I know this is going to sound strange but my 07 3 is having brain farts or it's haunted. This has happened more than once so I know I can't be bumping them by mistake. I drive the car, no AC & RECIRC is off. I get out of the car to go to work, store or whatever. I get back in the car to drive again and I notice the vent air getting cold. I look down and see the AC is on, and I didn't turn it on and I wasn't using it when I got out of the car. Today, it was the RECIRC button that was on and I never use the RECIRC mode. I've checked the clearance of my hand on the shift lever to the buttons and there's no way I'm bumping them that much. I thought that was the case the first few times but now, no way! Any ideas?
Jim

 

ive encountered nothing like that in my 2004 3s. it definitely sounds like a brain fart...i dont believe in ghosts and spirits...well, the physical entities of them at least.

 

The car will turn on recirc and the A/C if you move the "zone" selection from defrost back to head and so on. Not sure why, I know on all cars when you use the defrost the A/C automatically comes on, but on the 3 the A/C and the recirc comes on when you use it. When I move it to a different setting the lights light up. A Pain, but I just hit them again or don't use defrost.

 

I'm curious, which specific model and options do you have?

I have the touring 3i with the 2.0 engine, and have noticed that if I crank the temp dial all the way to its coldest setting (counterclockwise), the AC automatically comes on, even when I selecta mode where this should not be the case. I have to have the temp dial turneda hairwarmer than the coldest point (a 1/4 inch away) to prevent this.

If you have a model with the fully automatic air conditioning, it could be it is set to come on in response to the temperature in the cabin (ie. you have it in AUTO mode). If you don't like this, you have to shut the auto mode off - which is easy to do.

 

I have the s Sport model and it doesn't have the auto climate controls, everything is manual. I normally have the vent selection on the top vents, fan speed it 0-2 and the temp is usually set to the cold side, farthest left it will go. Today it did it again and I touched nothing! Drive home from work, nothing on but maybe the fan speed at 1 when the windows were up while I was on the freeway. Off the freeway, windows go down and fan goes to off. Drive my son to his baseball game and change nothing. Drove to eat after his game and again, changed nothing. After eating, I decided to turn the fan on, as soon as I did, the AC button is on. WTF?
Jim

 

That's just plain weird!! 'Sounds like it's time for a trip to the dealer, if you asked me. Your ECU may be in need of a reflash?
Any setting from just to the right of thefootwell/dash vent setting/hash mark(in between the hash mark andfootwell settings, actually) will cause the compressor to kick in, but the A/C switch will not light up. And the business of the recirc button changing all by itself is just weird too.
Something is wrong there, Jim. Unless you've "played" with something that you shouldn't have or tapped into the electrical system, and from what I know about your car you haven't, this should be a warranty issue.

 

Jim, did you try turning the temperature setting just a little bit warmer? Like 1/4" warmer?

As I said in my earlier post, on my car, if you crank the temp to the absolute coldest setting, the air will come on. If you move the temp dial just a smidge warmer, the air will NOT come on.

 

Nope, haven't messed with anything that would screw this up. It's on the punch list when I make my first dealer visit.
Jim

 

I didn't turn the dial up a bit but I will as soon as I drive it again. I remember you stating that about the temp setting and I will try it. Checked it three times today, on the way to work, at lunch and on the way home. Nothing wierd happened. Yet!
Jim

 

So my 2013 Mazda 3 itouring is starting to go crazy. Lol. The recirc button keeps turning itself on , I’ll change it to outside and it turns back on. I have had no work done recently and have no other issues with my car,