El Kabong

First of all, props to jshin22, who posted this writeup. He (?) didn't post any pictures, so when I used his writeup to fix my display, I made sure to take lots of pictures. What an amazingly fragile design from Mazda!


So jshin22 has it exactly right - on the back of the radio faceplate there are 2 banks of pins, which make contact with pins on the radio itself. The trouble is, the connection is very tenuous. If the pins aren't making good contact, the display and A/C lights start acting up especially when the weather is cold (shrinkage!). Mine would start acting up, like when I went over a big bump, then if I tapped on the faceplate it would work OK for a while. Even when the display wasn't working, all the radio controls worked, I could change the station, volume, etc. And when the A/C lights weren't working, the A/C unit still worked. So if your radio or A/C don't work, this probably won't fix them.

I used a vise grip to very carefully bend the tabs back (away from the faceplate) so that when I remounted it, there would be a little more pressure between the radio and the faceplate. Like jshin22 says, it's a tiny adjustment. I just barely moved the tabs. I also used a small smear of dielectric grease to keep things settled.

The last picture shows that on each side of the radio, next to the hole for the mounting screw, there is an extra hole on the tab which mates with a little plastic prong on the back of the faceplate. This is to help you line them up right when you ar putting them back together.

I have copied and pasted his writeup below. The pics are mine. Thanks a ton, jshin22!

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I know that numerous people in RX8club have problems such as display going bad and center unit not working. I had a similar problem. My display was blank, and the faceplat and HVAC did not work. This happened when I tried to install ipod integration kit. I searched this forum for 3 months. However, I did not have any luck. But, tonigt, I finally solved my problem. So, I thought I should make a brief thread about this since there's nothing in the forum that gives solutions to the problems. So...............well, here is the solution to the problem discussed above.

Symptom-Blank display, Faceplate not working, HVAC not functioning except the fan speed.

Possible cause of the problem- Lose connection between the faceplate and cd/radio caused when you took out the headunit. Broken faceplate, or fried unit.

Diagnostic-First, try to control the CD/Radio using the steering wheel control.

If you are lucky enough to have cd in your head unit, eject the cd, and put it back. This will turn the radio/cd on. (Make sure that you do not take out the CD completely. Otherwise, you cannot put the CD back in since you faceplate is broken.) Then, turn the volume on, using the steering wheel control. You can hear the noise if your cd/radio is working.

If not,just get new CD/Radio because you probably fried it.

Once you did the step above, take out the head unit. you can pretty much follow the steps described in the video below.

Radio removal video:
Then, separate the faceplate from the radio/cd. Examine and check if there is any plastic deformation/ damage on the circuit board of the faceplate. If you see deformation, order new faceplate.

For HVAC, if you fanspeed control was working then, your HVAC is probably fine. If not, follow the soldering/fixing process in DIY forum. If it still does not work, order one.

Solution to the problem
Now, you know what part of headunit is broken. Get the replacement for the damaged parts and follow the step below.

1.Remove the headunit from dash.

2.Take the faceplate off from the radio/CD

3. Bend the bracket of the frame of CD/radio toward where the connectors go. The brackets I'm refering to are ones where the screws that connect the faceplate and the radio go.

BEND only slightly. Seriously, these brackets should be made of Aluminum or something. They bend easily. Bend about 3 degrees. Most of the time, when you take out the head unit, you bend the bracket. Thus, when you put the head unit back on, there's a gap between the faceplate and CD/radio. That is why you expereince the problems mentioned in the beginning (Bad connection). Thus, by bending the bracket backward, you are making the gap disappear.

4. Now, here's where you should be really careful. Using some sort of flashlight, try to alight the connector of the faceplate to the pins of CD/radio.

This is very important since it's where all the problems stem from. Try to align them perfectly. Bad alignment causes faulty connections which will only power the headunit (ex. The headunit will only lit (still buttons not working) when you turn the light on your car).

5. Once the faceplate and the radio/CD are aligned, put the headunit back on, and see it this works. Most of the time it should work (at least, mine worked).


I wish i took some pictures. But, my phone was running out of juice so I couldn't. I know it's really hard to follow. But, at least you can give it a shot. SO..........

ANYWAY, GOOD LUCK!

*ALL THE WORK IS DONE AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THE WORK HERE. DON'T MAKE STUPID MISTAKE AND BLAME OTHER PEOPLE.*

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