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Heater doesn't work right!

29K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  Mrbean 
#1 ·
My heater doesn't warm up correctly. I turn my car on and then turn my heater on. My heater no longer heats up when it should. I will heat up when I'm accelerating but when I'm sitting idle it goes back to just cold air coming out. What do you think it is and what do I do about it. I have a 2005 Xterra v6 4 wheel drive. Help. Thanks
 
#2 ·
This happened to me last year. Check your fluids. Make sure the levels are full. I ended up taking it to my mechanic and he filled up the resovoir and said you're done. I just hung my head and called myself pathetic as he consoled me to my truck. Hope this helps...Kurt
 
#6 ·
First thing you should check when this happens. Glad you got it working!

On another note, this lady came into work with the complaint that when it is cold outside, and she starts the car first thing in the morning, the heater does not work. Then after the engine warms up, it works. Then if it sits for an hour after driving for an hour, it will be warm. We had to explain to the lady that the heater works off of the engine coolant temp and that is has pretty much been working like that since cars have had heaters.
 
#7 ·
Heater doesn't work right

I bought a 2010 Xterra new in 2010 with 4 miles on it. From December 2012 thru end of January 2013 I would start it to warm it up and the heater/defroster would blow only cold air until I started to drive the vehicle. Would warm up in less than a minute once I started driving it after it had been running idle in the driveway for 30 minutes or more. Was at the shop about 3 times.....they never could figure out what was wrong with it. The fourth time I took it in they had to have a Nissan Engineer come out to look at it! Finally found out that there was air leaking into head gasket from a warped part.......Ended up replacing the engine (under warranty) and the vehicle was under 3 years old!!! Now November 2013 it has started again with the heat doing the same thing intermittently, so far.........I am not happy.....Vehicle less that 4 years old and has less that 40K miles on it.......Should not be having these issues!!
 
#8 ·
I bought a 2010 Xterra new in 2010 with 4 miles on it. From December 2012 thru end of January 2013 I would start it to warm it up and the heater/defroster would blow only cold air until I started to drive the vehicle. Would warm up in less than a minute once I started driving it after it had been running idle in the driveway for 30 minutes or more. Was at the shop about 3 times.....they never could figure out what was wrong with it. The fourth time I took it in they had to have a Nissan Engineer come out to look at it! Finally found out that there was air leaking into head gasket from a warped part.......Ended up replacing the engine (under warranty) and the vehicle was under 3 years old!!! Now November 2013 it has started again with the heat doing the same thing intermittently, so far.........I am not happy.....Vehicle less that 4 years old and has less that 40K miles on it.......Should not be having these issues!!
Sounds like you're cursed.

:D

I suppose going back and having the head gasket checked makes sense.
 
#13 ·
LOL! Cursed didn't even cover it!! hahahaha. I ended up trading it in early 2014 for full upper end trade in value and made money off it. They had it back out on their lot the next week with an almost new price tag on it......I feel sorry for the person that ended up buying it......Can only hope they didn't have the problems with it that I did...


I have recently taken a chance and bought a 2014 XTerra Pro 4X..... I really missed my XTerra as I had 2 prior to the one that had heater/engine problems. So I am now back in my favorite SUV!!! This is my 4th one.....God how I've missed the good ole XT!!! :):)
 
#9 ·
Cursed would be the nice way to put it..... It has actually been back in the shop since this past Thursday and they can find nothing wrong.....I picked it up this morning and will just see what happens from here....Going into the winter months now so I'm sure with my luck it will happen again! It has happened twice this month but they were 20 degree mornings......the rest of the days it's only been in the 40's so will just have to take the wait and see approach I guess.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Cursed would be the nice way to put it..... It has actually been back in the shop since this past Thursday and they can find nothing wrong.....I picked it up this morning and will just see what happens from here....Going into the winter months now so I'm sure with my luck it will happen again! It has happened twice this month but they were 20 degree mornings......the rest of the days it's only been in the 40's so will just have to take the wait and see approach I guess.
The first time you took it in, for the first warped issue, did they find anything that time before getting an engineer in, or, did they bring in an engineer this time already?

Can I assume they would have noticed if the fluid was low?
 
#11 ·
No.....I had taken it in about 3 times before the engineer came in......They couldn't find anything wrong with it.....flushed coolant lines twice....They had to get approval from Nissan before the engineer could come in.....so the 4th visit was with the engineer......Did not have an engineer this time.....yet. I picked up the truck this morning and it warmed up fine today and since it's been there since Thursday......I'm just going to have to wait until it starts doing it on a daily basis like last time I guess......Unless I go back and give them no choice but I work and don't have time to be there bugging them....
:(
 
#14 ·
Some times a coolant thermostat that is bad and permanently open will do the same. The coolant keeps flowing around the engine and radiator and with no thermostat to reduce flow the coolant is cooled more than it should be (We asume it's cold because you turned on the heater) added to that it's cooled more as you are removing more heat, by using heater. Mileage will suffer a little and interior heating will be minimal.
 
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