I've got '97 200SX-SE-R and live in sweaty Phoenix. My A/C has never worked sufficiently in the summer, and if I do run it, the car sometimes (especially in traffic) overheats a couple minutes after the cold air turns warm. The car has performed the exact same way for the last 5 summer since I got to Phoenix, very consistently, despite coolant flushes, and fixing some A/C leaks. I've come to believe that during hot Phoenix summers, my black SE-R, with its larger engine stuck in its nose, just can't cope, and the A/C becomes heat soaked soon after. I'm going to have my mechanic take a closer look at it tomorrow, but I was wondering if a larger radiator might help?
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1997 5-speed 200SX SE-R: PRI CAI, UR Ultra SS pullies (full set), timing@17 degrees, JWT Pressure Plate/2000 SE disc, Fidanza 8.8 lb flywheel, Tein Basic Dampers, ST bars front/rear, e-bay braces front/rear, bent beam for no rear toe, Toyo T1-S, ES control arms and shifter bushings, ad22vf brakes, JVC head/Rockford Fosgate speakers, 35% tint.
gettin a koyo radiator will help maintain a cooler temperature, i believe it cools better by around 20-30 degrees.. also using redline water wetter will help keep temperatures down... it is a known fact that you shouldn't be sitting for a while with an a/c on cuz it will cause overheating.. prolly might want to investin the newly designed radiator hoses...
I sorta have the same problem, just without the engine overheating. Seems like our humble sentra's AC have trouble coping when its 100 outside. I was thinking about upgrading to some aftermarket high volume fans to help the condenser do its thing. For people who have aftermarket fans, does your AC become colder?
The fan on my condenser helps ( I have an after market crap condenser that was painted black by the way (long story)). I wired it to a switch in the cabin and run it only after starting the car and a/c. The charge was adjusted by me to spec (was too high of a pressure and note the heat will affect the reading it says to read it on the low side at 70-80F.) I too live in AZ (maricopa city, pinal county). It was only warm at a stop (no air flow) so yes the fan helped, now it's icy again while moving and cool at a stop instead of warm. If you do WOT the a/c doesn't seem to cool on our cars it's like it kicks out cause you need to accell (computer controlled?). And I sanded the paint off of the condensor fins to get air-metal contact instead of air-paint.
I also have the Koyo radiator, crank pulley and underdrive pulley and JWT lightened flywheel. The underdrive pulley doesn't help the a/c any (runs compressor at lower rpm, hence "underdrive". And I had the problem at stops with all this except the fan and charge adjust. Now, at the end of summer it's finally alot better and it's still 108F outside.
The temperature outdoors does effect it. If it's less than 100F it's great, if its 108+F the a/c seems cool instead of "ICY" even with the fan on the condensor koyo rad high press rad cap from nismo etc....
All said, it may just be the compressor if it's not cooling at all, or a major leak and you've lost all your refrigerant. (R134a).
And yes, AZ is about as hot as it gets and this is the "AZ version of the ga16de 200sx 1997" which is what the dealer said. The stock rad was not very impressive though so the koyo was one of my 1st mod's living in this hell hole. The only place hotter is death valley CA!
Let me know how you do......
(condensor fan search on google, mine came with nifty plastic "bolts" that go through the fins and wing nut with washers to cut down vibrations (plasic/high temp washers, should come with a fan) Don't go too big as the fan may not line-up right, I think mine is 9 or 10 inches and have room for another on the other side of condensor, so you could run 2 but I don't wanna suck too much amperage off the batt. Should mount them in front of condensor (I wouldnt try to fit it between the cond&rad, not enough space with the koyo) I would use two but I don't wanna drop out the radiator just to get my fingers in there to tighten things so maybe next summer if it's still too hot.
Hope that helps, stay cool man, stay cool.
(I drive alot better now that I'm not so hot and bothered, road rage anyone?)
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Last edited by DanTheMan : Jul 28th, 2005 at 05:19 AM.
Yes I think what he said is correct, when I lived in Tucson AZ with my 99 sentra, after my first 2 weeks with the car (mid July) I noticed that in stop light stop and go that the sentra's AC would be next to nothing until you got moving again then she would cool back down good (I have a silver with black insides on my sentra)
After dealing with getting heat soaked myself for close to a month I took the car back for service and the guy at the dealer said the car was working as it was made to and that I expected too much from the car after driving the G35 and 300Zx so long and that to get the ac to work better I would need to upgrade the system (like you had said above)
I was ready to kill Nissan for putting a weak system in out car! I lived in Tucson (always like 10 degree's colder than PHX) I have no clue how someone there in PHX can live with the factory system if what he told me is true!
I was dreading how well the ac would work moved to Oklahoma City in Jan, the temp don’t get as hot here but with the humidity it feels like its 110 when its like 85, but so far the ac has done a lot better here. The dealer tried to be cute in Tucson said to strap a small fan onto my drivers side window and attach a ice tray to the outside to mist my face while I was driving (I didn’t think it was too funny) after that comment I found another place to take the 3 cars for service!
Should just find one of those radiator (or is it intercooler? one of the two) water jets from a subaru and fit it on the condenser... things get too hot, hit the button
Had the car at the shop this morning. They temperature-tested the radiator and found some of the cores were clogged, and quoted me $310 for a replacement, or $20-$30 for one with larger cores. He also found a leak in the "high side hose" but found I was only a little low on Freon. They want $250 for the leak fix, which seemed high.
I am planning on selling the car in the next 6 months (in fact, reached a deal today on a 5-speed Mazda 3 hatchback (nice car!), but then they couldn't pry it from another local dealer they thought they could get it from). I don't want to poor money into the car, but I can't in good conscience sell it and not let the buyer know - car could overheat and kill the engine the next month! Right now, am planning on getting the new radiator with extra large cores, and sell it this fall/winter. And get a Mazda3 hatchback, or Scion tC.
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1997 5-speed 200SX SE-R: PRI CAI, UR Ultra SS pullies (full set), timing@17 degrees, JWT Pressure Plate/2000 SE disc, Fidanza 8.8 lb flywheel, Tein Basic Dampers, ST bars front/rear, e-bay braces front/rear, bent beam for no rear toe, Toyo T1-S, ES control arms and shifter bushings, ad22vf brakes, JVC head/Rockford Fosgate speakers, 35% tint.
I sorta have the same problem, just without the engine overheating. Seems like our humble sentra's AC have trouble coping when its 100 outside. I was thinking about upgrading to some aftermarket high volume fans to help the condenser do its thing. For people who have aftermarket fans, does your AC become colder?
If your AC isnt blowing cold air....then bleed the AC system and recharge it...also flush your radiator and ull be ok....
Should just find one of those radiator (or is it intercooler? one of the two) water jets from a subaru and fit it on the condenser... things get too hot, hit the button
intercoolers are only on turbo cars... we have n/a cars unless you have changed that..
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Originally Posted by hendrix
I can't wait until Hurrican Jamal sweeps up the east coast and steals the wheels and stero out of your car
If your AC isnt blowing cold air....then bleed the AC system and recharge it...also flush your radiator and ull be ok....
Aah I forgot to put in more details. I've already recharged my AC and it blows cold most of the time, except when its stinking hot outside. The AC blows "not so cold" when I'm just sitting there or not going fast enough, thats why I brought up the issue of insufficient cooling to the condenser.
Oh jmann the 3 is a fine car. I had a friend whos got the same thing, but with tiptronic 4 speed. He sunk something like 30G into the car worth of upgrades, and I test drove it. I really liked it, both peformance wise and the overall feeling. However I don't think it'd ever stack up to my 86 at the time though
I also noticed the low-pressure refrigerant side has foam insulation wrap that I had removed for some reason years ago (prob. looks cleaner without it)
I replaced this last week with 2" header wrap to help prevent heat-soak into this cold(when running)pipe. It seems to have helped drop a/c temp another 4-5/degrees. I plan to buy more and wrap this line all the way from the compressor itself.
As far as pictures, I would love to post all kinds of pics of my car and a custom avatar but I can't find a pic small enough to post an avatar and I don't have my own web site, sorry. I guess they just take too much space on a bulletin board. It looks like a fan on the radiator but smaller and in front of the condensor. What you really wanna see is how to mount it and wire it. I'll just say there are good mounts that work like plastic bolts and are heat resistant. Use whatever spacers you get (try buying a 9-10" fan that comes with an "installation kit") as vibration does travel well through the condensor to the frame. As far as wiring, +batt to fuse to switch in cabin, -batt to -fan wire to switch in cabin (on/off switch). Make sure fuse will handle power rating of fan (preferably this should all be one kit).
If you have the koyo radiator (oversized) you probabally will have to drop it for the install, the thing is just too thick to get your fingers in there to tighten the rear nuts well. If you do I would do both fans together just to make sure you get the best bang for the buck, I plan to add another next summer (because I have the koyo).
As far as a weak stock A/C system.....Hey man, it's a 4, I've never been in a 4cyl car that had adequate a/c in AZ (at a dead stop in rush hour with ambient temp >100F) That said, why didn't nissan just design it with condensor fans from the factory? I'm pretty sure everyone is installing them now (in new cars) because of the stop/go traffic, maybe they just didn't notice before because they weren't stuck in the gridlock that is "modern transportation". Heh.
P.S. I still blame my underdrive pulley
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