Worked for me!!!! Thanks.

 

damnnn....just spent $500 at the dealership before reading this thread. Luckily I still have the old unit. Anyone know if Mazda dealerships have return policies on parts they install? :S

 

just a question before i start soldering random things lol, The three parts that Wingnut circled on the board, am I just putting solder on them over the old ones?

 

Yes... you are simply adding more solder to the joint.
No reason to remove and re-solder the connector.

 

alright thanks for clearing that up for me =OD

 

ok so im at the part where you disconnect the wiring for the headunit, iv gotten the first bottom one out after finding it had a tab to push in, now the one in the middle i cant pull the unit out far enough to see if it has a tab as well or not, or do i just yank it out?

 

nvm got it, now to smack myself with the soldering gun for being a dopie

 

Did this today with the help of a friend (because I SUCK with a Solder Iron) and it worked perfectly.

 

Hi folks. I have been searching to help Mother with some issues on her 05 shinka. She told me the other day that she was took the car out and did not have heat. She said she warmed the car up before leaving on her 15 miles drive. The car never had heat the entire trip. She return home later and same thing. Then she said she heard a click or something (noise of the heater system changed) and there was heat. To my knowledge this is the first incident and she did not fiddle with the ***** at all.

Could her system be related to the heater control **** failure? Should I have her do anything to help determine if this is it? Does it start out intermittant and get worse from there? Since it is the first time should I just keep and eye on it and see if it becomes more regular.

Just want to have some education before she runs off and lets the dealer over charge her for something I could have fixed.

Thanks so much!

 

It's easy to test the heater control ****. Turn the ignition to the on position, you don't have to turn on the car but it doesn't matter if you do. Turn the radio on, then once its on press and hold the on button don't let go, then press and hold the up scan button at the same time. The radio display will say a/c temp with a number next to it. Now turn the heater control **** all the way left to cold, the number should be 0. Now turn the **** one click at a time to the right. The number should go up by 1 for each click and stop at 16 when you get all the way to the hot side. Turning the **** back to the left should have the opposite affect. If this is not the case this DIY is for you.

 

VIA WINGNUT, thx again...

Easy Diagnosis:
The easiest way to verify this is to turn on the radio, press and hold the power on/off button and press and hold the scan-up button for a second (full second). The word "A/C TEMP" should appear on the left of the display and a number from 0 to 16 on the right. I suspect yours will have the number 0 (or 16 if heating only problem) displayed no matter where you turn the temperature control ****. If this is the case you could turn the temp. **** to full heat and see if it goes to 16 after pushing down or to the right on the ****.
In a working system, the number moves evenly in increments of 1, from 0 to 16 as you turn the temperature ****.

 

This is a great DIY! Took me and some friends about 90 minutes start to finish and everything works perfectly! Thanks to everyone that has contributed to this. And a big F You to Mazda for doing such a shotty job on the control unit.

 

Amazing write up was having this problem all I had to do was follow the instructions and I re soldered the unit and I had heat again!!!

 

Hello fellows, after installing and ipod adaptor, I know have the same problem with my heat. I will definitley fix this problem myself> THANKS
-one question? what exactley is the problem here, how does this happen? I am guessing that after taking my HU out it got rattled or bumped. Wouldnt the problem be internal on the **** or the copper coils (not the soldering contact on the curcuit board) i just want to be thorough before attempt this repair.
how does the soldering repair fix the problem, makes me wonder?
Anyone have comments or feed back?
thanks

 

It happens because there was a problem with the automated assembly process that solders the parts together. The machine probably wasn't set to a hot enough temperature for the potentiometer that controls the climate control. The continuous temperature changes result in expansion/contraction of the components and they eventually no longer make a reliable connection.
I used to do component level repair of various electronic assemblies.
Less than a month ago, I had to perform this same repair.

 

^^ thanks Alnielsen for the quick feedback. Looks like a non-lazy Sunday i will be taking the HU out to make this repair.

 

Thanks, Just did it and worked like a charm however i knew i was going to lose that 10mm bolt so i didnt bother trying to save it. Now ive noticed when taking turns the display will flicker and the controls stop working. im assuming this is due to the bolt not holding it in place so does anyone have the actual bolt size so i can get a new one.

 

i am in need of an AC control unit, my ac temp broke. Plus i had to stick a pen tube in the temp controller to control my ac LOL.

after seeing that i have to remove the radio somewhat (which i paid someone to do) it kinda makes me lose interest in doing it.

at least i can get cold ac if i fidget around with the pen tube, but it's not that pretty to look at

 

I would say go back in and check your connections. I don't think the bolt is what's hurting you. I had display issues after doing mine and came to find out that I hadn't seated a plug on the driver's side of the radio fully. I could push on the left side of the face plate and my display would come back. As I recall, I just had to pull the radio out a few inches and I could reach that plug. Not sure what to tell you about the controls other than to re-check the connections.

 

I just bought my 2005 RX8 and noticed that the temperature was getting stuck. I found this thread and soldered the three areas on the panel.

IT WORKED!

Great thread. THANKS!!

 

Like so many others who have posted here, just finished this fix...awesome write-up, epic money saver!

Thanks a million!

-Adam

 

Old thread, but sub'ing so I can find it if ever needed to reference in the future.

 

Thank you everyone. I was able to fix mine as well although I managed to break my defrost button when disassembling everything. Don't know how I did it but it snapped off the board. I was able to super glue the button back and the button worked pressing the rubber tip into the board but after I reinstalled it didn't work. Not sure if it's fixable now and didn't feel like undoing everything again. The A/C temp **** is now correctly working. Odd that the 3 solder points didn't look damaged or worn out. I added some solder to them anyways and it fixed the problem. Thanks again not having control over the temperature was really annoying. Living without the defrost button for now is no biggie for me. I may redo it again sometime and see if I can fix the button.

Decclan

 

Excellent DIY,Although I'm not driving my 8 in the winter,I just did this fix in about an hour and it works perfectly.No problems at all and $400 saved.Thanks again for the great post.

 

I've soldered the 3 points that is shown, and have assembled everything together, the same way I took it apart, making sure that all harnesses and plugs fit properly. However, after I turn the car on, the only thing that works on the center console is the fan.
Does anyone have an idea of what could have happened here?

(No button functions, except for hazard; When I turn the lights on, the console light's up... but again, no functions work).

I would appreciate any help that you may have to offer.

THanks,

Chad