Hey Guys,
I’m hoping someone can give me some guidance here. I’m having two slightly strange issues with a 2007 Nissan Altima 2.5S…
First, after driving for about 30 minutes on warmer/hot days (above 85 degrees) the temperature gauge starts rising and then the A/C starts blowing out hot air for a while. After a minute or two the temp gauge goes back down and the A/C goes cool again. The only reason I bring it up is this something new that has never happened before, even in the hottest summers and it only happens when it over 85/87 degrees. Ideas?
Second issue is a bit stranger… After driving for 20-30 minutes the car will start “jumping”. It feels like the engine loses a cylinder and then it kicks back on. It almost feels like the car is stuttering, if that makes any sense. This happens intermittently and only after driving for a slightly extended period of time. It also seems to be independent of the speed at which I am traveling. I took it to the Nissan dealer and they said they couldn’t reproduce the problem and couldn’t really look into anything because the Check Engine light was not on, so they had no code to go by, or something to that effect.
I hope someone can give me some guidance.
Thanks guys
Problem 1: How fast are you going when the gauge starts to rise? Are you, by chance, driving slow or stopped, and then the gauge goes down again when you start moving? If so, check your radiator fan for proper operation.
Problem 2 could be a number of things. Is this happening when the temperature gauge starts rising in problem 1? I suspect the dealership guy you talked to is an idiot. There can be stored codes even if the CEL is not on. They should have plugged in a code reader anyway to see what the computer has stored. The next time it stutters, take it by an Autozone or similar place, and ask them to read your codes for you. Be sure to get the actual code (a letter followed by 4 numbers) rather than what they think the code is, and post it here. There may be more than 1. Get them all if so.
Shadowfax is dead on with problem 1.
Your fans should be on at all times while you are running AC. Perhaps there are times where the relays somehow turn off when they shouldn’t. When you see it happen again, quickly pull over if you can, pop the hood and see the fans are still running. If they are not, you may very well have a bad fan relay but also check the related fuses to make sure they are seated well. I doubt your fans are bad because they are not likely to fail at the very same time. Also check the ground connection to those fans.
Problem 2 could very well be related to 1 but #1 does have the potential of doing damage, with the car overheating, so get it fixed.