Hi, I just joined to ask this one question because what Nissan keeps telling me regarding this matter makes no sense to me and I do not know any other Z owners. I must apologize in advance that I have nothing to contribute to this forum in return, since I honestly know nothing about cars – I am merely hoping to put to rest this issue that has been nagging me for two years.

The short version of the question is: Is it normal operation that when the weather is cold out you need to turn the thermostat (center dial) all the way to the left notch (60 degrees) in order for the car not to blow hot air? The only way I can maintain a comfortable temperature in my 2006 350Z when it is cold outside is to toggle up and back between the three left-most notches, and this seems like a ridiculous design to me... But I've had everyone in service at my dealership (Santa Monica Nissan) tell me this is how it is supposed to be, as well as a mechanic from Nissan headquarters that they ultimately had look at the car.

This seems completely illogical to me since the $20 space heater I have in my office has a thermostat on it that maintains a constant temperature in the room no matter how cold or hot it is out, so why can't my $30,000 automobile do the same? This was my first brand new car I ever bought and I'm completely satisfied with it other than this annoyance of having to jockey the temperature dial around all the time while driving. (And in the summer I have to do the same thing, but the positioning generally varies between 68-75 degrees depending on outside temperature.)

If you guys chime in that this manner of operation is what you all experience, I will be content to just shrug it away and be done with the matter. But since it seems like such an illogical way of constructing a "convenience" I just wanted to confirm with other end users that this is what you experience as well.

Many thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide.

-Josh

 

The temperature control system will blow out whatever air temp is needed in order to get the cabin temperature to what you have it set at. The only exceptions to this is if you have the dial on either 60 degrees or 90 degrees. If you have it on 60 it will continue blowing your a/c all the time. If you have it on 90 it will continue blowing your heat.

 

I never touch the temperature dial. I set it at 75 degrees and the car chooses whether to turn on the A/C or the heater. Very convenient.

Les

 

I was wondering the same thing. I usually keep mine at 75 as well but with the sporadic weather changes here in Texas, sometimes hit has to be turned down to 60. Anyhow yeah that is weird how it works like that.

 

Mine does the same thing (see post "hot air/cold air but nothing in between"). Others have described the fix as the cabin temp sensor was loose. I still haven't fixed my car but it works sporaticaly now.

 

Hmnn, so far two people say this is definitely abnormal and two people say they experience the same but feel it is a problem... If more people post that they do not have to keep their temperature on 60, I will forward this thread to Nissan since they keep telling me that what I am experiencing is the same as what every 350Z owner experiences, which is already clearly not the case.

Jcolman, thank you for recommending that other thread. I will respond there too, but I am hopeful that sensor wire can be the solution to my problem. Please let me know if it resolves your issue, as it does seem to be the same as mine. I unfortunately do not have the wherewithal to go tinkering with wires in my dash, but I will bring the car back to the dealer and have them show me if this wire is connected.

Many thanks to those who have taken the time to reply, and to those who might still add their take on this situation.

-Josh

 

I would appreciate it if anyone else can weigh in on this... The other day it was very hot out (over 80) and I needed to move the dial to 75 in order to maintain a comfortable temperature in the car. Two nights later it was back to being cold out (around 55) and I needed to move the dial to 60 in order to have it be the same comfortable temperature inside the car as when it was hot out.

Is this normal operation for everyone who has a 350Z, or is this an issue you think Nissan should be able to address under my warranty?

Thank you,
Josh

 

For what its worth I usually leave mine at 75 and on the 2 days a year that south florida experiences "cool" weather (50's...) I noticed that the car blows hot air. Its almost like its relying on the outside temperature and since it's lower than 75 it feels it needs to push out warm air to get it to 75 INSIDE...so probably that's just the way it works.
I haven't tried to set it to 60 at that time though to see if that would solve it because those are the only two days I actually will drive with windows open since it's not scorching hot out there..

 

My Z does the same thing but I don't think it always has... I've obly had mine for a couple of months and just had an alarm installed and didn't notice it acting like that before so I am wondering if my alarm tech (who screwed up some other stuff already and had to fix it) messed up something.

I live in Texas also and while the temp could be 58 degrees, the humidity can still be high which would you make you want cool, dry air instead of hot air blowing on you. I am taking the car in tomorrow to have something else looked at on the alarm, so I will ask about that, but I bet they will deny that it has any correlation.

I will let you guys know what they say! In the meantime, if anyone has experienced this and resolved it, please let me know so I can tell the shop!

 

Hey just FYI...I took my car in this afternoon and the tech looked at it and somehow a vacuum hose had come undone during the alarm install. He fixed that and everything works fine now. And...just a sidenote...the 'brain' on my alarm was defective. He changed it out and now everything with my alarm works right as well! Maybe he's not an idiot! Sorry, poor alarm tech guy!!

 

Same happens to me.

 

Its February. Not even going to think about air conditioning.

 

Shut it... I live in south Texas... It was 80 something yesterday

 

Your car has auto climate control.It is designed to maintain the inside temp to what you set it at.It will not give you the hot OR cold blast unless you default it to max or min temp.It is totaly different than a manual system and takes some getting used to.I'll bet there is nothing wrong with it.I am in the car biz and have explained this countless times over the years.

 

same here, but actually i try to go a bit left of the 75 to guesstimate close to the 70 degree range. i hate it when detailing the interior because i always mess up my settings.

 

Well, in all seriousness, my temp control wasn't working...and now it is...normally...just like all of my cars have.

 

Soooo....there might be a problem, and there might not be. The heat and AC control a very small volume of air...your car interior. A huge portion of your passenger compartment is glass. See the problem? No automatic temperature control in any car can respond rapidly to rapid interior temperature changes due to sunlight. The z is extremely vulnerable to this because of the huge expanse of glass.

 

holy 8 year dead thread bump

 

yeah I don't understand the point

 

Here, let me dumb it down for you. The Sun is hot.