My name is Paul. I am a chevy mechanic here in Arizona, and have had my 2007 mazda3 since 2006. bought it brand new with 7 miles on it, an since day 1 the a/c hasn't performed very well. ive taken it to the dealer many times for this reason, and they told me each time that it is working as designed; that this models design wasn't very efficient, therefore didn't work too well in the Arizona heat.


As I said, Im a chevy mechanic and am not familiar with imports. was the advisor at the dealer blowing smoke up my butt or is he correct, that this models a/c system sucks? I have access to an a/c machine and have checked pressures and refrigerant level many times. there are no leaks, as far as I can see. the sticker says the proper weight is 1.1lbs of refrigerant, but i have found that it seems to cool better at .9lbs. The pressures are ok. it seems to be ok when driving on the freeway in recirc mode, but any other time its not good enough. If anyone can give me a hint or tell me how to fix it, i would be so happy. Thanks.

 

good luck. we have a 2013 mazda 3, base. here in north texas, summer temps are always around 100. and, yup, the a/c sucks. i think one of the problems is the center vents. i had an acura integra a long time ago, and the center vents were similar, and the a/c in that car sucked, too. we also have 2 99 millenias, and the a/c in either car will cool all the cars on our street. when i drive the 3, i have to get creative in getting the vents to blow air in certain directions, and it is marginal at best. and if the a/c aint in recirc mode, it just dont cool. dont ride good, either. seats suck, too. i am glad it is a lease car, and i cant wait for it to go back. i park it out on the street, and hope some truck comes along and totals it. oh, and we do have the best tint available on it

 

We live in Sc. and no tint on the windows. The A/c is very effeciant in our 09 Mazda 3.

 

They did indeed have some issues with the first couple of year models on the 3. I believe they got a little better between the '06 and '09 model years...... I'm pretty sure the expansion valve was updated in 2007 as well. Part of the issue (so I'm told) is seeing that there was a performance issue, and wanting to avoid massive recalls Mazda simply changed the spec of what the AC was supposed to perform within. Basically it blew warmer than most other cars and they changed the spec to warmer temperatures. So it's still performing within spec.... it's just the spec is different.

Some things which people have done to help mitigate the problem:
-Tint your car. You don't need crazy dark, just get something with high heat rejection
-use a windshield shade
-open the windows for a few minutes when you start to let the super heated air out
-keep it on face only for awhile to help cool the super heated huge black heatsink which is the dashboard.
-wire a resistor to bridge the AC thermistor to trick it into thinking it's 5 degrees warmer, and it works a little harder to cool to compensate
-install the cabin air filter if not equipped (or replace if old). It slows the air down so it gets cooled a little more.

 

Ingenious stuff, icspots.
There are 3 more things that could help a little.
1. Make sure the blend door moves all the way to "cold". Some Pontiac Vibes were not adjusted right and always let some warm air through. Mazda 3? who knows.
2. Insulate the pipes under the hood that get cold.
3. Seal the perimeter around the condenser and radiator. That way the fan will pull all the air through the condenser and none through the gaps between the condenser and radiator.

 

buncha crap. our 2013 mazda 3 a/c just plain sucks. if that is improvement, prior year cars a/c must REALLY suck. we have tint. the best out there. we use a sunshade, a custom made one that is thick foam, covercraft. we have ventshades, and when i park it, i leave the windows open about 2". car only has 14k on it. we live 2.5 miles from the freeway, and the road to the freeway speed is 60. it takes that long to get cold air from the vents, max cold and recirc, but the interior is still hot, the a/c just cant pump out the heat for a really long time. the problem is that the vents are not well placed, and the center vents are too small. so what little cool air there is just dont circulate. once we get on the freeway, it takes another 10 miles to marginally cool down the interior. keeping it on max and recirc all the time is still not enough. in comparison, our 2 99 millenias with automatic air will start out at max fan speed, but well before we reach the freeway, fan speed has come down to the lowest, and the interior is nice and cool. we generally set the air in the millenias at 78, which is comfortable for us. the 3 is never as comfortable, unless ambient temps are below 92.

also, i had an 88 323gtx. i put 130k on that car, we also had an 88 323gt, i think that one went to 120k. both cars had way better a/c, as did our 96 626. the 626 had these marvelous center vents that reciprocated back and forth. if the 3 had those same center vents, i dont think there would be any complaints

 

Another helpful hint. Keep the vents set to face longer. Not only to cool the dash, but if you have it on anything that splits with the feet you're diverting air to the back of the car. Granted if the back seats are super hot cooling the front only helps so much, but if you're alone in the car with all the vents aimed at you keep it at least on mostly face to keep more of the cool air on you.

 

I had an 86 323 some years ago and the air in it was like no air. I could open the windows and be cooler.
Yes it was suppose to have air.