blstony1

Worked like a charm!!

drogers5

I tried the power button and up scan and all I get is all the icons on display light up and and a/c temp. Am I doing something wrong.

CnnmnSchnpps

iTrader: (1)

^ you should get a/c temp with a number next to it - turn the temperature **** to see if the numbers increment smoothly or if it just stays on 0 or 16

RX8Jim

Be sure and follows wingnuts instructions, turn the radio on, then press and hold the ON/OFF button while pressing SCAN "up" (not SEEK, which lights up the entire display test).

jhmbl05

Wingnut, you are awesome. this diy came just in time. heat completely gave out a few days ago and i was expecting the worst. all better now. Thanks!

dlang100

Here is an addition to the testing information.

My wife's RX (yes, we have matching cars. I would consider it weird if they were Fords, but, hey, they're both RX-8's!) had different symptoms, but the same solution.

On her car, we first noticed a problem when we were running the A/C and it would suddenly blow hot air. Sometimes we would play with the **** and sometimes just goosing the accelerator would get it working correctly. Once I learned that I could see the A/C temp settings from Wingnut's post, I tried it on her car. I realized that if I tapped the temp control **** it would jump from 0 to 13 (I think 16 is the max, but her's showed 13). It would not stop at any other number when you turn the **** (or tap it).

I took it apart last weekend to celebrate the virtual party and the same fix works for the intermittent problem as well.

Now, do I need to do this every 70,000 miles or will the solder hold?

Thanks again Wingnut for starting the thread and the post. It has just doubled my savings!

fyrelight74

I didn't know the heater thing was that common. We just bought a 2005 that had only 6000 miles on it, and the heater started going wonky on me. I took it to Mazda yesterday and they are going to replace the part on Monday or Tuesday. I'm still under warranty so I don't mind letting them fix it, since I won't pay anything.

Does anybody know if the new parts will eventually have the same problem? Or did Mazda fix the loose connections in the new part? I'm just wondering if the heat will go out on me again in another 6000 miles or not.

onefatsurfer

thanks a lot. this diy worked great. heater works, and now i can get temps other than "hell" or "icebox"

sunsilver

Awesome DIY I'm new to the forum and this was a big help I did this fix today on my 04 GT and it works great now, if only I could figure out how to stop my tail light from getting condensation inside all the time.

SamH

sunsilver: the water in taillight problem is quite common. A little searching on the forum will turn up some threads, such as: https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...=water+in+tail. This issue is common enough that there is a Mazda TSB covering it (you'll see the link to it in the above mentioned thread).

When I bought my used '05 it had this problem, so I took it to the dealership and they fixed it no charge, no questions asked. (I'm within warranty though, so I'm not sure how it will work out if you are out of warranty).

2004velocityred

Thanks for this. I have lurked this forum for ages and never had a reason to post. I actually pulled my hvac controller 3 years ago and looked it over and missed those 3 small connection points.

Thanks to this I pulled it again and fixed it in about 20 minutes.

XRX8X

it's nice when people you never seen before help out for reasons the world shall never know about do what they and we do without question or price.thanks for all your help when seeing the dealer priceing makes me blood curdle.this thank you go's to all on this board who took the time to help out some of less brain power than most.you have made a lot of people happy.thanks again!!

phunkyb1tch

i'm trying this fix right now and have a problem. i've located the under the dash bolt and here's the problem...i have the nut part off, but the bolt part won't budge. i've done the rest of the screw removal and can't get the unit to slide out on the drivers side so i thought it must be that bolt. am i missing something - other than much greater hand strength?

thanks!

Wingnut

Phunky,
Make sure you have the right bolt, check the last frame on this page:
http://www.whatsmyip.org/ipodrx8/4.php From your description it sounds like you took off the nut on the bottom with the red circle around it, and not the bolt futher up. I believe it is a bolt and not a nut.
After that is out, it does take a little muscle to get it to first budge.
Good luck.

phunkyb1tch

seems i made it harder than it needed to be by finding the most obscure bolt on there....got the right one now. Thanks!!

tskeltonPGA

ok so this was looking like it was going to be my second winter with no heat...it was 38 when i left the house this morning(i know not that bad compared to some) but i was so cold on the way to work and decided to check here...and low and behold i find this page of glory...just took out my radio while i'm here at work and just need to go get a soldering iron and some solder! hope this works!

tskeltonPGA

holy ****...nothing beats savings yourself a trip to the dealer and 500 bucks change! thanks a bunch...this was so easy and fast...my heat actually works now...it goes 0.1.2.3.4.5...all the way...thanks again!

SupaDupaKen

I recently found out my heat's wonky, so I took it to the dealer to look at it. The heat wasn't working on the way to the dealer, but when the mechanic checked it out, the heat worked just fine, so they sent me home because "there's nothing they can do unless it's not functioning at the time."

I just did the diagnosis posted and sure enough, it stayed on 0. I don't have any soldering experience so I'll try to find someone else to do it.

Thanks a lot for the info! You saved me a bit of money.

tskeltonPGA

hey as far as the soldering experience....just get a soldering iron (7 bucks from advance auto) and a spool of solder (3 bucks from AA...i was there yesterday) and then plug in the soldering iron...give it a bout 3 minutes to heat up...hold the end of the soldering iron over each of the points to solder and just touch the solder to it...it will melt and drip right onto the circuit board...then viola! heat!

spideyman44

Damn. I wish I found this thread about 30 minutes ago. I just ordered the part from Mazda for $175. I'll make sure to do a better search next time.

CnnmnSchnpps

iTrader: (1)

Before doing this fix I hadn't soldered anything in like 5 years? If you can try to find some old piece of electronics that you don't need, take it apart and go wild

2tone

iTrader: (3)

so i just did followed these steps and put it all back together. random things don't work.

none of the audio controls on the steering wheel work.

the volume on the dash turns up and down, but doesn't power down. the cd's eject, but won't load. i can tune the radio by the tune up/down arrows, but i can't program any of the 1-6 presets. the hazards do work. none of the modes work, by steering wheel or dash.

the air flow works, but now it only blows out hot air, not cold. and none of the air mode's work (the whole circular cluster doesn't work...head/feet/defrost, no a/c, no recirculation...).

any ideas? everything is plugged back...i guess i can recheck the connections tomorrow. but it seems a bit random that some things work and other don't. especially considering i didn't mess w/ anything other than that one connection area...unless i just didn't plug everything in firmly enough??? it's going to be a long drive to work tomorrow w/o radio/cd...

2tone

iTrader: (3)

so i realized this morning that my air mode (head, feet, feet/defrost,defrost), of which i have no control over, changes one position every time i start the car. last night i was on head, this morning it was on feet, leaving the store to come to work it was feet/defrost! haha, what?!

also, none of the lights work - gotta be some weird connection problem. the weirdest thing to me is the steering wheel controls don't work either. i didn't put that last bolt in (by the steering column), is that some sort of grounding connection that is needed? stupid, but i thought i'd ask.

i guess i'll take it all apart tonight and reconnect everything...any ideas would be great!!

Wingnut

2tone,
I have to believe that there is one (or more) loose or unconnected wiring harness plugs. There are quite a few, and some could be missed. I have a hard time imagining a scenario where the soldering or missoldering of the temperature dial could result in the symptoms you describe. Worst case is a pin in a harness plug got bent, but I assume there are couple of loose connections.
I regards to the 10mm bolt, I did an aux-in hack a few years ago and forgot to put the bolt back in and have never missed it since.

Good luck.

2tone

iTrader: (3)

thanks!!

i agree, i just HOPE we're right! i can't imagine that screwing up the soldering would result in 75% of the stuff not working. besides, my heat works now, so the soldering did something!! although now i can't get it cold! haha. man.

oh, my driver's side heated seat heats up, but the indicator light doesn't work now - just an example of a bad connection probably. i guess i'll take it apart and reconnect everything tonight in the hope that it will work!!