Auto Climate Control - Either super hot or cold

[smj999smj]

That little "bump" on top of the sensor is the part you clean; it's the sensor bulb. They were bigger on the older models.

[DanJetta]

So, here's an interesting development. I just got back from a trip to Park City, Utah, and used the auto climate control for most of the time. When I left Las Vegas in the morning on my way there, it was a cold 35 degrees, and of course the Pathfinder was cooking me out set all the way down to 65 degrees. But, as time progressed, it started letting up on the heat and I found myself turning the temp up to a comfortable 70 degrees on auto for the rest of the drive all the way up to Park City, even though the temp outside remained cold.

So, it would appear that the auto climate system works well, as long as you're going to be in the car for a while. It seems that it wants to run the heat to the extreme to warm the cabin when cold, when other auto climate controls I've had do it gradually. But once the cabin is to a warm temp after a while, it starts working great.

In the past, I typically only use it on quick trips around in town, so it never gets the opportunity to get the cabin in that perfect temperature. So, I guess the moral of this story is that the auto climate control works great, AS LONG AS you're going to be in the car for at least an hour or so.

Mine does the same thing. When set on 68 degrees (auto) in the morning, it heats the interior with the power of a thousand suns until the interior is "a Mexican desert in mid summer." I'm crawling through the sand with my shirt wrapped around my head–sunburned, dehydrated and confused–asking, "Why are you doing this to me?" Then, about a half hour into the drive... ice cold air. Suddenly, I'm Leonardo DiCaprio floating among chunks of ice next to the sinking Titanic–shaking uncontrollably–wishing Kate Winslet would move her selfish a** (over because that wooden plank is definitely big enough for two people). After about 45 minutes and several emotional phases (confusion, denial, anger) comes something amazing: regulated temperature. I cry. We all cry. It's amazing. Until 10 minutes later when the vents open up and assault us again with ice cold air. My wife asks, "Why is it doing that?!?" I have no answer except, "Because we could only afford a Nissan and these are the kinds of things poor people have to deal with."

I've found that if you let the air blow at 60 degrees (all the way cold) for a couple of minutes, you can actually turn it up slowly to get warm air rather than hot air only.