Well I have a 2003 350z touring that I need some help with.
I purchased the car 6 months ago with an extended warranty.
Shortly after having the car I noticed a very loud grinding noise coming from the A/C when it was on. I brought it to the dealership and was told that the A/C compressor bearings were going bad and so I got the compressor replaced. Ever since then, it still makes a faint grinding noise like it did before, but no where near as loud. It doesn't make it all the time, but it does around 50% of the time with the A/C on. The A/C has got to where now it only blows cold while moving, it will NEVER get cold sitting still. So im not sure if the new compressor they put in is defective or what. I brought it back several times regarding this, I was told that it was just a harsh clutch engagement. I dont think so, because it stays grinding while driving it and it increases with rpms. I was also told that because its a sports car it has to be moving for the A/C to get cold because of the small air inlet in the bumper. That's problem #1 I need help with. #2 retains to the Passenger side Radiator fan. Ive noticed, my PS radiator fan NEVER engages. It has been in the low-mid 90s here and with the A/C on full blast, it never engages. I was told that fan was only meant to engage when the car starts to actually overheat, not at operating temp, but when it OVERHEATS. Please guys, I need your advice. What do you think about the two issues. When is the PS radiator fan supposed to engage. I have more issues, but ill wait lol THANKS!!!

 

I have the same terrible a/c compressor grind. I bought the car with 119k miles on it, bought a used compressor with 35k miles on it, swapped it, still the same noise. Pretty much, I'm not touching it unless something blows up. That is completely false that it has to move to get cold. I live in TX and it will get pretty dang cold if you have it on Recirculation mode. Pretty sure both my fans kick on right when I turn on the a/c. Having a fan kick on when the car overheats is just silly and those Nissan "techs" should be ashamed of themselves.

 

Thanks for the repy! Yeah I dont want to deal with the grinding noise, it is so annoying. The compressor has a 1 year warranty with Nissan, so Im going to try my best to get it replaced again. Also, If it is possible, could you double check about your radiator fans? I just want to be certain about it when I go back down there. I really would love a video, but I understand if you dont have the time for some random dude on the internet lol I was trying to find a 350z on a car lot around here to try it on, but there isn't one :/

 

The fans should operate at the same time. There are three modes: off, low and high.

If your fans aren't operating properly, you're probably not getting enough air over the condenser to allow the A/C to work when you're idling.

There is a whole section in the FSM dedicated to checking out the fan assembly. The dealer should have used his consult II to check them out.

Check out page 481, step 4:

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/350Z/coupe/2003/ec.pdf

It says with the car idling and the A/C switched on, fans 1 and 2 should be running at low speed.

You can either print that out and embarrass the dummies at your dealership, or go to another dealer. I think I'd stay far away from any dealer that won't read his own service manual and just lie to the customer. Do you have another dealer close by that will honor your warranty? If not a Nissan dealer, maybe an Infiniti dealer can help you.

Edited to add: My 2007 350z is a roadster, and it blows out cold at idle with the top down, something ain't right if your coupe is blowing warm at idle.

 

Patrick, you are the man! I will be printing this out and bringing it with me. There are only 2 Nissan dealers near me, and the one I go to I have to drive 30 miles. So the other one is roughly the same. Im so upset at this point. Ive been driving around 5,000 miles since I got the car without the radiator fan spinning -_-. I hope there isnt permanent damage. I think the new compressor is bad, because its making that same grinding noise. I love my 350z, and I wont give up on it.

 

Glad I could help. Be sure to set your print range properly, you don't want 700 pages to print out

There is some normal noise when the compressor cycles on, but it should be fairly quiet. If it's something beyond that, I think you've still got problems there. Depending on how the original compressor failed, the A/C system could be full of metal shavings. I've never replaced one on a 350z, but on other cars, I would always flush out all the lines, flush the condenser coil, flush the evaporator coil, replace the drier, and orifice tube(if there is one). When you flush it out completely, you have to look up the appropriate type and amount of refrigerant oil and add it to the components prior to vacuuming and recharging, because you've effectively removed all the oil from the system.

I'm not saying this is necessarily your problem, and all the flushing isn't needed if there wasn't a catastrophic failure of the compressor leaving metal all through the system.

Did they replace the A/C clutch along with the compressor? I wonder if it could have been a clutch issue making the noise, rather than the compressor.

Patrick

 

Also, I wouldn't worry about permanent damage if the car never overheated. If that happened, you should have had lights on the dash and a high temperature on the gauge.

 

I'm beginning to worry that I may have something in the a/c system itself, which would suck a lot. I don't have the equipment to flush out every component and I don't want to know what it would cost from a shop. When I put the compressor that had 35k miles on, it was pretty quiet for about a day, then the noise came back.

Is the compressor already toast if it's been on the car for a couple months?

 

The compressor has been on for 6 months, made the same grinding noise the same day I picked it up. I passed it off as something not to worry about but it really is. And Patrick, don't worry I didn't print out all 700 pages haha What should I refer to that as? The Nissan Service Manual?

 

Without seeing it, I really can't say what's causing the grinding sound.

As far as the printout, that is the "Nissan Factory Service Manual". I am curious as to how they'll react to you doing their job. Hopefully they'll just use their service manual and properly diagnose the problem and replace the bad parts... or maybe just throw parts at it until it works.

Does your warranty cover the fans?

 

Sorry that I butted in, but can you respond to my question? Does it sound like metal shavings since a fairly new compressor started making the same noise within a day? And you think it would be $500+ for the service to clean everything out?

 

It doesn't sound like metal shavings to me. The best way I can describe it is, it sounds like something isnt lubricated properly. Also, the first one didn't explode or anything. It actually cooled better than the new one!

 

Anyone have a ticking noise coming from the a/c compressor or a/c clutch? I'm not sure if this is just the start of the grinding issue the OP is having. I originally thought I had valve tick but I turned off the A/C and the ticking went away. Also if I floor it, I get a woosh of air noise, similar to a soft blow off valve on a turbo car. I know its the same related part because it only does it with the A/C on, never with it off.

Anyone else have this problem? Thinking about changing the clutch and going from there.

 

Yeah, if you're able to change/tighten the clutch on your own, go for it. I've just been too lazy to mess with it. Unless it breaks, I'm not doing anything. I already dropped $300 on a used compressor and r-134a refill just to have the same problem.