Hey guys,
I'm a new member and a new Xterra owner. I recently purchased a 2003 Xterra SE and I love it so far. I snagged it with 86k miles on it, which I consider pretty low for being 10 years old. It seems to be in really great shape, but I've been having random questions pop into my head as the days go by. Sometimes I'm able to find definitive answers, and sometimes I can't. I'm not very mechanically savvy, but I like to learn. I have a mechanic friend who is usually great with helping me with things and explaining different parts of the engine. I brought it over to him the other day to have it looked it over. When idling, we overheard the A/C Compressor (I believe that is the correct name) kick on and off even when the A/C button wasn't pressed in the cabin. In fact, I had the heat on, as it's pretty cold in PA right now. He told me that sometimes, when I have it in "defrost" mode, that the A/C Compressor will run to dehumidify the air. (If this is wrong, it's probably just me not remembering what he said correctly, not his lack of knowledge.) He proceeded to switch the setting in the cabin over to the vents and we bs'd a little bit more and sure enough, we kept hearing the A/C Compressor engage/disengage. He didn't have much more time to look at it, but he said that this might be a Nissan thing, whereas it's normal.
Sorry for the long winded post, but, my main question is -- Is this, in fact, normal? Thanks for any insight and help. I've been a lurker on these forums for a few weeks, and now I want to actively participate (the best I can) and join the community.
Cheers!
I'm a new member and a new Xterra owner. I recently purchased a 2003 Xterra SE and I love it so far. I snagged it with 86k miles on it, which I consider pretty low for being 10 years old. It seems to be in really great shape, but I've been having random questions pop into my head as the days go by. Sometimes I'm able to find definitive answers, and sometimes I can't. I'm not very mechanically savvy, but I like to learn. I have a mechanic friend who is usually great with helping me with things and explaining different parts of the engine. I brought it over to him the other day to have it looked it over. When idling, we overheard the A/C Compressor (I believe that is the correct name) kick on and off even when the A/C button wasn't pressed in the cabin. In fact, I had the heat on, as it's pretty cold in PA right now. He told me that sometimes, when I have it in "defrost" mode, that the A/C Compressor will run to dehumidify the air. (If this is wrong, it's probably just me not remembering what he said correctly, not his lack of knowledge.) He proceeded to switch the setting in the cabin over to the vents and we bs'd a little bit more and sure enough, we kept hearing the A/C Compressor engage/disengage. He didn't have much more time to look at it, but he said that this might be a Nissan thing, whereas it's normal.
Sorry for the long winded post, but, my main question is -- Is this, in fact, normal? Thanks for any insight and help. I've been a lurker on these forums for a few weeks, and now I want to actively participate (the best I can) and join the community.
Cheers!
