I just realized that the centre information cluster (Where you see AUDIO and time etc..) has the "pre-display" for the fan speed. How else can I describe it... like on a calculator, you see the 7-segment sections (displaying an 8 faintly) when you look at it from certain angles.

It looks as if our cars have the fan-speed display there, but it's somehow disabled? Why would Mazda do that?

I consulted the manual afterwards, and it has no mention of the centre information display to show the fan speed at all...

 

In some countries the RX8 has auto climate control with fan speed display.

 

Yeah, we have all the hardware - temp sensors, display etc, North American Mazda chose not to program it in the ECU. Sux BigTime.

S

 

in the new mazda 3 hatch back I saw this feature in action... It wasnt to do with any automatic climate control by the looks of things and was directly related to the **** itself.

I want this enabled on mine.

 

Someone that has the RX-8 electrical wiring manual should investigate this. If I had a copy of the manual, I would.. being an engineer and all... It'll probably only work if the fan *** has built in position sensors.

 

Nah, its probably voltage based on fan speed (ie the more voltage the fans get, the faster they go)

 

Its a programming problem, not an engineering one.
The needed code is omitted from North American PCMs and cluster controllers.

 

you've investigated this already? So the wiring is already done, but there's no programming written for it? Where are you getting this information from? Can you share?

 

The temp sensors are in place, front of dash by windshield.

MNAO chose not to turn the feature on. In Europe they chose not to implement cruise control, so an enterprising German guy bought a US steering wheel with the buttons - stuck it on and it worked!

S

 

It's not the temp sensors I'm talking about though, it's the fan speed display in the centre instrument cluster.

 

I'm not talking about the actual speed of the fan..... I guess I'm not explaining it clearly. I am ONLY talking about the fan speed DISPLAY on the centre instrument cluster. The display should not be a function of voltage, that doesn't make sense.

It should be a position sensor and merely just "displays more bars" as you go up in fan speed via the ****.

 

So what was your question?

The display is multiplexed into the ECU, it could light up that little fan anytime it wants, it just chooses not to.

S

 

My question is:

How can I make the fan speed display on the centre instrument display work? The pre-display segments are already there if you look closely.

 

You can't.

S

 

What Stealth was trying to say before is that all of the required hardware (ie temp sensor, auto climate wiring and even the display) is all in place and ready to be used. However, the programming needed to make all the stuff work and display on the screen is not there. The computer was not flashed with that specific part of the climate control settings. Therefore, you will see the temp sensor and the outline of the fan speed on the display but you won't be able to use it without the programming on the computer.

 

I think Stealth might have meant to underline "you".

If an individual can crack the embedded controller in the center console HVAC controls, that individual could do quite a few interesting things.
However, are you that individual?

Its not just a group of LEDs that aren't wired, waiting for your soldering iron.

 

Certainly, a good software engineer could go into the computer and flick one logic-bit to make the whole system work, but so far no-one has......

S

 

If it were only that easy......

Too bad OEM's don't use open source...

Not to mention that there very well may be hardware components missing. If it costs Mazda more to "exclude" pieces then obviously they would be there just deactivated - but the opposite is also true. The LCD is obviously cheaper to produce as a single item... but without tracing the entire system and then hacking the PCM together; you would not have a viable solution. Hacking compiled code without any reference is hard enough - but then to test it without knowing for sure that everything downstream is set correctly - gah gives me a headache just thinking about it.

 

just keep complaining to mazda that it was working and now its not... get them to fix it under warranty.... they'll think ur nuts at first but if we get everyone on here to complain about it, they'll think THEY're nuts :O