Another big Thank You from someone who used your wonderfully detailed infomration to fix the heater control. It was exactly as you said, and now it works beautifully!

 

This fix totally worked for me. Have some pics to add once I download them

 

Thank you thank u to the op!

 

looks like i'll be doing this. Mine started to throw cold (figures getting colder on the east coast) did the test and the sucker jumps from 14 to 0 and back and then lands at 0 for a few...

SO next 60deg day its getting pulled and this fix, i hope fixes it. Thanks!

 

I tried this repair on my sons 2004 and I don't think it worked but on top of that now I have no power to the radio no display and u can't change the settings on the heater-like from the defrost to feet). What did I do wrong to cause that??

 

Great post. Thanks for the easy diagnostic.

This was the problem I was having and now I know what to do about it, just need the time/coin.

Cheers!

 

agreed, well i need some warmth lol. but its nice to hit the code finder to see the switch level and i just flick mine and it works... i'll get to this asap but 40-28degs and working in the weather not my cup of tea.

 

great diy - thanks a lot sharing!

Did for my 8 today, succeeded to loose the hidden bolt

To get more space behind the radio I removed the center ventilator grille. After pulling the radio unit out a bit you can see there are 2 bolts locking the grille, removing the grille gave me some extra space to access those connectors.

 

Recheck all the connections at the back of the radio and climate control unit.

 

Thanks to OP...

Was able to fix my daughters RX-8 yesterday!

 

Anyone know if this can fix problems with the buttons as well? My a/c, rear defrost, defrost, and air choice buttons all stopped working while the one in the center to choose floor/vent still works.


Thanks for the great DIY!

 

Finally did this after putting it off for nearly a year. Not much call for heat down here near the Gulf Coast, but it was starting to intermittently go full hot then cold, etc. Things to look out for if you are going to do it: 1) Remove the metal brace under the trim piece below the steering wheel, then a 12" extension fits perfectly level. Only loosen the bolt, then take out by hand (mine was already loose). 2) It's a great time to take the shifter trim piece completely apart and clean out the crap that falls into the creases around it. 3) Those electrical plugs are tough to separate, especially with the limited room. A miniature screwdriver came in handy there to help depress the lock tabs. 4) Once you do get the assembly out, you can get a little more slack in the wire bundles by untaping them from the mains. Mine had one turn of a very sticky blue tape on them. 5) When you get the circuit board out, it will look fine. Don't believe it... 6) It's a good thing there are guide tabs on the face plate to radio connection, otherwise, it would be very difficult to get the knife connections to line up good! 7) My 61 year old hands were nearly too big to fit behind the radio to remove and reconnect. You may need someone with skinny arms to help. 8) When you get the connections all done, do the potentiometer test, before tightening anything up. Was really nice to see a smooth 0 to 16 and back! And to see the display read correctly.

On a side note, I had two inches of water in the tail lamps after a trip through a car wash. The gasket kits that supposedly stop this cost a lot ($70 online!). So I removed both and drilled tiny holes on the lowest points, dried them out, and now they still get a little water in them, but they always drain and dry (eventually). It's a shame the two above items didn't get a more aggressive response from Mazda

 

Did this about two weeks ago (just in time too since it was starting to get cold)
great easy fix thanks

 

I need to get off my lazy *** and do this... my heater control barely works at all lol.

 

Fantastic post. Apparently mine's been stuck on zero for the past three years.

Now I just need to find someone else to do the dirty work to fix it.

 

Wingnut and all the other posters, Thank You All for taking the time to post this. I know you saved me a lot of money and time. My dingleberries have been freezing off with only the seat heaters to ward off the cold. I'll tackle this on Saturday and I'm certain I'll be toasty by Monday.

 

Did this repair yesterday with the GF (she took the soldering iron home with her and now wants her own tool set for XMas after "helping" me replace lights, fix the clutch pedal switch, insulate for noise, and now this). Anyway, this took an hour and half including teaching time. Works perfectly now. Thanks for posting the easy to follow instructions. Saved hundreds of $ and learned more about my 8 too. Great to have this site as my main resource for learning about and maintaining my 8. I hope to be able to add something useful myself in the future.

 

I love you wingnut!!! This fix took me about half an hour and it worked perfectly! Thank you!

 

I also have the problem of no heat. After reading this thread, I did the diagnostic check and found that I had to hold the **** to the right to get the control to advance 0 through 16. I found that the 3 solder joints were bad. I then resoldered the joints and put it all back together, but I still don't have any heat. Any suggestions on what the problem may be? I'm thinking the circuit board. Is there any way to test the board. Maybe someone else out there has run into this problem as well. Thanks.

 

Finally did this while I was home during break. Been waiting a little over a year to do this.

Took a little over an hour to finish it up.

Thanks!

 

I jammed a penny in mine, works great now, took 3.5 seconds.

 

Jammed a penny in it?

 

If I had known this was going to be so easy, would have done it last year.

Thanks for the great thread!

 

I too couldn't get mine working...

What are some other things to check? I live in Arizona, so it's not too cold here, but it'd be nice to have heat working.

 

The two of you should start a thread in the Troubleshooting Forum to get help on your issues.