Radio and A/C Dials have a mind of their own

[mdub]

Hi folks, I have a 2009 SL with Nav and the radio and heater dials seem to have a mind of their own.

on the diver side only, if you attempt to change the volume of the radio or the temp of the climate control, the value jumps all over the place.

so for the heater, one click "up" will move the temp anywhere up or down 1-4 degrees.

for the radio, volume will not initially respond then similarly either go up or down to a new value.

Anyone else experience this?

[riverratt]

The stereo volume on our 2011 LE would change by itself and then go back to where it was originally. This would happen about twice per week. Bought a new 625 CCA battery and the problem has not repeated in the 3 weeks since.

[Pilgrim]

Interesting thought about the battery. Another option is to remove the radio and re-seat all the connectors. They have been known to work loose. Intermittent contact can do strange things.

[BillArf]

To OP ............ You know there is a setting on your Murano that if set to On, will allow volume to raise and lower on the radio in direct correlation to the vehicle's speed. (at least my Murano has this feature. Could it be this that you are experiencing?

.

[Orzel]

From past experience, a weak battery can manifest itself in a lot of odd behavior in modern vehicles. I had a Nissan Z that I swore was possesed, the electronics did strange things, dash lights coming on and off, various indicator lighs randomly lighting up then going off, and other mysterious incidents. All went away when I put in a new battery - go figure.

[jjbradhurst]

I have the same problem!

Explain more about changing the battery... Where is it housed?

Ther is no way I'm going to remove the radio, and I'm not going to bring it into the shop and pay who noes what for that.

I will look into changing the steering based on the vehicle's speed - although it seems so silly to make a setting that changes the volume or temperature based on the speed you are going.

[cletusbaird]

my wife's murano does this too
with both the stereo and the fan controls

what battery is everyone talking about? the one under the hood?

[riverratt]

Yes, the one under the hood. I believe the OEM battery to be 550 CCA. Find a replacement battery with increased CCA.

[KJSmitty]

Originally Posted by riverratt

Yes, the one under the hood. I believe the OEM battery to be 550 CCA. Find a replacement battery with increased CCA.

Normally I would not say definitively yet changing battery CCAs should/would not effect the above. I do agree that a week battery can cause issues - seen it on my wife's LE as well as my previous sedan. Battery worked, though tested weak. Of all things in the sedan, the Bluetooth/hands free module started working poorly with increased noise and feedback. New battery curried it all..

On the other hand, just disconnecting the battery for 10-20 min can set everything back to defaults thus fixing many electrical gremlins.. That would be the/an initial diagnostic move in my book.

Cheers

[riverratt]

Except that the Nissan OEM batteries are junk and have been know to fail without warning.

[jcman311]

But what the original poster is talking about... I've had the same issue at times. Seemed to be worse in the cold but its just a poor design of the button. I can move it a little bit and it will jump 2-3 settings and if I feel a couple of clicks of the button it may not change anything. Seems to be no rhyme or reason and I guess I'll have to live with it. I'm pretty sure I didnt have the problem in the summer months. Brand new battery as of 5 months ago.

[cletusbaird]

yes, this is my problem exactly
not sure about the warm/cold part of it.

i'm still under warranty. i just didn't know if anything could/would be done about it.

[cletusbaird]

FYI

Had the MOs battery tested and it showed low voltage and CCA but was working fine. I bit the bullet and had it replaced on Friday and it seems to have fixed the problem. My battery was the OE battery and approx 3 years old.

[Orzel]

Many supposed electronic gremlins can be resolved with a battery replacement. I'm due myself, as we still have the OEM in our 09. We've been holding off as so far the battry seems to be OK, and we are in a spring weather trend out here on the northern left coast. I'll probably change ours out before next fall/winter - assuming it doesn't crash before then.

[Pilgrim]

Originally Posted by jjbradhurst

I have the same problem!

Explain more about changing the battery... Where is it housed?

Ther is no way I'm going to remove the radio, and I'm not going to bring it into the shop and pay who noes what for that.

I will look into changing the steering based on the vehicle's speed - although it seems so silly to make a setting that changes the volume or temperature based on the speed you are going.

If you don't know where your car's battery is, you may need some help with this. OTOH, maybe you think we're referring to some supplemental battery hidden in an odd location. We're not.

It's easy to pull the radio - manuals are available through multiple threads here - but that's up to you. Do it or don't as you please.

There's nothing silly about speed-related volume changes.

a) Car goes faster
b) Noise level inside car (tire, engine and wind noise) increases with speed
c) Radio setting which was audible at low speed becomes inadequate at higher speed (not everyone listens at ear-bleed levels)
d) Radio volume increases to keep the radio audible over the increased noise level

Logical - effective - not silly. All you have to do is think about it. Many cars offer this function because it makes perfect sense for listening at moderate volumes.