gustavo
New member
So I got my leaf in April. I live in the pacific northwest, and it doesn't really get warm here until July (June was pretty much a bust this year). As a result, I drove for a few months not noticing something: the A/C in my new car doesn't work.
Once it started to get warm, I thought "man this A/C is terrible. Well, it's an electric car - so I guess that's another tradeoff." That mindset prevailed until I got into a friends leaf, and realized that his A/C rocks. In fact, it was better I think that any A/C I've had in any gas car. OK off to the dealer... This is where the problems really start...
Dealer takes a look. Confirms, yep your A/C is broken. High pressure hose leaks, ordered a new one, but it's on back order... 2-3 weeks probably. Eventually, finally, the hose arrives I take it in, they have the car all day. I go to pick it up. "It's blowing cold now - he ran it all day to be sure!" Fantastic. In fact it was blowing cool. Awesome. Except when I get in it, I notice water dripping from around what would normally be a transmission tunnel - way back there. I ask the service adviser... Oh, they washed the car, sorry about that I'll have a talk with them. I'm skeptical. It appears water is dripping down, but he assures me - they did nothing on the inside of the car, it was all the hose between the compressor and coil in the motor bay.
I drive home. Water is now gushing out at a high rate. It's Friday night, they're about to close I call them. He says come on back down, he'll make sure the service tech doesn't go home. I get there.... They take in the back, and 30 minutes or so he returns... "Did the A/C ever work in this car?" "Nope, I don't think it did." "It couldn't have, not without you noticing it. The hose that takes the drip water condensate was never hooked up at the factor, it was just laying there. We hooked it up and I patted down the carpet to get the water up. Just keep the windows cracked to let it dry out so you don't run into any problems."
Deal. I don't want a stinky car. So I keep the window cracked, and Sunday go to drive it and wow. It stinks. It stinks bad. Like super bad. I call them up, tell them, and really to be honest, the dealer has been pretty good about this - they say "Bring it in tomorrow, we'll fix it." They normally charge for loaners but they gave me one for free. Overall I'm not upset. The factory clearly did a poor job of QC before my car left.
I pick it up, and it smells like detergent - but that's better than mold. I drive for the next couple of months, it's OK but frankly it's never smelled right... But now, for the last week, it just smells like garbage. It's not old food, or spilled milk or anything like that (I don't have kids!). I'm convinced it's from the original water damage and I don't know where to go from here. I can't pinpoint the smell from my nose.
So folks - where would you go about trying to pinpoint the smell? Should I try to sort this out with Nissan directly? Go back to the dealer (it's going back next week anyways, for parts falling off the car problems anyway)? Any advice would be appreciated.
Gustavo,
The guy with the stinky car.
Once it started to get warm, I thought "man this A/C is terrible. Well, it's an electric car - so I guess that's another tradeoff." That mindset prevailed until I got into a friends leaf, and realized that his A/C rocks. In fact, it was better I think that any A/C I've had in any gas car. OK off to the dealer... This is where the problems really start...
Dealer takes a look. Confirms, yep your A/C is broken. High pressure hose leaks, ordered a new one, but it's on back order... 2-3 weeks probably. Eventually, finally, the hose arrives I take it in, they have the car all day. I go to pick it up. "It's blowing cold now - he ran it all day to be sure!" Fantastic. In fact it was blowing cool. Awesome. Except when I get in it, I notice water dripping from around what would normally be a transmission tunnel - way back there. I ask the service adviser... Oh, they washed the car, sorry about that I'll have a talk with them. I'm skeptical. It appears water is dripping down, but he assures me - they did nothing on the inside of the car, it was all the hose between the compressor and coil in the motor bay.
I drive home. Water is now gushing out at a high rate. It's Friday night, they're about to close I call them. He says come on back down, he'll make sure the service tech doesn't go home. I get there.... They take in the back, and 30 minutes or so he returns... "Did the A/C ever work in this car?" "Nope, I don't think it did." "It couldn't have, not without you noticing it. The hose that takes the drip water condensate was never hooked up at the factor, it was just laying there. We hooked it up and I patted down the carpet to get the water up. Just keep the windows cracked to let it dry out so you don't run into any problems."
Deal. I don't want a stinky car. So I keep the window cracked, and Sunday go to drive it and wow. It stinks. It stinks bad. Like super bad. I call them up, tell them, and really to be honest, the dealer has been pretty good about this - they say "Bring it in tomorrow, we'll fix it." They normally charge for loaners but they gave me one for free. Overall I'm not upset. The factory clearly did a poor job of QC before my car left.
I pick it up, and it smells like detergent - but that's better than mold. I drive for the next couple of months, it's OK but frankly it's never smelled right... But now, for the last week, it just smells like garbage. It's not old food, or spilled milk or anything like that (I don't have kids!). I'm convinced it's from the original water damage and I don't know where to go from here. I can't pinpoint the smell from my nose.
So folks - where would you go about trying to pinpoint the smell? Should I try to sort this out with Nissan directly? Go back to the dealer (it's going back next week anyways, for parts falling off the car problems anyway)? Any advice would be appreciated.
Gustavo,
The guy with the stinky car.