 Jim Grant's Tech Tips ‘02 Nissan Sentra, Warm A/C Q: I have a ‘02 Nissan Sentra GXE. The air conditioner blew warm air. I took it to the dealership and they inspected it and charged me $95.00 to recharge the system. One month later, it’s doing the same thing again. The dealership says it’s possibly due to a bad relay that I would have to pay to fix. I was thinking of going to Wal Mart and buying the recharge kit they have. Can you tell me what are my possible problems and give me a remedy? - Kelvin Jones A: A#3 If there is a bad relay, you can recharge the A/C system all you want and it will never blow cold air. The relay will have to be replaced to get the system working, unless the system is low in charge again. If the system is low you can recharge it but it will likely last a month before you're back in the same place. Why? Because the A/C system has a leak that takes about a month for the refrigerant to spill out. What you need from the dealer or other repair facility is a diagnosis that has an explanation of just what is needed. If it is a relay, it has to be replaced. If the system is low in refrigerant then the cause for the leak has to be found. One word of caution. If the system has a leak, don’t buy the recharge kits with sealer. The sealer for the A/C system has created problems by plugging and/or damaging A/C components on vehicles. If you take your vehicle into a shop after you install the sealer, you may come out with a bill for damage to the shops A/C unit and a refusal to repair your vehicle. Or, they'll only repair your vehicle if you replace all the A/C system components.
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