I took longer than 2 hours doing mine, but I also fixed my disk changer while I had it out (disk jammed inside).

If you haven't done this kind of thing before give yourself 4-6 hours to do it, just to be safe. Be sure and cover your stick shift with something soft to prevent 'scratching' of the console when you remove it. The actual soldering only takes a few minutes, but getting everything back together and all the plugs connected correctly can take a while.

I'd suggest printing up a full copy of the instructions and pictures to have with you while you do it.

 

Excellent advice. I nicked mine (right below the CD slot). It's hardly noticable, but it could've been much worse.

 

Just fixed mine in my shinka! I froze my but off the other day and even worse I couldn't see from the frost that never thawed...

So glad this DIY exists! those pices in the first post make it so simple, never even read a post past that one!

Stephen

 

Shouldn't take any more than 2 hours, actually more than 1 hour. Getting the connectors in the back of the radio out is the hard part...

 

Just did this. It fixed the heater control BUT there's still an odd issue:

*When I put the key in the car, go to the A/C TEMP menu and I turn the heater, it successfully goes 0,1,2,3,4,5,6 etc. so the soldering fixed this

*As soon as I turn the key to the "ON" position, the A/C TEMP menu goes back to 0 and stays there regardless if I turn it or not. It keeps blowing cold air.

*Turn the key back to OFF - the A/C TEMP shows the proper number again

What could this be? Please help.

Thank you in advance.

 

sounds like you shorted something.

I really wish this was the source of my heat problem. Unfortunately my **** (and the LCD test) work just fine in all modes. Yet, like others, I suffer from the "drivers side is cold" issue.

Not looking forward to flushing out the heater amp. Would love to swap problems with one of y'all.

 

Thank for the info, I fixed my White8 in 2 hrs. Ya, unplugging those connections are really pain in the axx. The only thing is when I turn on the heater, it did blow air but don't feel like HOT air at all. Will run it a few days see if there is any difference. Anyone have the same problem?

 

I've dealt with the 'drivers side is colder' issue for two years. Last year we got some freezing rain, and even after driving for an hour the defrost could barely keep up on the driver side (passenger side was clean and clear within 5-10 minutes). Had to keep using washer fluid to keep the window clear (ran out, filled up, kept going).

After that last experience I decided I had to do something. I finally bit the bullet and flushed the heater core tonight. I just got back from a drive and it was sweltering in there. The driver side is fixed & overall the entire heating ability has probably doubled for all vents (very roasty in there now).

The quote from the dealer was about $180 (cdn, and after the many many taxes in Ont). I did it myself in about two hours, but it would have been about one or less if I wasn't being meticulous about not spilling any coolant & capturing all fluids in containers (working in a garage).

 

Thanks Wingnut, finally had time to fix it after wrestling with the temp controls everyday for about a month. Knocked this task out in less than an hour so i decided to fix my red door mirror adjuster led while i was at it, thanks for the motivation

 

still working well for ya? I'm gonna have to do this sooner or later.

 

Another thankful member here! Repaired mine today in less than 2 hrs. I installed an axial flow shifter while I was at it. Love the new shifter and its nice to finally get some heat in my car without having to jiggle the ****!

 

nice... any way to test temp setting with metra kit? damn after market parts...
or should i just take apart and look at connections anyway...?

suggestions? concerns?

 

great post! such a easy fix when you follow these directions. Heat is blasting me so hard now i almost melted, Thx!

 

hello, some issues with heater blower, notice that my interior blower not working, it blows nothing, even when turning fan full and ac on ect... fuses and relays seems to be ok? any ideas? :-(

Posted From RX8Club.com Android App

 

Ok guys... So over the last month temperatures have drastically come down and I have come to realize I have no heat, better yet, no control of the climate. Everything works except the temperature dial. I followed this DIY and soldered the three joints that are known to crack, although mine seemed fine, and it didn't change my symptoms. I even have an extra climate control unit that I swapped in and have the same results. I took my car into a shop that the owner specifically knows the Rx8 in and out, and after all the tests he performed, determined that the climate control unit was the cause of my problems since the HVAC doesn't respond to the temperature dial inputs.

Now I forgot to tell him that I have an aftermarket headunit, so the fact that I soldered the climate control unit and symptoms didn't change, it leads me to believe that the Axxess box is the root of the problem. I researched this pretty heavily on the forum, but the answers I found were from a few years ago, when the box was very faulty. I purchased mine brand new back in May, so it should have the newest firmware.

I know back in February before my OEM headunit broke, I did have fully functioning climate. Should I contact Metra and request a replacement axxess box?

Any other ideas to fix my problem? Having no heat is more than just an annoyance, it's becoming a safety hazard because when my windows get too fogged or the car sits outside too long and ice forms, the defroster blowing cold air is virtually useless.

 

this may be stupid... but i was having issues with heat, ended up being i was low on engine coolant... replaced, and bam heat.

 

Not stupid, but not my problem. Level is fine. Coolant does affect the amount of time it takes for the heat to come out of the vents though.

My shop measured the temperature of some heat tube or something (can't remember exactly what he said) and determined that heat was indeed flowing, I just can't get it from the control unit.

 

fixed my heater blower, blower motor was not getting any power when relay in place so i replace relay and put "jump wire" and voila heater blows air.

Posted From RX8Club.com Android App

 

I found it interesting that every year around this time this thread gets really popular. :P It's a good thread.

 

I attempted the fix about a month ago. It took me about 4 hours. The hardest parts were locating the bolt to remove the radio, and to disassemble and reassemble the circuit board. I wouldn't call this job easy to a novice like me, but if you are patient, it's hard to screw up.

The Bolt:
The pictures posted aren't that great and especially in the main instructions they are very misleading. The bolt is on the wall of the center console. It literally keeps the radio in place, so this isn't an optional step. You NEED to remove this bolt before you can get the radio out. With the bolt removed the radio comes out VERY easily. If you are struggling to take it out, you removed the wrong bolt.

The easiest way to locate exactly where the bolt is, is to shine a light in the little vent in the plastic molding by the ignition keyhole.

The Circuit Board:
This is a little tricky because there are a lot of parts. It's easy enough to separate the heating controls from the main radio, but it's tricky to take everything apart down to just the circuit board. It took me a good 20 minutes with monkeying around to get the little plugs to detach and reattach at the final step to get the circuit board free.

Tip: When taking the radio out, make sure you cover the gear stick with some soft cloth or else it will scratch the face of the radio. I forgot to take this advice to heart and now I have to find some scratch remover to get a nasty scratch out

 

Unfortunately after attempting this fix, I'm still not better off. My heater works but I cannot switch to use the AC, and the center controls don't work. I cannot for instance utilize the defrost for the windshield and back window, nor can I change how the air circulated etc. Also the right side of the display is not functioning.

I took it to Mazda and they told me that the display, the heater control, and the AC Amp need to be replaced. They gave me an estimate of over $1300 for parts and labor. After attempting this fix I think my heater control is fine, and after putting the display in diagnostic mode the right half does light up. It looks like I just need to replace the AC amp then. The thing that sucks is that is by far the most expensive part. $700 new!

Anybody here have a similar problem?

 

Just attempted the DIY. Didn't get back 100% functionality but way better than it was. Thanks for the DIY!

 

I'm having trouble doing the diagnostic mentioned in this post where you press and hold the power on/off button and press and hold the scan-up button for a second. I saw a couple of youtube clips doing it and I do exactly the same (I think) but the number thingy doesn't show up. My car is an 04 Jap spec RX8, so RHD in case this makes any difference.

Does the car need to be running or just at the on possition? Does the radio need to be on and only on for this to work? I have tried quite a few combos of this process and it got me nowhere

 

Thank you thank you thank you thank you to the OP and others who contributed to this thread. I bought my 05 car about 10 months ago, and the problem became obvious very soon. I was a little afraid of breaking off some stupid little plastic tab somewhere (there's a lot of 'em) so I put off attempting this until today. It took me about 4 hours, of course that included cooking and eating lunch and catching up on the news....but I'm glad I took my time and did not break anything. It works perfectly, and cost me nothing but a Sunday afternoon. Yay!

 

This DIY worked perfectly for me. So thanks everyone. Heat works great! No more cold hands when I get to work.

Only issue I had was finding the bolt to remove so the head unit would slide out. Spent 10 minutes trying to get at it, or angle my head to see it, just couldn't find it. Turns out it wasn't there.... Someone had pulled the head unit out before and failed to put the bolt back. Found a coax type cable segment back there that looks like an aftermarket component had been installed/removed by previous owner.