Wingnut, what a great post! I finally took the time to make this happen and, BAM! All done.

Many thanks!

 

I just wanted to give a big thanks for this. I did this in -20 deg C weather outside somehow magically without cracking any of the plastics. Suffice to say that when you have to drive with the fan on and it is -20C outside it is FREEZING INSIDE THE CAR.

This worked like a charm, right away even without starting the car when I did the test I saw the difference thanks you wingnut.

Also, FWIW I found it much easier to take apart the board completely to solder and I recommend you take the little wire bundles out of the clips and remove it that way.

 

So do you need the replacement part wingnut first mentions in his post or do you just need to take the heater apart and solder the three points?

 

The mention of the replacement part was only for comparison. The original part is easy to repair with just a little soldering as shown.

Good luck.

 

you so rock!

 

Thank you wingnut.

 

I did this fix shortly after you posted it and it has worked great ever since. Thank you very much for the info.

 

First, a huge thank you to Wingnut for this! Did the fix about two weeks ago and the temp control **** works perfectly now.

One glitch I ran into after reassembly - my display is now erratic. If it goes blank/funky I can press on the faceplate right below the 1/2 preset button and it'll come back (at least temporarily). I suspect the pins on the radio did not make good contact with the contacts on the faceplate when I put it back together. Anyone have any tips/tricks to make sure they make good contact on reassembly? I'm going to be pulling the radio out again to send it off to be reflashed in a couple of weeks and I want to make sure I get it back together properly this time.

Later,

Luke

 

I didn't think I had the know-how to properly complete this fix, but surprisingly I did it right and it works. And my radio only started acting up a mere 6 hours ago...

The worst part was putting everything back together to test it and see it I had soldered everything properly. I knew I would have a lot of work to do if I had f---ed something up.

Next thing is to install my radar detector (escort 8500 x50) mute button in the blank tape spot in the middle of the radio. Should be fun...

 

just got the time to do this and it works amazingly!! Thanks wingnut!

 

Just got time also.....Heat now works great. Now i just need to figure out how to get the A/C to work.

I think my wife took out the condenser with a chunk of ice around christmas

 

Excellent write up, very helpful. You saved many an RX-8 owner a good chunk of money. Heck, a refurbished unit costa $120 and then they're going to try to charge you install it themselves, and without John Masone’s help, we would have to pay it! I guess that's the long way of saying "Thank You"

 

has anybody had a problem with the ac/defrost/level select controll, when i called metra the uy gave me this forum but my heater and fan controls are fine its just that i cant turn my ac on and off (or defrests or level selects) intern it wont allow me to change the writing on my display. has anybody experienced this ?

 

Do this first, turn your fan on high and scroll through the mode select. If you can hear and feel the changes when you push the mode button but the display does not change, then you just need to update your firmware on your axxess box for your metra kit. That was one of the biggest problems with the early firmware for the box. you still have full control, but the display freezes on whatever it was on at that particular time. Same thing with the LEDs for the A/C and defrost buttons.

 

did this fix and it worked like a charm!

w00t! w00t!

 

I am going to do this fix tonight! I knew it had to be a bad connection because mine will only blow heat...unless I push in hard on the ****, which I assume is giving it a better connection and then I get cold air.

Since pushing it in I can get the ac temp to show 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. but I never knew about this DIY and the ac temp check so I haven't checked it when it is not working.

I should mention that I have done this before by pushing the dial in and it worked then as well, but only temporarily.

Thanks

Edit: I cannot believe how bad the soldering job was on the heat unit. I could move all three prongs with my finger tip, and it was evident that they were very loose connections. This fix worked great!

Oh, I decided against putting the bolt back in the side of the stereo, I hate that thing!

 

This is exactly what I was looking for. I have had this problem for a while but was travelling too much to deal with it.

I thought it was such a simple problem, so thanks for the perfect DYI.

 

Great instructions!!! Not only was I able to confirm the problem, thanks to you, but I was easily lead through the whole process and it worked like a charm!!

I just got this 8 and found that this problem existed. Thanks for making this so easy to fix! The guy that sold it probably was ticked about the temp problem all winter and got fed up!

Looks like this guy had been in and removed the bolt for the radio and lost it as it was missing (probably when he installed the iPod cable ()). I was able to see the bolt by looking through the console from the front and used a magnet to retrieve it.

I even found the spring at the bottom of the console for the ashtray lid and repaired it as was mentioned earlier in the conversation thread by another member! I used some 4 min epoxy putty and build a new base to seat the spring.

Thanks man!!

 

Scoot RX-8, Great work! I hope he did not leave you any surprises under the hood.

 

I used this to diagnose and fix the very same problem in my car this weekend, I'm not mechanically inclined at all and I'd never soldered anything in my life before today.

Worked great, thanks for the guide!

 

Few steps seemed to be missing (the clear plastic bits), but this was great and totally made it amazing. Now my question is. Is it breaking because they used lead free solder? And if so how many other places and things are gonna go funky?

 

Another thanks to Wingnut...

Also, seems some people (including myself) had some trouble with flickering or no controls afterward...?

I don't know this for sure (and haven't read to look) but I think there is a security kill switch somewhere on the back of the unit so that if it isn't seated right and snapped all the way back in, it won't disengage or will switch on and off. I just made sure I pushed mine all the way back and it's good. Hope this helps anyone else with a similar situation...

 

Soldering tips for anyone who has never done soldering before and wants to do this DIY.

 

Thanks bro imma get on it..
Lets say i have never really worked on my car...
all i did was install a indash pioneer monitor with a friend of mine..
took the whole center console apart..
Is this a project i should do or just go to mazda and have them do it...
guy at mazda in delray a good friend of mine

 

Chances are, if you take it to a dealership/mechanic they're just going to replace the entire part. I didn't price it out at my dealership, but it sounds like that's a $200-300 part from Mazda.

If you've installed an aftermarket stereo, you've done 90% of the work you need to. The extra part is taking apart the controls and soldering those three contacts.

I don't really work on cars either and I am not mechanically inclined. If I was able to do this, I would think just about anyone else could.