Problems stemming from melted visor
 

So my sun visor melted today, due to three straight days with near 100-degree heat.

No big deal, I'd seen the posts on here about that problem so was aware it might happen.

What I didn't know, though, is that the wires inside the visor apparently have something to do with the car's interior electronics system. Once the visor fell off, and the wires were left hanging, my stereo went out, the interior lights went out and the advanced key no longer worked.

WTF is up with that?

I'm taking it in to the dealer Monday and they said they will repair it under warranty, so that's cool. But who would have thought losing a freaking sun visor would take down your stereo, interior lights and key functions! :mad:

it shouldn't unless the wires shorted...

:eek: That is completely terrible. I can't believe the sunvisor is wired into everything like that!!! Come on, it's a visor, darn it!!!

I can't imagine needing all that wiring for a visor. How could it possibly need that much just for a tiny lighted mirror? :dunno:

Yeah. I'm thinking the wires may have been damaged but not specifically caused by the visor, such as the visor melted and fell off, and then the exposed wires suffered a heat-related death.

Chuck Norris roundhouse kicked your visor, dude!

I agree that the wires either shorted or in another way failed.
If the visors did melt from that low heat, All of us in the SW would be driving in hot plastic.

I just wonder how they failed. Strange.

:rofl:

Wow, my visor suddenly became all screwed up this week too, and I had to get another one- didn't melt, but just wouldn't stay up. Wonder if that had something to do with the heat too...

Maybe the wires somehow shorted, caused the visor to melt, and as a result of the short has the problems with everything else? :dunno:

I have one of those heat reflective sun shades I put in mine, so my visors are tucked down underneath the shade behind the insulative padding. I also push tilt on my moonroof to vent the air. For two or three straight days not that long ago we had 100-plus temperatures and this is what I did with no problems with my visor. I know for sure at one point the thermometer read 110 and that was still before the hottest part of the day. I don't know how hot it actually did get at my house, though. I do know that my visors are fine. I wonder what causes some people's to melt and not others. :dunno:

All I know is I was driving around fine, stereo on - etc., then I went to pull down the visor - it fell into my lap leaving two wires dangling - and the stereo and the thermometer and and other info (not speedometer, thank god) were blacked out.

Then, when I went in to a press conference, the key wouldn't lock the door. I had to use the manual key. When I came back out later, I also had to use the manual key to start the car.

^^^ You would happend to have a Rx8 service manual would you?

I'm fairly certain all that stuff is on a common circuit in the fuse block. When the visor fell, the wires shorted and blew the fuse, hence the darkness.

Fix the visor, replace the fuse, back in business. Not a big ass deal folks.

go here and complain http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/ also see this thread https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-interior-audio-electronics-24/broken-visor-12572/

doesn't that have to be a safety-related issue?

how safe is it when a sun visor breaks off unexpectedly and lands in your lap.. or worse is left hanging by the wires eating half the windshield? At best it's a distraction caused by a defect with the vehicle and a visibility problem.

oh I'm not arguing that it's not ... but it isn't in the same boat as "the brakes don't work and I ran into a busload of small children"

it's still a distraction that can cause a serious accident if it occurs at the wrong time. especially if you happen to have an exploding sunvisor that falls apart rather than the cracked floppy kind. I've had both.

yeah, imagine that happens while you're talking on the phone..... or eating a big mac.

i was under the assumption that it broke while trying to put it down ... not just spontaneously combusting into people's faces.

i agree it's a hindrance/distraction but whether the gov't agency will consider it a safety-related issue is another story.

faulty wiring in the visor.

Visor fell on his lap leaving him distressed and not paying attention to the road.

Haha, the sad thing is, is that that would probably make case

Just like someone spilling hot coffee in her lap.

In Connecticut, today will be our third day of 100 degree or above temps, making it officially a heat wave.

I've been leaving the windows open all day, so heat doesnt build up in there. Park under trees, or in a shady area if you dont want to worry about leaves or sap falling on the car. Peak temperatures usually occur between 4-5 oclock PM, so park your car so that when that time rolls around it is facing away from the sun.

Haven't had any problems with my visor yet. (knock on wood). Outdoor parking lots in these temperatures are bad news.

A guy monday had so much pressure built up in the cabin of his VW that his front passenger window developed a huge crack in it. This heat is no joke. SO seriously. Leave your windows open, AT LEAST.

That's interesting you say, because my visor just melted last week as well and it was a dman mess, their was glue or melted plastic oozing out of the sides and it hasn't really been that hot . however, that's crazy that the other stuff happened to you.

It actually was a dangerous situation, as it was hanging by the wires for about 1 minute before finally falling in my lap and frying out the electronics. I actually blew through a stop sign by accident - luckily in a quiet residential neighborhood in the middle of the day so nothing happened.

I wonder if I could replace the fuse before the visor so my stereo works through the weekend. I'm not due to take it in to the dealer until Monday.

hmm weird, my melted and fell off a month ago. I didnt have any type of electric failures.

Maybe you had your winter visor installed? It always confuses me when I see posts like this. Somehow I have managed to keep my 8 for three years in the desert where we see 100+ temps most of the summer and nothing has ever melted in my car.

I'm guessing the melting is the result of a short circuit, and not the ambiant temperature. This should definatly be reported to the NTSB. It is a safety issue.

Not even your Hawaiian Dancer dashboard ornament?

I dunno
 

I just think it seems to big of a coincidence that it was melty after three days of 100-degree heat. Unfortunately, my work parking lot is totally uncovered and no trees - so I have to have my car out there during the hottest part of the day. I do use a window shade and vent the top with the sunroof, but on Wednesday I did not since it was going to be a relatively "cool" 96 :Freak_ani

I am curious - should I try to change out a fuse and see if I can get my stereo and advanced key system working before taking it to the dealer, or should I play it safe and let them handle everything under warranty? Opinions welcome!

I would take it to the dealer... if there's still a short, you'll just blow another fuse, and a surge caused by that could damage other electronics.

At work now, so I don't have access to the wiring diagrams to see if this all makes sense - but I bet it does. All the items you described as going out when the visor bombed were probably served by the same fuse....

bummer!

[Edit]
Yup - looks like the 15A "Room" fuse serves all these systems, so, what happened to you makes sense. If you're handy w/ electrical stuff - see if you can separate the wires and tape them off, then replace the fuse. Otherwise, I stand by my original advice - let the dealer fix it....

I think that all of you look like you need a monkey... No sir i dont want a monkey, ill give it to you for 30 dollars...NO i dont want the monkey...eeerr 20 dollars... sir i wont take that monkey even if it was FREE..

FREEE!!!!!! do you want my children to starve
Well if they Hungry then Feed them the monkey....

Have you been drinking? :scratchhe

i think mebbe he smoked some monkey before posting ...

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...smoke/bong.gif

it's not melting per se.. the plastic just gets soft and the visor will split along the seams. soemtime it's just a crack. other times though it has come all apart and falls into pieces.

yeah i though i was immune too.. then i went through a few in one month.

i forgot the name of the game i got that from, but the visor thing happen to me and i blamed a friend of mines for breaking it. i got mad cause now they on back order and guess what we cant say anything cause it dont count to mazdas customer satisfaction.