I recently bought a 2008 Mazda3 that I absolutely love - except for one issue: some climate control glitches. Apparently this is a common issue. Despite this, it's very hard to find a solid, step-by-step instruction on how to fix this issue. In part, this is because it's time consuming and rather difficult. So, let's cut to the chase.

Does your Mazda suffer from the following issues?
*An AC light that turns on and off depending on the blower speed (most commonly, it works well with setting 1 or 4, but has issues with 2 and 3)

and/or

*A blower speed that is pathetically weak (as in, speed 4 is barely more than 1)


If so, let's get to fixing it! I'm aware that there are guides dealing with this, and even a (mildly) confusing Mazda TSB. However, they are few and far between, hard to find, and the links to the pictures they contain have expired. At least, this is what I've encountered from my search attempts.

DISCLAIMER: Keep in mind that this may not be your exact issue. You may need to replace your blower motor, or the resistor, or some other part that may be the issue. But, in my case, it was simply the switch that controls the vent speed on the climate control. If this is your case, this may help you. I can't promise anything!

I will warn you up front: this is a frustrating repair job. It takes a lot of patience. Breaking things IS a possibility. TAKE YOUR TIME WITH THIS. DON'T FORCE THINGS. Also note this is for those with a manual climate control system. So then, let's begin.

We need to remove everything around the climate control. Here's the order I followed to access it.

First, remove the cupholder/trim around the E-brake by grabbing and pulling up from the center console:


Next, remove the trim around the shifter by pulling up:


Now, we're going to remove the two screws holding the ashtray/cigarette lighter port in:
(One of mine is different because I lost it... )


Then, just pull it straight out. It helps to grab it using the lighter port.

Before we mess with the climate control, we now need to expose the top of it.

Remove the trim above the glovebox and the around the radio display:


Grab it at the middle and pull back. Keep in mind on the far passenger side, there is a hook clip, so pull that end out last:


Next, remove the screws holding the radio in (they are circled red):


Pull the radio out carefully. Unplug the wires in the back:


Remove the two screws under the climate control (circled):


Now here comes the tricky part. Take a moment to look over the back of the climate control. You'll see a wire harness in the middle connected to the vent speed dial, a black-sleeved wire on the left connected to the vent direction dial, and a blue-sleeved wire on the right connected to the temperature dial.

These wires are sentient beings that are filled with a burning hatred for you, dear Mazda owner. They hate your soul. Keep this in mind. THEY WILL NOT COOPERATE. This is the worst part of this repair. It will take patience and time and it will be frustrating. Stay calm and do not break anything.

We're going to take it one step at a time. First things first... remove the little metal e-rings that are clipped on the wire sleeves, one on the black and one on the blue. Here's what it looks like:


Pry them up with needle nose pliers and BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO LOSE THEM. They tend to go flying, which is why I like to use pliers so I can keep a hold of them.

With pliers, pull the blue and black wire sleeves back away from you. Once they are pulled back, you should be able to pull the climate control towards you a little bit. Without the sleeves, the wires can come out of their holder. Here is what it looks like with the sleeves pulled back, the wires out of the holders, and the climate control out:

Please note that one e-ring is on just to show what it looks like better. Also, your climate control may not pull out as far as mine did at this point. I broke a clip in the rear at one point which seemed to enable me more freedom. I don't advise you break anything. Don't pull it out any more than it can seem to go. You won't have a lot of room. That's why you have to be patient and careful.

The wires have a bend in the end which keeps them attached to the climate control dials. You want to detach them by pulling them out of the holes. Here's what it looks like detached, to give you a better idea:


Oh they're stubborn, horrible things. I had to twist and turn the climate control as much as it would let me to get the wires at an angle so I could yank them out with pliers. I did end up bending my wires slightly, but it still works alright. I would suggest you work at it slowly and attempt to not bend these wires.

Once they are out, unplug the two wiring harnesses in the back and pull the climate control free.

Here's what the back of the climate control looks like:


Our objective is to remove and take apart that black, center switch. Go ahead and bring the climate control inside where it's warm/cool, spacious, and comfortable. It was cramped working on this inside the car, wasn't it?

Remove the dials from the front.

There are two clips on the top of the black switch...


...and one clip on the bottom (which, as you can see, I broke):


Using the Force, loosen all three of those clips and pull the switch out without breaking anything.

...if you didn't break any of the clips, you are already doing better than me! (If you do break the bottom clip, don't worry too much).

Huzzah, it's free!


Let's take that sucker apart and see what's wrong. There are two clips on the top, visible in the preceding picture, and one clip on the bottom:


Time to use your Jedi magic again to loosen all three clips at once without breaking anything.

Pull the back of it off sloooowly and caaarefully. Here's what you'll be looking at:


Take a picture of it. Remember its exact position. You'll want to reassemble it exactly as you found it. Once you've done that, you can take the grey piece off.

Take a gander at your connector there. Is it dirty? Corroded? Or, like mine, has the switch actually etched a line in the copper to the point where it is barely contacting anymore?

This, my friends, could very well be the source of your climate control problems. It was with mine. Here's what I did:

I used electrical cleaner and cleaned the crap out of the switch. Then, I scoured the copper with wire until the whole area where it contacts was rough. Then, I applied dielectric grease to the whole switch. Here's what mine looked like after:

Note that you can still see the line that had been etched in the metal. It's a lot better than it used to be.

Carefully put it back together and reassemble your climate control.

Plug it back into your car, turn it on, and give your climate control a test. Mine was working good as new and my vents were noticeably more powerful. If it isn't satisfactory, take it out, and clean/scratch it some more.

Once that's done, in reverse order, put everything back together in your car.

If you thought taking those stupid e-rings off the wire sleeves and then having to pull those wires off the climate control was rough, just wait until you have to put them back in. It's awful. REMEMBER TO TAKE YOUR TIME.

Angling the climate control, push the wires back into the holes. Then, push the climate control back into its proper place. Push the wires into their housings and use pliers to pull the sleeves back, all the way to the front. Then, push the e-rings back into place.

So much easier said than done. I don't have many tips for this part. I just messed with it for awhile. It took blood, sweat and tears.



So, there it is. I hope this made at least a little bit of sense and helped you to fix your climate control. If doing this doesn't help in the least bit, you may have other issues. Like I said earlier, you may have to replace your blower motor, the resister, or some other issue.

Let me know if this helped you or if you have any questions!

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