jemdawg has been waiting for a while for a gauge cluster. And his dealership lost one.

Then I hear the nightmare stories about airbag covers and seatbelt tensioners on backorder.

[tama48]

Sounds like this car is becoming a NIGHTMARE.

[JuneBug]

yeah really. reading this forum is really starting to worry me about this car.

[motoguy128]

To get you back on the road to Chicago, I wonder if they could have locked the door in a 1/2 or fully open position so you could just control the heat level by using fan speed, vent position, A/C or even opening the windows. That would at least get you home.

Unfortunatly as it was breaking, you should have left the selector in the hotest positon it woudl stay in... unless I'm reading the description of your problem incorrectly. It sounds liek hte mechanical push/pull arm is not properly actuating the door (gate) that contols how much air flows through the heater core.

[michelkenny]

Jemdawg has been waiting for a while for a gauge cluster. And his dealership lost one.

When I got my Versa last week, the bluetooth didn't work and my spedometer counted in miles instead of kilometers. Apparently the bluetooth module is in already, and they say that my gauge cluster should be in on Jan 10... we'll see...

Sorry to threadjack

Edit: Correction, it's the odometer, not spedometer... it was early in the morning...
Modified by michelkenny at 9:48 PM 1/4/2007

[Ever Victorious]

When I got my Versa last week, the bluetooth didn't work and my spedometer counted in miles instead of kilometers. Apparently the bluetooth module is in already, and they say that my gauge cluster should be in on Jan 10... we'll see...

Sorry to threadjack

Maybe Jemdawg could have your "defective" cluster.

[Jemdawg]

Yeah, tell them you want to keep it and then mail it to me, I'll pay for the shipping.

[matttail]

To get you back on the road to Chicago, I wonder if they could have locked the door in a 1/2 or fully open position so you could just control the heat level by using fan speed, vent position, A/C or even opening the windows. That would at least get you home.

Unfortunatly as it was breaking, you should have left the selector in the hotest positon it woudl stay in... unless I'm reading the description of your problem incorrectly. It sounds liek hte mechanical push/pull arm is not properly actuating the door (gate) that contols how much air flows through the heater core.

I had asked about them just fixing it enough for me to get back onto the road and the dealer seemed hesitant towards that possibility. But I didn't really push it either.

You're right, I probably should have left it alone but it'd been like that for a bit and I didn't think it was going to break - figured it would keep partially working like it had been.

The second replacement part came in today and it was again the wrong part. The service manager said that the got the box and it looked like it had already been opened and then taped closed again. Not sure what difference that makes. But what really made me mad is that instead of trying to figure out why they're getting the wrong part they just put in another VOR (cehicle off road) order. If I wasn't suck out of state and missing out on work that might possibly be ok, but that's totally not the case.

So I insisted on talking to the Parts Manager and convinced him to call up Nissan and figure out what's up with this. I asked when they expected to get this third part, and it's coming out of the same place ordered in the same way as before, which even though they call it overnight, he tells me, it's just sent through their standard truck line and takes a bit to come from MASS. I told him that he needed to get this figured out and have them take the part to UPS and ship it overnight so I get it fast. He says "Well, that's not their normal way of doing it". Tough luck man! I'm suck here, you're gonna get that part actually shipped over night.

I'm going to call him back, giving him about an hour to make some progress and see what's going on. I've been very nice and patient so far, but I'm not going to just sit here and wait while they keep trying the exact same thing and hoping for a different outcome.

--Matttail

[Ever Victorious]

Don't forget to call NNA and complain, too. At least you'll get a case number and possibly someone watching over the dealer's shoulder.

[motoguy128]

I hope third times a charm.

Otherwise, I'd demand a courtesy vehicle that you can transfer to your dealer in Chicago, or have the car shipped to you dealer in Chicago. NNA needs ot have some way to get you home.

[matttail]

Well, I called the dealer this morning and they say it seems like they actually got the right part this time. Now he's telling me that they haven't even finished disassembling the car to put the new part in, so they can't just check the new part for fit.

How would I go about contacting NNA? I'm on dial-up right now and Nissan's site takes forever to load.

I'm going to go and pay a visit to the dealer in person, I've been doing most of this over the phone. The closest dealer that had time to do the work when I was first calling is about 45 min away. I've got a local rental for the time being. I figure they're either getting this part in and my car working by tomorrow morning or I'll try and demand they transfer the vehicle to Chicago and let me drive this rental home or some such.

--Matttail

[Ever Victorious]

Well, I called the dealer this morning and they say it seems like they actually got the right part this time. Now he's telling me that they haven't even finished disassembling the car to put the new part in, so they can't just check the new part for fit.

How would I go about contacting NNA? I'm on dial-up right now and Nissan's site takes forever to load.

I'm going to go and pay a visit to the dealer in person, I've been doing most of this over the phone. The closest dealer that had time to do the work when I was first calling is about 45 min away. I've got a local rental for the time being. I figure they're either getting this part in and my car working by tomorrow morning or I'll try and demand they transfer the vehicle to Chicago and let me drive this rental home or some such.

--Matttail

1-800-NISSAN1

[matttail]

I am happy to be able to post that I finally have my car back and the temperature control is fully functional again. I got it Saturday around 3pm. I was calling the service department every hour on the hour to ask how it was going. The manager guy was getting upset with me calling so often and actually hung up on me once before I was done. I will be calling Nissan Monday and making a complaint.

They also managed to make it so that my driver's side window doesn't have the auto-up feature any more. I press the button all the way down and the window will automatically roll all the way day, and it used to go back up when I pulled the switch all the way up - but now it's not. The window still goes up, just I have to hold the button all the way. So no big deal, but I'm going to take it to my local dealer once I'm settled in at home.

Apparently it was about 5 hours actual labor to get the car disassembled enough to replace the air box, and about the same to get it all back together. Though you probably should quite me on that it's just what the guy was telling me over the phone when I was getting impatient with how long it was taking to get the car back together after they finally got the new part. For the Dealer's sake I hope that they don't have to go to that much work again to get my window working. But so long as I'm not missing out on work and stuck out-of-state I don't really care.

I'm just glad that things are working and I'm on the road home. Thanks for you help and suggestions.

--Matttail

[Ever Victorious]

They also managed to make it so that my driver's side window doesn't have the auto-up feature any more. I press the button all the way down and the window will automatically roll all the way day, and it used to go back up when I pulled the switch all the way up - but now it's not. The window still goes up, just I have to hold the button all the way. So no big deal, but I'm going to take it to my local dealer once I'm settled in at home.

This is a very easy DIY fix. Roll down the window all the way, then roll it up 1/2 way. Wait for a second, then hold the window up button for 10 full seconds (even though the window will have already closed well before then). Test the function. It should work again afterwards.

Quote »Apparently it was about 5 hours actual labor to get the car disassembled enough to replace the air box, and about the same to get it all back together. Though you probably should quite me on that it's just what the guy was telling me over the phone when I was getting impatient with how long it was taking to get the car back together after they finally got the new part. For the Dealer's sake I hope that they don't have to go to that much work again to get my window working. But so long as I'm not missing out on work and stuck out-of-state I don't really care. [/quote]Actually, that seems about right. The air box is right next to the heater core, which on anything built after, say, 1982 is a complete PITA to replace. In fact, my subaru specialist mechanic REFUSES to replace them on certain models because it's cost prohibitive on everyone's account (would end up costing the customer almost $600 in labor alone). On one model I owned ('87 XT), the quote for labor (and he showed me this in the service books) was NINE HOURS!

So instead I put up with half-assed heat from the car until I got a better one (gimme a break, the whole car only cost $300!)