Here is what I found. The next time you have this issue pull the switch then using a small standard screwdriver remove all the wires. Grab a exacto knife and cut the wires open from the brass crimp and back 1/2" or so. You will notice that the wires have become corroded and this will effect power/current flow. I say current because I have had the same issue on some of my other protégés and the switch housing near the black wire was burnt and had turned brown in color.


Back to the wire and my temp fix. I sliced the wires open then used a wire brush and cleaned the strands of wires the best I could then sprayed electrical contact cleaner on them. I pulled out my soldering iron and loaded the wires with soldering resin then I tinned them with solder. After that I wrapped each one up with electrical tape and put everything back together. I have never had a problem since a year ago when I did this and I live in Florida so its hot one day muggy the next then drops to near freezing so I think that covers everyone thoughts on outside temp affecting the A/C.


I have bought a new switch and the backside plug and went to radio shack for terminals and the next time it acts up if it does or when I replace my head unit I will cut the bundle and replace it with my new plug and the new wires I have already made. I made the wires a little longer to allow some additional slack so that the switch will not be pulled on once back into the A/C panel.

 

Pulled out my switch and cleaned the contacts, and now it works like a champ! I can't believe I've gone 4.5 years with A/C on only 1 and 4!!! Thanks for posting great info guys!

 

This is a design flaw and should be a recall.

It's the blower motor resistor - I'm on my 2nd replacement ( Replaced original OEM with aftermarket) ticks me off. Something in the system is burning out the resistors. I've cleaned them and the system connectors but the resistors always look burnt when the fans start acting up.

It may be because I'm in AZ and use the fans nearly year round that I see this more often than most.

 

I took mine out and I soldered back together all the broken / burned out connections (make sure to keep all the gaps in the coils! Its a slow process but it works). Then I ran a thin layer of super glue on all the coils and connection points.
sounds redneck....but after 3 blower motor resistors I thought it was time for a change of pace. all electrical is good with checking with meters.
good news is so far this has held with no issues of any kind. I have had the car for 20 years and have never had a blown fuse.
A/C works great on all fan motor blower settings.
what causes it to burn out I have no idea?

 

Just an update... sorry to dredge this one back up.

I tried the.omega.glory's solution (page 8 on this thread) and it worked. My symptoms were the switches not making contact with position 2 and 3 on the A/C fan speed ****.
A/C fan speed 1 worked fine. A/C fan speed 4 was intermittent and flickered on and off.

When I took the climate control console apart, none of the connectors were burned up. Everything looked normal. I didn't bother to check the resistors because it seemed like it was a problem with the switch contacts first.

Be careful when prying the switch apart. I don't believe it was meant to be taken apart so its easy to break the plastic housing. It may be simpler to just find or buy a new switch.
The springs are tiny try not to lose them. Mine flung off when I was trying to stretch it out and I could not for the life of me find it on the ground.
Luckily my local hardware store has a collection of springs. 5/32nds outside diameter which I had to cut to length.

Put it back together and all the A/C fan speeds work great now. $0.97 total for the spring. Could have been free with no extra trips to the hardware store. THANKS!

 

Im going to try this in 2 hours , ill let you know guys

 

Everyone that has one of these cars eventually has a/c problems and it's not a matter of if it will quit but when. I've read every repair idea here, Listened to every a/c tech and "electrical guy" I could find, tried all of it and it never worked right. When the air worked(when it felt like it) it would run you out of the car on a summer day in July so I knew it wasn't the compressor itself. I had all the fan speeds but the only time the compressor would engage was position one. Not enough air. I took out the head unit and pulled it apart to replace the a/c switch and found that 1) the a/c switch is not a switch but a floating button that activates a microswitch glued into a circuit board that contains b) all of the a/c systems capacitors built into it. The only way to fix the car is to buy a new controller for the a/c. It will cost between $265-$350 dollars but according to my parts guy Mazda doesn't offer it anymore but you can find it on a dealer parts locator but he said his system only shows less than 20 left in the box scattered around the country. The original batch installed had weak capacitors and Mazda made an updated one and some people did get new ones but they were probably installed based on how long ago and how much hell was raised. You might find an updated one in a wrecked car but I don't know how you tell the difference so I just bought one, installed it, and now it works perfectly.
PS: this control unit includes everything(and it should at the price) all cables, switches, and buttons are in place and ready to go you do need to know your dashlight color as they came in green or amber. I think the ES was amber. Takes a #2 screwdriver, a pair of needle nose pliers, and about 30 minutes.