I bought this car and the radio and hvac system are non responsive. I took it to a mazda dealership they suggested me buying a whole new center console which would cost me 700$. So me and my friend looked inside to see what was the problem and we found that whoever owned it before really did a number on the insides. Mostly twisting some screw holders etc, but no noticable damage to the internal components.

Anyways me and my friend adjusted some pieces so the front panel fit better into the radio and we got some life in the display and the lights on the ac unit started working. The whole display shows up with numbers and letters looking like it should for a split second then it disappears and turns into the picture you see below.



Has anyone seen this before and/or know how to fix it? Is it asking for a radio code or something?

Let me know

 

Well that is the LCD panel, it is separate from the head unit and not expensive to replace. Are any fuses blown? You are dealing with a couple of different systems here.

 

Well what happened was that nothing was working at all. No lights on the hvac system was turning on. We think the 2 connectors in the front of the radio wasnt lining up correctly with the two recievers in the back of the frontplate so when we lined them up all the lights except the ac light turned on then i pressed the ac light and removed the plate, put it back in and the ac light was on but nothing else was... so idk it seems like at least the lights are connected through the same mechanism somehow.

What fuse do you think could be out? Can you give me a general idea where its located?

 

You have one fuse box right down on the side in front of the drivers door and then think there are 2 under the hood but not real sure on that, I have only had my car a couple weeks.