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Nissan Quest Heating / Cooling Problems

46ts46ts Member Posts: 7
I have a 99 Nissan Quest that I have replaced the blower resistor in order to get the low speeds to work on the fan. The new $34 resistor burns out after 3 days. I suspect there is a short somewhere or something is causing the resistor to overheat. Has anyone found faults related to this? The dealership said there is a second resistor for the rear air, where is that? They said by the other one, but I did not see it. Leaves blocking air flow over the resistor? Bad Bearings on the motor causing excessive resistannce? The ac does not work and I noticed that no hot air blows out of the rear air vents. Any ideas?
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Comments

  • mowakymowaky Member Posts: 2
    we have a 98 Mercury Villager and had trouble with the A/C not working. We replaced the plug and harness that go to the A/C unit. However, it would still only intermittently come on. So we took a pair of needle nose pilers and scraped the metal on the plug itself. (the prongs) and than it made a good connection. We haven't had a problem with it since. Try that and see if it works.
  • ClairesClaires Member Posts: 1,222
    Members who might be experiencing the same problem might not look here in the Climate Control discussion, so I've made a new topic and moved these posts there:

    Nissan Quest/Mercury Villager: Electrical Issues

    MODERATOR

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  • adam07adam07 Member Posts: 5
    I have 1998 Mercurry Villager and now it is winter
    it takes a longtime to warm up. No warm air comes out of the vents until I start driving for a prolonged period. As soon as I stop, vents start blowing cold air. Same issue with the rear heater. Also the car has Water Coolant smell once van is driven with the heater on for a longtime.
    Otherwise the car is normal and does not over heat.

    Took it to a mechanic. The car was very low on
    Coolant water and he found a Coolant Leak from the rubbber Radiator Hose. He said this is a big job, since to replace the upper radiatr hose, will require removing lots of stuff and replacing the manifold gasket.

    Does this make sense? Do I need to do all this
    to replace the rubber hose?

    Your opinion please.

    Thank You

    Adam
  • steven38steven38 Member Posts: 11
    What you are understanding as the upper radiator hose is possibly not the large radiator hose but the small coolant bypass hose near the intake manifold. Ask your mechanic specifically. Unfortunately it is a labor-intensive and expensive job to replace this small hose. You may also have a defective thermostat, as these thermostats have rubber seals that deteriorate and may them defective by overcooling the engineer. That would also affect how much interior heat you are getting. If you have this mechanic do the work, I would suggest you also have him replace the thermostat. If you are losing coolant and drive your vehicle for a prolonged period, you will overheat your engine eventually. So you should take care of this soon. Good luck!
  • gberlogeagberlogea Member Posts: 1
    I have a 1997 Villager with dual A/C. I have replaced the A/C compressor and accumulator and for a few weeks I had ice cold air front and back; to my surprise, now is only in the back that is still ice cold, in front being barely colder then outside! What could be the problem? What buttons I should press on the A/C controls to reset the ventilation system?
    Thank-you,
  • cadrivrcadrivr Member Posts: 2
    My wifes brother has 1000 miles on his 07 nissan quest.
    Front A/C has stopped working twice. Dealer has told him
    it may be a bad resistor. Dealer advised him to let them
    know if it happens again. Is this a known problem? Any
    information will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
  • 46ts46ts Member Posts: 7
    My experience has taught me that a resister will blow when there is too much of a load on it. It over heats and the element inside breaks like a fuse. In my case the blower was drawing too many amps to operate. There was a drag on the armature causing the resister to blow. I can't say this is the same for you, but it may help in trying to identify the root of the problem.
  • cbohlmancbohlman Member Posts: 1
    I just replaced the A/C compressor in my wife's 2001 Nissan Quest and now I am experiencing the same problem you had with your 1997 Villager, i.e. A/C blowing ice cold air in the rear of the van, outside ambient temp from the front. Can you please tell me what you did to fix your Villager A/C problem??? Thanks!
  • hurricanejohnnhurricanejohnn Member Posts: 1
    Rear a/c upper vents blow only warm air, front a/c works fine in both recirc and outside (normal) positions. All controls work fine, blowers work fine in both front and rear. Rear air does not get cold; front air frigid cold. Any ideas?
  • ob1ob1 Member Posts: 6
    Has anyone had their AC fade out on long car trips. During two recent road trips my AC seemed to lose blowing power and cooling power. During the first incident we stopped and turned the van off...when we restarted we had no AC at all and rear AC would not even turn on. After a second re-boot everything came back to normal. During second road trip AC just seemed to lose blowing and cooling power. I would fan on high and could hear a louder blowing sound but with little air coming out of the front vents.
  • famof3kidsfamof3kids Member Posts: 160
    We had this happen, for the first time, this weekend. We started the van, AC was on auto and rear AC was on high, it was 95 degrees here. I was about 1/2 mile from home, going 35, on flat road, and AC/fan front and rear, just stopped. The display showed like everything should be on, but, about 10 seconds later, it all turned back on. It hasn't happened since. Any ideas from anyone??

    Mark
    2004 Quest SE
    42,000 miles
  • ernie144ernie144 Member Posts: 5
    nothing this bad, but I've had surging. Replaced the in cabin air filter (a crappy design if ever there was one) and the surging stopped. I understand why, it was DIRTY. I had about 39k on my 2004 Quest S, and I WILL change that filter more often (I think 12k is the recommended interval)
  • dtownfbdtownfb Member Posts: 2,918
    ernie144: Where is the cabin air filter located on your Quest S? I didn't think the Quest S had one.
  • sheffssheffs Member Posts: 1
    i have a 1997 villager the heater controll unit in the dash board has stoped working all together i found that the circuit board in the controll box is burnt out so i bought a new one for $275.00 installed it and the rear air and heat works but the front wont turn on at all i replaced the front blower mottor still wont work has any one had this problem or any suggestions on how to fit this
    please help
    thank you
    marty
  • t53864t53864 Member Posts: 2
    Start to experience this problem recently: (Winter here in Canada)

    The front control has no problem. Hot air is blowing.
    But, there is no heat coming out of the rear control; only cold air.
    (Temperature control is already set to HIGH)

    After driving a while, the air at the rear starts to warm up a little bit.
    But, it is still nowhere close to the hot air blowing at front.

    Does anyone know what the possible problem may be?

    Thanks in advance,
    Terry
  • ovalleskidsovalleskids Member Posts: 1
    Anyone found an answer to the dual a/c issue: front a/c blows warm, while rear a/c works fine?
  • 46ts46ts Member Posts: 7
    I think the problem may be either vacuum or cable connection to a by-pass door in the ventilation system that is not completely opening or closing causing restricted air flow. It may also be a valve in the AC system that directs the freon between the front and rear AC systems. I would take these theory's to your local Nissan dealership and discuss with the service department. They should be able to bring up a schematic showing the AC ventilation system and where that door or valve might be and how it is operated.
  • vinhphucvinhphuc Member Posts: 44
    My wife noticed that no hot air came out of the overhead vents although I set the rear control as hot and at max. Is that normal or something was defective? Only some hot air came out from the grid at the 3rd row seat foot. I vaguely remember this was an issue raised a while ago. Please let me know.
    Thanks,
    Phuc
    05 Quest SE
  • dtownfbdtownfb Member Posts: 2,918
    Check your owner's manual but I think the hot air should come out from the floor vents and not the overhead vents.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    I was going to say the same thing but mine's a '99 so was afraid Nissan may have changed the duct work or something. Only cold AC comes out of our roof vents.

    Steve, visiting host
  • rick_wallyrick_wally Member Posts: 8
    park it with the nose as high as you can get it them fill it. this one is tough to get the air out of. when it blows cold it is always low on coolant, my 97 did this.
  • chalukeschalukes Member Posts: 1
    Ihave an 06 quest yesterday i turned it on and now it wont stop blowing air .its not heating or cooling unless i turn nob to on
  • dtownfbdtownfb Member Posts: 2,918
    How much air is coming out of the vents? I've noticed that if you do have the air directed to the vents (ones on the dashboard), you may feel a little bit of air even though the know is set to "0". Try switching the direction of the air to the floor. At least you won't feel it.
  • dp33dp33 Member Posts: 1
    i don't know the answer to your problem however, if you have a full service gas station nearby that does mechanical work, he will probably be online with a company called alldata, this service is for auto repair shops and will provide the same schematics and troubleshooting codes as the dealerships, and these places charge a lot less money, good luck
  • ob1ob1 Member Posts: 6
    All,

    It happened again.....It was in the low 90's here and all of the sudden our front AC just cut out while on a local freeway. Would not start back until I turned the ignition off and on again. Took it to the dealer and of course they could not replicate the problem. They re-charged our cooling system and all seemed well except the other day it did it again for about 2 seconds and came back again......Additionally the other day my auto up drivers window would not stay up.....would go all the way up and then roll down about 4 inches.....of course the next day all seemed well.....apparently our Quest is posessed and wants to make a fool out of me everytime I take it into the dealership.
  • motonationmotonation Member Posts: 34
    I've found the problem, and the cure.

    Our '97 Quest started doing this last year (a/c on, warm/hot air up front, cold in back). It was very intermittent, and often a little "love tap" on the dash got it working again, and when it did blow cold again, it was almost instant from hot to cold, leading me to believe it was electrical - not mechanical - in nature. It didn't happen very often, so we made it through the rest of 2007 with only occasional problems.

    Fast forward to Feb 2008. Problem exists all the time - nothing but full heat out of the front unit, back works fine. A/C has no effect - heat all the time.

    Still thinking I was dealing with an electrical issue, I grabbed my father-in-laws HVAC controller from his '97 Villager and installed it in our Quest. It worked great - temperature could be controlled, and I had cool air UP FRONT. To prove my point, I installed our Quest unit in his Villager and went for a drive. HOT AIR ONLY UP FRONT!! AHA! Its the controller - NOT a vacuum line, valve, etc.

    Back into the garage, I disassembled the HVAC controller and could not find anything wrong - no burned areas, etc. Bummer. But I got to looking closer at the wiring coming off the back of the temperature selector knob - the connector was attached, but it was loose and could be moved around very easily. There was no real way to tighten it any more, so I unplugged it, applied some dielectric grease ($.99 at the auto parts store) to the connector, plugged it back in, and crossed my fingers.

    A few minutes later I had the controller back in our still hot-engined Quest. The engine hadn't been running five seconds and I knew the problem was fixed - cool air immediately, and as I turned the temp control knob, I could instantly hear the system cycle from one setting to the other. Problem fixed!

    After driving our van for a few thousand miles since that day, I can say with 100% certainty that the loose connector (all wires not making contact) is what fixed our problem. Although this may not be everyone's fix, it is easy enough to try - just 30 minutes of your time, and a dollar bill for the grease.

    Here's some pictures of this, let me know if anyone wants hi-res versions or more info.
    Quest HVAC

    Oh, and let me add one more thing. This did not happen on our original HVAC controller, but rather a new unit that I purchased and installed 2 years ago because our original unit (200k on it at the time) literally fried itself. We had smoke inside the van when it failed electrically. The new unit worked fine for about a year before the hot air only problem started, so it wasn't old age, but rather a poor design or poor assembly of the new unit - which seems to be common on these "old" vans.

    Best,
    MotoNation
  • taddmantaddman Member Posts: 1
    My wife has a 97 mercury villager nautica with the problem of no cold ac in front, but cold ac in back. So I took out the hvac controller. Thanks for the pictures in your post. Ours is digital control, not a knob and was not able to do the dielectric grease fix that you noted.

    So I put it all back together and made sure all connections were snug.

    Next I filled up the freon, and I noticed that the compressor kicked on and the back was cold, but the front was cooler, but not cold.

    So we headed up to AutoZone and I purchased more freon with a clear tube so I could see what was going in. This one was called sub zero with hose 15oz. I figured that I would go old school and have my wife sit inside the van while I filled it up and let me know if the cold air was coming out the front vents.

    Note: the other freon refill bottle I used came with guage, but I think that guage was faulty as it said my system was full.

    After filling up with the sub zero with hose (hose is clear) 15oz, the front ac is ice cold now.

    ....

    In your case it had to be the connection to the hvac controller since you swapped the unit and came up with the same problem in the other van with that unit.

    In my case..... it was a simple matter of filling it up.

    The important and good news is ... it works now.
  • motonationmotonation Member Posts: 34
    Great to hear you fixed it. Mine is still ice cold...which is great news since its been 100 degrees the last few days.
  • aj4611aj4611 Member Posts: 2
    Hi,

    Thanks for the above information, hopefully it is the same issue I have with my 2000 Quest.

    Do you happen to have detailed instructions to remove the HVAC controller ?

    Thanks
    AJ
  • motonationmotonation Member Posts: 34
    You're welcome AJ. I don't have our van here today, but sometime during the next couple of days I will provide some instructions - its easy - only eight or ten screws or so. I can put up some pictures if you'd like.

    Be back later.
  • aj4611aj4611 Member Posts: 2
    Hi,

    I did manage to get the HVAC controller out - I had a Haynes Repair Manual and the instructions to remove it were slightly out of place.

    The connectors on the HVAC controller look fine, I made sure that all the connectors are snug and not loose. I am waiting for the weather to give me some high temps in the 90s to really confirm if things have changed..

    I will keep u posted.

    Rgds,
    AJ
  • motonationmotonation Member Posts: 34
    I'd put some dielectric on that connector shown in my pictures if you still have it disassembled. Can't hurt! And it was definitely my problem.

    (Our van is at the tire shop right now, having tires put on at 245K miles; I think this might be our 6th set of tires) :P

    Be back later tonight sometime.
  • sunbeam3sunbeam3 Member Posts: 1
    I would like to know if anyone would be kind to help me solve this problem, I was on a long road trip. and my front ac blower stop working. I check the fuses, everything check out find. when I start the car the front comes on and fade to stop working. The rear AC is working just fine. Please help.
    thanks
  • haughhaugh Member Posts: 12
    This sounds like a connection problem whereby a broken or cracked lead heats up due to a poor connection to the point where the expansion from heat causes the connection to separate. You don't mention whether or not it does this in all speed modes or one. If in one or two speed modes it could be the front blower motor resistor network that needs to be replaced.
  • haughhaugh Member Posts: 12
    99 Villager Sport, 3.3l, 139k miles.
    I have had my A/C system leak out refrigerant (likely shrinking seals) over a winter to the point where it was blowing warm when we used it the following summer. I took it to a mechanic to get belts and seals and water pump replaced and have him look at the A/C system. He asked if it was working fine the previous summer (which it was) and suspected seals that were leaking. He asked if I wanted it charged and because the wife HAD to have A/C before a trip we were taking in a couple of days, I said yes. It is a 134a system but he filled it with Red Tek (I did not know). The system worked fine for a while but now the rear A/C only blows warm while the front continues to blow cold so I know there is no leak in the refrigerant lines.
    I am suspecting that the rear expansion valve has become plugged and needs to be replaced.

    Has anyone else experienced this or gone through this repair? The expansion valve is under $10.
  • slider60slider60 Member Posts: 1
    I'm looking at the same issue. I just replaced the blower resistor and it's overheating. Did you find the solution? Replace the blower motor?
  • skybiz1skybiz1 Member Posts: 3
    1995 Villager rear blower not working. Front panel works fine but will not control rear blower also will not transfer control to rear panel. Temp control and upper and lower conrol button work fine on rear control. blower motor works when connected directly to 12v dc.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    This is a known problem (at least I think your facts apply).

    If you have No Rear AC Blower Motor on your Villager/Quest (look under SubTopics)
  • skybiz1skybiz1 Member Posts: 3
    Dear Steve, Thank you for your quick reply. Tis sounds exactly like my problem. How do I get the decorations off the dashboard in order to access the heater panel?
    Glenn
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    Decorations? If you mean all the bezels and such, that link has a few photos.

    And my Fixing a Stuck Tach in a Nissan Quest guide has some dash photos too.

    Good luck!

    Steve, visiting host
  • skybiz1skybiz1 Member Posts: 3
    Dear Steve,
    Thanks for the great info. Once I got the heater control out and opened up the black box it was very obvious that the problem was the relay solder. Took about 35 minutes start to finish to fix including removing and replacing the bezel and the directional louvers in the panel. Thanks again for your help. I look forward to mining your site for other little fixes to my 220,000 miles van.
    Sincerely, Glenn
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    That's great to hear!
  • pkh2pkh2 Member Posts: 1
    I have a 2004 Nissan Quest problem where the automatic climate control system (doesen't matter if running vent or air conditioner) will randomly cycle off and (after a few seconds) back on. I hear a fairly loud click under the dash in front of the driver concurrent with the cycling. Sounds like the relay you hear when you turn the system on or off. So far, only occurs during moderate outside temperates and not during Winter (40s and below) or Summer (80s and above).
  • kurtokurto Member Posts: 1
    We just had a similar problem diagnosed as a corroded connector on Left Front Strut Tower in the engine electrical harness. This was after a faulty diagnosis and replacement of alternator. Heard the clicking and many display lights and climate control cycling on and off. Transmission also disengaged at one point (in an intersection). Hope this helps you if you have not had the problem fixed yet.
  • jones26jones26 Member Posts: 1
    Help??? My van is currently in the shop and there is something wrong with the front end. Had over thousand dollars in work done and still not fix. After making a turn either left or right, van doesn't straighten out, continues in that direction. Repair shop doesn't seem to know how to fix it.
  • memphibianmemphibian Member Posts: 7
    94 Merc Villager.. air conditioning is working, but very feeble. Mechanic checked pressure of freon, said it's up around 30, which should be fine. I have shut down rear seats unit in case it was going back there. Any ideas what to look at?
  • rbunyearbunyea Member Posts: 1
    When I set my thermostat to heat at a normal temperature range of 75-85 degrees it will work for several minutes, then goes cool. If I turn it to 90 degrees(max) it heats fine. I have had it checked by an independent garage and a Nissan dealer by computer, to no avail. SUGGESTIONS!!
  • vrmvrm Member Posts: 310
    Even after my engine has warmed up, I dont get any heat through my front vents.

    My minivan now has 116,000 miles. Two years ago I replaced the timing belt. At that time, I did replace the thermostat along with all the seals + water pump etc.

    Any ideas what I should check or repair? Is this a common problem?

    Thanks!
  • memphibianmemphibian Member Posts: 7
    My 94 Villager was putting out no heat and a thermostat did fix it but look at hoses, heater valve and heater for blockages. This is the first place to look. Might have to see if heater switch is actually doing anything.
  • vrmvrm Member Posts: 310
    A friend asked me to check my coolant level. I was surprised to find that there was NO liquid in the reservoir + low level in the radiator. I added coolant today but even now the air coming from the vents is not "hot" - its lukewarm.

    I noticed another thing which may be an important symptom:
    When I shut the ignition, I hear a sound which can be best described as "water flowing down the pipe". This sound only lasts 6 to 9 seconds but I always hear it after shutting the engine.

    Any thoughts or suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!
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