Weak Air Conditioning???

[srellim234]

Our 1994 Honda Civic a/c acted exactly the way you are describing. Civics throughout the 90s had all kinds of well documented problems that Honda never resolved completely.

In our case, a mechanic with a hunch was finally able to fix it. He determined that the robot that soldered the contacts behind the buttons on the dash did not do the job properly. The a/c button would light up, but as the car got warmer a crack in the solder would expand, allowing the light to stay on but the message to the "guts" of the a/c system was not getting through.

He took the dash off, resoldered by hand everything he could get to, and the a/c worked fine after that.

I would suggest they trace all the contacts on your system before they just replace a bunch of parts. Maybe the signal is intermittently getting lost somewhere down the line.

[srellim234]

Our Versa a/c works just fine, too. Been in the 90s to 105*F every day since we bought the car 10 days ago.

Had it twice out to 110*+ in Palm Desert sitting in a parking lot while we played golf and it cooled down nicely when we returned to the car.

I have found that the car is a LOT cooler on it's own out there if you crack the windows AND tilt the sunroof when you park it. Heat rises, and as the car gets hotter than the surrounding air it draws cooler air through the windows and expels hot air through the sunroof.

[matt_a]

Another thing to keep in mind is the difference a light color can make. If you have a dark car or dark interior, it's going to get a lot hotter (and cool down slower) than a light colored car or light colored interior. If you really want to see the difference, go out into a parking lot where a white car and a dark car have both been sitting in the hot sun for a while. Put your hand on each one and feel the difference. It's amazing how much cooler the white car will be. The same thing happens with interior color. And once you get the interior good and hot, it's going to cool down very slowly. The seats, dash, and everything else in the car will still be radiating heat for a while making it seem as though the A/C isn't very cold.

[CopyChief]

I can't say the AC is the strongest I've ever felt, but it does cool the entire car down effectively, much moreso than my wife's Ford Contour. We recently took it on a long trip and it performed quite well even in 90-degree heat across Kansas. The fan was never on full-blast.

While a lighter color does make a difference, one thing that could really help your situation (especially if you don't park in a garage) is window tint. I have noticed a tremendous difference in the car's ability to cool now, obviously because it's not going to get as hot inside!

[TheOrangeChannel]

I find you've definitely need to run the car for like a minute or so before the cool kicks in...also, you can shut off the vents you don't need I tend to find that all I need are the two around the steering wheel even with passengers and the air pressure obviously gets kicked up well...also, recirc is the way to go!

[erocuroc]

I'm writing to update my situation. They repaired the compressor a couple days after diagnosing the problem by overnighting the part from Nissan. This failed to correct the problem. The a/c still only functioned when it wanted to. So I took it back for them to look at it again, taking a free loaner car in the meantime. They called the next day saying they were going to replace the body control module (bcm). They overnighted the part, replaced it, still a stubborn a/c. So they called Nissan who suggested checking the pressure control valve which they then replaced. Called me, said car was working. Went there to pick it up and the a/c worked. stopped at the gas station, got back in the car, a/c didn't work. I took it to the dealer (mind you I just left 2 minutes earlier) and let them know nothing was fixed. They were very apologetic, brought out the mechanic who had been working on the car from the start and he was frustrated and at a loss. They are going to call me tomorrow after they call Nissan to see what other possiblilities to explore. To say the least this has been very frustrating, though the dealership itself has been helpful (other than one employee who is just a complete jerk, but I don't deal with him anymore, and believe me they know about that situation). So I'm to the point that if it doesn't get fixed this time around I'm going to ask them to replace the car. If they choose to dance around the situation I'll have to begin the lemon law process. Worst case scenario I'll have some paperwork and waiting to endure. At least I have a nice Altima as a loaner I guess. Anyways, any suggestions about possible fixes would be appreciated. Thanks for reading.

I thought I should update my situation. They finally fixed the a/c. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the part that wasn't functioning, but it was basically the nervous system of the car. They changed it out with another Versa on the lot, my car then worked fine. After that they put in the unit that was in my car on the Versa on the lot and it caused the a/c to continually not function correctly. I've had the car back for 2 weeks now and no problems. Car is running great by the way.

[srellim234]

Congrats on finally getting it fixed.

[lakebrenda]

I agree. After I followed the manual directions exactly, I had no problem. So Fla too and damn hot!