folks,

i just want to see if we can do a quick reliability survey on these cars. main reason is to see what sort of "bs" am i having versus others.

so i have a 06 with everything under the sun in term of options. however in the last 2-3 years, my rear heated passenger side is not working anymore. It can still recline but not heating up. the front heated seats are acting up as well. basically i have to crank my heat all the way up on the driver side to feel the heat then lower it. if i leave it at a "lower" power, it won't heat the seat at all. Next comes the sensors - specifically around intelligent setting. as in when you tried to push the handle to unlock the doors or the trunk, they do not seem to work "well". it'll be a bit of a hassle to release the lock. Navigation might be acting up and it could be because of my by-pass switch. I have DVD so i did the hack that i can by pass the switch so the dvd can still play for my passengers while i'm moving.

Finally comes the mechanical. not much to say here, since i swapped out another engine. i live in the NorthEast so salt and snow are eating away my heat shield, basically any metals part under carriage. did have to swap out several suspension parts with KYB but to be honest, i do not recommend them to new/old users. I know the new OEM parts are such a rip off but consider if you have to keep swapping them out every 2-3 years, it might be less of a hassle to go OEM.

Don't want to make this post long but do want to hear from others here who have a long history with their car specifically between the 06-07 year/variants. Appreciate those who are willing to share.

Stay safe!

I think this is par for the course for any NE car that is 15 years old unfortunately, including some of the electronics that are constantly used/worn out like heated seats, etc.

162K here, All Electronics work fine. (knocks on wood)

If you are suspicious of the nav bypass affecting your electronic features, I'd undo it if only for testing and troubleshooting purposes.

My situation is a little different, but I always seek out the oldest/ highest mileage examples in a generation to ask questions like these. Unfortunately, the highest mileage M I got was my dad's 07 M45 with about 223,xxx miles. Everything was working just fine until a wreck ended our journey with it.

***
What I'd recommend for your front seats is a review of the ventilation system. Fan motors, filters, and even cleaning the seat fabric in case they are getting clogged with debris.
It's also possible that it's the climate control seat module that's going back.
Either way, whatever you suspect is wrong with the driver seat can be confirmed or eliminated by borrowing that part from the passenger side and testing it.

For the rear seat, is that happening both to the seat cushion as well as the seat back? If yes, then I'd pull it up and take it to the driver side to test it if it is working there.
If you're handy with electronic testing, just refer to the values in the FSM and start probing with a multimeter.

The heating and cooling system for the seats in these cars has always seemed terrible to me. I believe I heard once a long time ago that the cars use TECs? If that is true, and it would make sense if so, the TECs used just seem far too weak to be useful. Knowing Nissan, they probably used a little 15-20 watt units or something.
The behavior you mention could definitely be a resistance issue that has developed in the unit. I have seen this with decade old electronics before. Myself and others working on the system would have to "surge it" with signal to get it to go through and then things would work fine after that for a few hours before the resistance issue showed its head again.

EniGmA1987 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 09, 2021 6:38 pm

The heating and cooling system for the seats in these cars has always seemed terrible to me. I believe I heard once a long time ago that the cars use TECs? If that is true, and it would make sense if so, the TECs used just seem far too weak to be useful. Knowing Nissan, they probably used a little 15-20 watt units or something.
The behavior you mention could definitely be a resistance issue that has developed in the unit. I have seen this with decade old electronics before. Myself and others working on the system would have to "surge it" with signal to get it to go through and then things would work fine after that for a few hours before the resistance issue showed its head again.

You're correct, the climate seats all use Peltier plates. Nissan calls them TED's for "Thermo Electric Device". Keep in mind, though, Peltiers are very inefficient. High-powered ones suck juice like crazy compared to a resistive heating element, and then the temperature differential between the two sides needs to be assiduously maintained by sinking heat as efficiently as possible off the hot side of the plate. Even with good heat sinks and a good fan, "efficiently as possible" simply isn't very efficient in something that will fit beneath a car seat. Because of that, the most common failure mode in automotive Peltiers from all OE's is damaged supply contacts and melted supply wires. Nissans are no exception, the ground terminals for the controllers can overheat and melt through the connector shell, usually destroying both the seat harness and the controller. That's a major hazard of using Peltiers at all, because all it takes to make the element suck even more juice and become even less efficient is reduced ventilation. There's actually a whole lot of smartwork built into the controllers to try to prevent that.

The point is, it's a frankly-ugly solution to cooling seats, but it's the only one that's practical. Imagine how ugly stuffing the 12V core from a marine refrigerator underneath a car seat would be. You just have to be aware of the Peltier's drawbacks and watch out for the things that make them fail. Let the filter clog or let a power contact corrode, eventual failure is inevitable. So if you want long term reliability, be prepared to lift your seats every so often.

didn't want to turn this into a post with just my "issues" but since we're already on it. here's another one that just showed up today.

the BRAKE light is on when driving. When i engaged the e brake, the car continues to roll. i have not done anything to the e brake since i bought the car so i'm thinking it's time. Luckily today it's somewhat warm, no wind and in the low 40 so i was able to take both rear wheels off. upon inspection i found nothing wrong but i'm guessing it's the e brake / shoes that are giving me the issues. i tried to adjust it and i'm not getting much success. When i asked my son to engage the e brake, some part of the shoes are pushing out and then retracted when you disengaged. are there any tips/tricks on how to adjust this set? i'm looking at the FSM and there isn't much to it.

Any insight folks? thanks all

Couple things. First, the lamp is driven directly off a wire that grounds to the p-brake pedal assembly when the brake is applied. So vis the shoes and cable, the pedal mechanism is what determines whether the lamp is lit or not, not the hardware downstream. If you rarely use the e-brake and both brakes move but are failing to engage, it's probably a corroded cable or cable housing causing the issue and not the shoes.

Second, the lamp is also driven through diodes by the float switch in the brake reservoir, so low brake fluid can trigger it in addition to the p-brake.

cruzad3r wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:34 pm

Navigation might be acting up and it could be because of my by-pass switch. I have DVD so i did the hack that i can by pass the switch so the dvd can still play for my passengers while i'm moving.

cruzad3r wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 3:12 pm

the BRAKE light is on when driving.

The nav hack splices in to the parking brake signal and when the hack is turned on (to get video on main screen while moving) the parking brake light comes on in the dash, and the navigation stops updating your position and stand still. Your splice into the parking brake wire is causing both issues.

EniGmA1987 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 5:38 pm

The nav hack splices in to the parking brake signal and when the hack is turned on (to get video on main screen while moving) the parking brake light comes on in the dash, and the navigation stops updating your position and stand still. Your splice into the parking brake wire is causing both issues.

Ding-ding-ding. That makes perfect sense, well done!

i'm going to take a look at my by pass switch tomorrow AM and see what's what. two of the connections that i soldered broke off so i had to "bandage" it together since. I might cross wired them. To that end, if they are crossed, shouldn't the BRAKE light lit even if i'm not moving? What troubles me is that BRAKE light only comes on when the car is in motion. Any explanation there?

btw, thanks for all the prompt responses. If it turned out that i don't have to deal with the brake shoes now, I'm more than thrilled. I can tackle them in the Spring when it's not cold, snowy or rain.

Cheers!

EniGmA1987 wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 5:38 pm

cruzad3r wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:34 pm

Navigation might be acting up and it could be because of my by-pass switch. I have DVD so i did the hack that i can by pass the switch so the dvd can still play for my passengers while i'm moving.

cruzad3r wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 30, 2021 3:12 pm

the BRAKE light is on when driving.

The nav hack splices in to the parking brake signal and when the hack is turned on (to get video on main screen while moving) the parking brake light comes on in the dash, and the navigation stops updating your position and stand still. Your splice into the parking brake wire is causing both issues.

All Hail King Enigma!!

Went out to the car today and had to re-examined the by pass switch. there were more broken wires then i remembered. also i cross-wired some of the connection the night before and therefore created the whole BRAKE light lit when driving. photobucket doesn't let you post images anymore so i have to download and then upload to another site before i can share the picture.

Another good news is that Autozone delivered my parts, i will be doing these emergency brake shoes in the upcoming months. Happy New Year all,