There doesn't seem to be a forum that is applicable to the air conditioner so hopefully a few people see this in here.

I have a brand new 2003 Xterra SE and find the air conditioner to operate very strangly, and unlike any other car I've had and unlike the manual says.

After toying around and testing it appears the 2003 A/C has been changed to operate in a semi-automatic mode, with the compressor coming on through some strange voodoo combination of the temperature control and who knows what else.

In my vehicle at least, it appears the A/C button is little more than a sort of manual overide to force the compressor to come on, although it doesn't always work that way. In addition, there are times that the temperature control is on hot, and the compressor will run for a while then shut off.

According to the manual, the compressor should come on in the defrost modes, but I'm seeing it come on it ALL modes, at seemingly random intervals. One thing that is certain though is that turning the temperature nob all the way to cold turns on the compressor.

I've talked to two dealers about this and they claim it is the correct operation of the new system. I find it hard to believe that in the new models there is no way to simply get outside air unheated and uncooled.

Anyone have any insights/clarifications.