This 2001 Nissan Xterra came in with a complaint that the a/c does not cool very well. The customer said that it might cool for a little while but then it will stop. I checked the vehicle and the compressor was coming on and the air was cool but not cold. These vehicles are prone to having the thermistor assemblies fail so I wanted to get to the connector for testing. You can see it without removing the glove box but I find it easier and if it is faulty the glove box has to be removed.
There are two screws along the lower edge of the glove box assembly. There are four that have to be removed once the glove box door is opened. One in each corner and two at the latch bracket.
I saw that this vehicle has a cabin air filter so I decided to take a quick look at it. Wow, this thing is plugged up. I decided I had better clean this up be fore doing any more testing. I used and combination of a shop vac, an air hose and a long phillips headed screw driver to dig all of this out.
The only reason this thing was blowing any air is that Nissan designed some bypass ports into the filters.
There sure is a big difference between the old and new filters. Replacing the filters actually fixed the customers problem. What was happening is that the system would come on normally but because the thermistor air flow was being blocked by the dirty cabin air filters, it would turn the compressor off for a long time and the cooling process would stop.
The new cabin air filters installed. Sorry, I missed getting, the retaining clip at the bottom of the lower filter assembly, in the picture.
For more information on testing the thermistor or to see how a unit without a cabin air filter looks please click here.
You just saved me $1,200! I had two mechanics tell me the commpressor clutch was bad. One wanted $1,200 to change the entire system, and the other wanted $600 for a new compressor and clutch. I spent $20 for the filters, and it took 20 minutes to change them. Thank you!
You just saved me $1,200!I have lived with this problem for 2 years. One mechanic wanted to sell me a new system for $1,200, another “thought” he could change just the compressor for $600. Both said it was a faulty clutch. I just spent $20 on new filters, changed them in 20 minutes, and the air is colder than ever. Thank you!
If your vehicle does not have a cabin air filter, it will look different. It will test the same however. Please see the repair at the following post link address. You will need to copy and past the address.
http://www.sparkys-answers.com/2009/05/2000-nissan-xterra-ac-cools-sometimes.html
I have a 2001 xterra with similar problem but it doesn’t look like that when I opened it up.
I just had a customer with the same problem. Changed the filters and it worked. However the unit keeps losing the charge. I checked the shraders and even replaced the one on the low side, unit still loses its charge. The owner swears that he hears a hissing sound coming from the evap. section.
What the ??????