Urchin

Last Sunday we were watching the thermometer on the dash bounce between 115 and 116 degrees in Phoenix, and the air was working fine - blowing out 45 - 50 degrees. It is an early 2004, and had the new amp put in late last summer.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

what, and they didn't even insulate the frosty pipe?

Nubo

^^Lol

khtm

Sorry, missed that part! My bad. :o

khtm

Well I do have the new amp, since my car was a March 2004 build. I also did the programming last night and now it changes to recirculate when I switch on the A/C.

I guess I need to insulate the frosty pipe?

cleoent

Slide, this is just a reminder for you. If you could please call your service department and ask them that would be great. If not give me the number to your service department and i'll call and ask.

Thanks.

Chrisbert

"NOTE: Vehicles produced before 9/11/2003 are not programmable N should have the AC amp replaced per Service Bulletin # 07-002/04"

Well, supposedly mine had the Amp replaced but it does not produce the blinking light after I try the programming.

zoom44

because it was already programmed.

Slideways

OK - spoke with the service writer today. He was more than helpful, but at the same time wasnt... The tech who worked on my car is off today so he couldnt get more specific info. All the service writer said was the tech was checking online about the AMP replacement and there was a note to contact Mazda for a new procedure. He called Mazda and they told him to try this new procedure and to not replace the AMP. The service writer said it was a "Flash for the amp itself and not the entire ECU". I didnt get into how it was able to be programmed or anything else. As I said earlier in this post, I didnt know you could program the AMP. He did not see a TSB number or Flash number listed on the techs notes.

Now - He did say if anyone is having specific problems with their dealer about getting this done, the dealers service writer can contact him and he can tell them who he talked to at Mazda. He did say that if they called or looked it up on their system it should be there so he didnt understand the problems. I explained to him that there were a lot of people who had RX8's that were still unhappy even with the new AMP. I may still stop by the dealership to talk more, he was very helpful and patient on the phone. We even talked about how the owner of the dealership used to race rotaries among others for years. PM me if you want the guys name and number, I just dont want tons of people contacting him and getting him ticked. So far this dealership is the best I have dealt with ever and I dont want to ruin a good thing...

As a side note - its been very hot still with temps in the mid 90's and over 100 with humidity and the AC is still working great. Takes a while to cool down, but once cool I can turn it down and still stay nice and cold.

Chrisbert

Nor does it behave like the procedure says it should.

Nubo

FYI, I've noticed now that my ac DOES now default to recirculate. It hadn't on that first drive after the reprogram but it does now.

wedge357

The auto recirc function when fan blower is set to full only works with initial use of the a/c. Once you change it to fresh air setting it will no longer auto-recirculate with changes in fan speed.

I noticed this when I turned on the fan to 4 it went to recirc automatically. But when I return to fresh air setting and turned off the fan, it did not autorecirculate when I did the procedure again.

I guess it's a good idea because you would mainly want recirculate function when you first get in the car when it's the hottest, but may not need it later when you change the fan setting again.

dwynne

Bzzzzzt, wrong answer.

On a hot, sunny day it is hotter INSIDE your car that outside so the quickest way to cool off your car is:

1) Roll down the windows and open the roof (if so equipped)
2) Run the A/C on fresh air with the fan on max
3) Start driving

this will get the hot air out of your car in the quickest way possible.

4) Once the inside of your car has cooled down to around outside air temp, roll up the windows and close the roof.
5) Now that the air INSIDE the car is no hotter than the outside air, go to recirculate to get maximum cooling.

You are not alone in doing this wrong - the old US cars used to have a "Max AC" position on them (some still do) and this was just AC w/recirculate and folks would jump into a car that is 150 degree plus and put it on "Max AC" thinking they would get cooler quicker. If you go straight to recirculate you are now trying to cool 150 degree air and not the 95 degree outside air. This will take LONGER to cool down than using fresh air and opening the windows.

This is why you want to control the AC yourself - fresh air and open windows to cool it down, then recirculate and closed windows to make it chilly.

No wonder so many complain about the AC, they don't know how to opertate it :D

Dennis

rx8cited

Now if Mazda could just come out with a new flash and A/C amp combo that would automatically do these steps for us .

In the mean time, I guess I'll keep doing them manually.

MDRX8

could help regulate the temp by using the the temperature controler I would be happy....0 customer service!!!!

wedge357

TRUE, but for the 20secs it took you to completely replace the air inside the car while you're fumbling around the window and sunroof control I'll be about 1/4mi away from you already :D

My way is to:

1. let the recirc funtion do its thing at full blast.
2. drive away.
3. open windows.
4. close windows.

IMO choosing fresh air for that 20 sec won't amount to much.

khoney

I was a pre-order build, and complained of poor A/C. I had a replacement A/C amp ordered when the 'A/C amp issue' first came about. I had it replaced in February of this year (they actually had the amp a long time before that, being ordered in summer of '04, but never called me to say it came in). As the weather got warmer, I saw it did not perform any better. This summer, I complained again, and also told them about the 'auto recirc mode' function not happening, so I figured there was a still-newer version of the A/C amp. They ordered another one, and the latest one does do the auto-recirc, and it is much cooler. Even in 95+ weatch, I usually have speed set on 1 or 2 once the car cools down. I'm wondering, for those with poor performance, if they got a 2nd gen amp, and not a 3rd gen? I remember reading that there have been a total of 3 versions released.

rx8cited

khoney,
Can you check your paperwork and see what they wrote when they installed the 3rd amp that you like - a part # would be useful.

Thanks,
rx8cited

mmats69

I do what dwynne does except i go ahead and get the a/c running with the recirc option on. after about a mile or so, it cools off and the windows go up. but i too have the problem at idle with the a/c not being very cold. only at a good speed will it stay cool. i usually have to rev the engine a little to keep it cold if i am standing still. i had a 95 probe that did the same thing but my 2000 ranger was ice cold no matter if it was idle or at speed. who knows....lol

MPG > HP

Anyone know where the a/c sensor is in the cabin? Maybe we could relocate it further into the cabin in order to fool the a/c circuit to stay on longer.

khoney

Looks like part #FEY2-61-540. Oddly enough, they also replaced my temperature ****, #FE62-61-195. I never said there was a problem with the temp ****. Maybe they just replaced it because of the TSB on early ***** cracking.

rx8cited

Thanks .... that's the same amp. part # on my service ticket.

My fan speed control **** broke, so I expected them to replace it and the temp control **** per the TSB. Well, the f***ing stealership wrote on the service ticket that they replaced both *****, but only replaced the fan speed **** until I caught onto their crap and went back.

Nubo

Yeah, those old cars had one button labelled "Max" and the other button said "Norm". When I was a kid I just figured there were 2 guys named Max and Norm who invented car air conditioning.... :D

dwynne

Do all 8's have an external temp sensor? Just wondering - since on GMs these things fail and when they do they read "really cold" so the folks in the car burn up - the computer will not run the A/C compressor when it is "really cold" outside.

Just wondering if this tied to the A/C circuit or not? If so maybe it is not a pass fail thing, it decides to turn off/on the compressor based on cabin temp AND outside temp? If so maybe you could dummy the outside temp to burning hot and make it stay on all the time?

In my 05 (Aug 04 build date) I don't think the compressor shuts off when I have the A/C on. The only exception may be under heavy load, but other than that it seems to run when I tell it to. Now at idle and not moving the A/C is puny weak. I guess I am lucky I didn't buy a left over 04 like I had planned - seems like the older the car the more problems. The frustrating part is that if the newer ones work better, why can't the dealers and Mazda fix the older ones?

Dennis

MPG > HP

Dennis, I'm just assuming there is an interior cabin temp sensor that trips the a/c controller. Don't know if/why there would be an external one. It seems like the compressor is sufficient for good cooling, just that the a/c trips off early, presumably for better MPG. Someone here is bound to know, for sure. - Gary