Is your 350z Air Conditioner Weak?
 

Just wanted some feedback from others that live in hot climates:

First, I live in Central Florida and the temperature has been in the mid-to-upper 90's for the last few days [HOT]. My car sits in an open parking lot at work so it really gets hot inside by the time I'm ready to go home. I do not know if it is just my A/C or of it is a common problem with the 350z, but it takes my full 20 mile drive home from work before the inside car temp becomes somewhat reasonable.

Is this normal for the Z or should I be taking it in for warranty service [2005 model bought last Nov when it wasn't that hot]?

Fellow central FL dweller here and yup I think the Z's A/C could be better. Always thought it was just cause I drive a SB though. My '96 Cobra had the coldest A/C I've ever seen in any car...the compressor was huge and you could feel the whole car shudder when it kicked on...LOL.

if the car sits in the sun then you are cooling the air inside, the plastic, the metal, and most everything else in the interior.

Make sure to turn on recirculate as to expedite the process.

+1..another Floridian here in the 90's EVERY freakin day. mine takes about 3-4 minutes to cool down and blast me. mine is just fine.

Mine generally blows too cold. It gets like an ice box in my Z and gets there quickly

the compressor uses a variable plate inside, unless youre able to get over 2500 rpm and maintain it for a few mins, its very hard to overcome a heat soaked interior. You will use more gas, but if you let the rpm go alittle higher (make sure the car is warmed up) and use recirc as stated above, I think you'll find it getting cooler in a min or two instead of 10+ mins.

It gets to 100+ here in Sacto frequently and the Zzzz AC has always worked great.

But if the car has been sitting in the direct sun, it can take a few minutes to get it going. Follow the above pointers.

I've found that Auto mode works best as far as AC controls work, but even with A/C on High and in recirculate mode it still takes a long time to cool off. The passenger vent is closed and the air is hitting me in the face, but it is only modestly cooler than just fan.

I drove a KIA Optima while my Z was in the shop and the A/C on that cheap car was much better than mine.

Maybe I have a defective A/C unit?

Oh, and one other tip to add to those above: As you are walking to your car, hold down the unlock button on your remote to get those windows down ASAP, letting the hottest air out before you even get to it.

My AC is really cold, doesnt that long after a day in the sun for it to cool down. Its a pretty decent AC comp.

mine gets so cold my sunglass lens fog up when i step out of the car. SWEET!

Miami, South Dade. Mine cools fine. Sometimes Auto doesn't blow as hard as I expect it, but I think is the auto mode messing up, not the A/C.

i think i have used it once or twice in over a year, but then again, i live in Chicago.

It's hit ~110 here the last few days and I leave work to get in my SB with black/charcoal leather and it gets cool within a few minutes.

spcemn_spiff:

I honor your opinon, but I don't think that heat in DC July compares to 95+ degrees in a very humid FL. I just had a cousin come back from Ohio last week and he said it was chilly up there. Temps are relative, mine worked fine back in NOV, but I doubt you would even consider using your A/C in November. In FL November is sometimes chilly and sometimes warm, but I'm sure it was not comparable to DC chilly in November.

Some others are reporting great A/C in hot climates too, so I think I might need to have the dealer inspect it before warranty expires.

Thanks everyone.

Live in Louisiana. Temp has been 95 to 98 past month. a/c works great. No unit can cool, a car down in those temps under about 4 or 5 min. Takes me about three city blocks at about 40mph to get comfortable.. (polar white-04-touring Z)

Go to an auto parts store and buy you a thermometer, stick it in the one of the center vents and see what temperature air is blowing out. Make sure the temp control is set to the lowest setting, fan on high and on recirculate, also make sure both windows are all the way up. You should be seeing somewhere in the high 40 to mid to low 50 degrees after running for 5 to 10 mins. This is also dependent on speed of the car, humidity levels, and temperature. Some cars will even get lower than that, but that is dependent on temperature and humidity. Then you will know if there is really a problem or not. Also, there have been some people on the board that have had problems and it turned out that the system was overcharged from the factory.

You can also look to make sure both of the cooling fans behind the radiator are operating. Both should run anytime the A/C is on. If you can get me some operating pressure readings from both the high(discharge) and low(suction) side I can tell you if they are abnormal or tell you what is going on with the system. You should also be seeing in high humidity lots of condensation from the drain. If that is happening and the air is not cool then there is a possibility that the temperature blend door is not going all the way to cold and letting a little bit of heat into the cabin.

Tony

Mine is too cold at times..

I'm in Mississippi and mine works great...

Just set it to draw air from outside the car for the first few minutes, then set it to the cycle mode. If you leave it on cycling the cabin air all the time then its working with hotter air.

I also ride with the windows down for the first minute or so to blow out the heated air from having it sitting. The remote windows down thing helps too.

Sorry, didnt read the post carefully, I thought you were looking for general opinions. :)