New AC Fix at dealers?
 

Hello all, long time lurker and recent poster. I have a 04 6spd with 10K miles that I just took into the dealer for some issues and maintenance. I wanted to get the newest flash and was told to wait until the whole recall issue gets organized as there was a new flash with it. I also wanted my AC looked at again as it was flucuating a lot and never was "cold". Before I left my old state (OH) it wasnt as big an issue as the summer down here in SC. The dealer (John Finger Mazda in Greenville- very nice and helpful so far) said no problem they would replace the AMP and if that didnt work, bring it back for the evap replacement. Well, when I went in to pick it up they said they had a new fix for the problem they just found yesterday. Seems they reprogrammed the AC amp instead of replacing the whole unit. I wasnt aware it was able to be programmed. They did a temp test and it dropped it 6 degrees at idle! I will also say that on the way home and this morning its blowing very cold and for the first time ever I had to turn it down. It does not do the auto recirc when its at max cold and high fan, but I set it to recirc any ways. I just wanted to see if it did that since I thought the new AMP was supposed to.

Just wanted to let you know that they have a new way of trying to deal with the AC. The service writer did say I was the first to get this so if it didnt work, they would still replace the AMP and/or evap if needed. I am also going to go ahead and insulate the hard line in the engine bay from the DIY section just as an extra boost.

Also, while there I saw 3 RX8's up on lifts and several parked outside with customer tags... lots of work on 8's considering the recall isnt released yet.

Would you be able to get us a document number (TSB, Tech Tip, whatever) for this new fix?)

It'd go a looong way to help those with sick AC units. Dealers as nice as yours are a minority.

Mine's an '05 (build 11/04) and not subject to the early AC TSB.

Mine passes (just barely) the tech manual test.

Hot day, idling in traffic or stopped, it gets warmish. Dealer just shrugged his shoulders.

As long as the car's moving, and the engine turning above idle, all is good.

Is this how yours behaves after-the-software-fix? Or is it making icecubes regardless of having the car moving or not?

I wanted all the paperwork, but they only gave me the basic printout that states " REPROGRAMMED AC AMP PER MAZDA". They had a paragraph of writing on the original write up that went into depth and had the temp readings. When I go in for the recall I am going ask again for a copy of that.

It blows ice cubes regardless now. Before it would be warm/cool/warm cycling during idle and decent at speed. Now its just plain cold all the time. Yesterday the news said it was 102 degrees with humidity (read 96 on my temp gauge) and it was very cold sitting in traffic idling which was a HUGE change from before.

:D Sounds like what I wanted to hear.

I wonder if we'll see a tech tips on this.. I'm betting we will.

Thanks!

Fvck. My A/C sucks and I live in a city that's relatively cool. I wonder how chitty it would be in, say Arizona...damn.

my a/c is freezing but then it cycles to merely cool. i have the new amp but i'm going to mention this when i take it in again.

I have the new A/C amp also. Mine is the same...cycles between freezing and merely cool, although I have been driving a Mazda 3 and Mazda 6 for the past week and neither of them have an A/C that works as well as the RX8.

AC NOT COOL (AFTER 9/11/03 PRODUCTION)
Applicable Models
Model Starting S/N Ending S/N
2004 RX8 40118171 ********

Some customers may complain of lack of AC cooling from the vents. This may be caused by the intake air selector (recirculate / fresh) in the "FRESH" mode. Cooling the interior of the vehicle may take longerif the air intake selector is in the "FRESH" mode. Maximum cooling is acheived when the intake air selector mode is in the "RECIRC" position. The AC amplifier can be programmed to automatically default to "RECIRC" mode when the following conditions are met: 1. Ambient air temperature is 68 deg. F or higher. 2. HVAC control mode is in "FACE" mode. 3. HVAC temperature is in maximum cool setting. Customers with this concern should have their vehicle repaired using the repair procedure. NOTE: Vehicles produced before 9/11/2003 are not programmable N should have the AC amp replaced per Service Bulletin # 07-002/04 1. Verify concern. 2. Verify ignition switch is in OFF position. 3. Press and hold the front defrost and air intake selector buttons simultaneously. 4. Turn the ignition key to the "ACCY" position for 3 seconds. (Continue to hold the buttons down from step #3.) 5. Turn the ignition key to the "ON" position for 3 seconds. (Continue to hold the buttons down from step #4.) 6. Successful programming will be confirmed by the rear defrost indicator light flashing 3 times. NOTE: If vehicle's battery dies or cables are removed, the programming will not be retained and must be performed again.

Well thats interesting reading. Where did you get that? I always set my intake air to recirc when the AC is running when its hot out. Will the recirc light turn on if its "defaulting" to that setting? Mine doesnt even if all those conditions are met.

It HAS to be doing something else with this or what ever else the programmed yesterday. Like I said, its always on recirc when my air is running and it was still cycling warm air in too much and when it wasnt, it was never that cold. Now its cold enough I have to turn it down every once in a while.

well this test will tell me one thing. whether they replaced the amp or not. since i have a 5/03 build my old amp was not programmable. also the last time i had it in for service they had to have disonnected the power because all the radio presets were lost. did they reprogram the amp after they restored power?

Your mission is to get the reprogramming details from your dealer to see if they're the same as the one clydejmuggs presented. Either that or I'm driving to John Finger Mazda in SC to get mine fixed :D

So we can do this programming ourselves??? Or did I read that wrong...

Yes, you can do this yourself.

Sweet! I'm having an awesome time now.

i'm getting my car back today, they replaced the evaporator. I'm hoping all is well, it was in the shop for 6 days :(

did you do it???

Sweet, mine's going to be "reprogrammed" in about an hour ;)

Lol, I did the "frosty-pipe insulation" last night so the old "scientific method" of changing one variable at a time is gonna go right out the door. :)

The only question in my mind now is whether or not there are more than one way to "reprogram" the unit. The description of the procedure seems to center around enforcement of recirculate mode, which wasn't the issue for Sideways, who was already using recirculate as I suspect most of us are. Anyway, I'll see what this does...

let us know.

ok i just tryied to program the a/c amp and the rear defroster light did not flash 3 times like it's supposed to. so that means they never replaced the amp!

Why bother? All you need to do is put the control in recirculate as soon as you get the inside of the car cooled down and leave it in that position. This is not some magic fix, it is a work around for a too small (it seems) a/c system.

When you get in your car and it is hot roll down the windows and open the roof and run the a/c on high set to fresh air. Once you have removed the excess heat from the car (and it is down to outside temp) then close up the roof and windows and switch to reciculate for maximum cooling.

Leaving the system in recirculate can trap humidity in the car on a humid day, which is why most cars switch to fresh air when you put the system in defrost position.

I would not bother with the re-program, just keep it in recirculate once you have cooled the car off and keep it there unless your windows fog up.

Dennis

Did it. AC was significantly improved. Ambient temp on the way home was 91F, full sun. Under those conditions, I usually need fan setting of 3 just to keep up and even then the AC is running out of breath. Even 4 is no great shakes. This afternoon, fan on 2 was more than enough. It was like a real AC. :) This was having set manually to recirculate. It did not seem to go into recirculate mode on its own, or at least the indicator did not light. But I normally keep it on recirc anyway.

Lol, it took me two tries before I realized I was holding down the wrong buttons. (front defrost is on the left, input selector [recirc/no recirc] on the bottom -- I started out holding the *output* selector button). But when I used the right buttons I did get the 3 flashes on the rear defrost (right side). Not sure how critical the "3 seconds" timings are; I just waited until the normal chimes stopped.

As I noted before, I did do the "insulation mod" the previous night so I don't know how much that contributed. I'd think not much but then again other folks have reported improvement there.

This isn't quantitative by any means. But then again I wasn't too concerned with getting a 1 or 2 degrees improvement. I wanted something that would be obviously better. This seems to have taken it from being obviously weak, to what I'd rate as "normal". The real test will be parking on top of the parking garage for a full day's sun-soak when it's in the upper 90's or above. In the past that's taken a full half hour at the max fan setting just to get to a tolerable state.

I understand the purpose of recirculate mode and purging the hot air, and have normally used them -- as would most anyone who's trying to coax cold air from a lame AC. So from the text of the reprogram instructions I too figured it wouldn't make much difference. But between the insulation and this, something definitely seems improved. Who knows, maybe the reprogram fixed/reset some other problem in the logic or maybe it does more than that notice lets on. Lol maybe it's the "secret fix" only given to the most obstreperous of customers" Lol, why do they torture us! :rolleyes: But seriously it does seem odd that this only seems to have come to light after 2 years. My car is Jan 2004 production and I'm still on the "M" flash from last June and haven't been back to the dealer since so this function has been there since at least then.

Well, this is only one drive. It'll take a few more hot days before I really trust it but so far so good.

Not yet...I'm just having an awesome time knowing that I *can* do it and it *might* solve the problem ;)

I DO use recirculate when my A/C is on and it still sucks ass! Sometimes I'm actually sweating while the A/C is on MAX. I've never been like that in any other car. And this is in 28 degree C (82 F) weather...not exactly that hot! WTF.

Just as a follow up, yesterday car was sitting out in 95 temps/full sun all day and was pretty toasty. At first the AC wasnt doing all that well for several minutes but once I got all the hot air out of the car and the car up to speed a few times it was back to its frosty self. Even at idle now sitting in traffic the AC is much colder than before and I have to turn it down. Before I would have to run it at 3 or 4 fan setting just to have it "cool" in the car.

btw - anyone else think the fan blower in this car is VERY loud??

Guys this is not some sort of miracle fix. This is how to reprogram the new amp that they replace to default to recirc mode. This is not the new program that sideways got.