Hi all, I am new to this forum and was wondering if you could share some of your experience with Mazda 3.

I recently got Mazda 3 - 2016 (gx model) and experiencing some weird heating issues, it has already been in the shop twice with some minor improvements to the problem.
It started out with the heater working very poorly when it would get barely warm after 15-20 minutes of running. They said it was an airlock issue and the coolant solution was too rich so they diluted it. After this heater started to work much better and I did not complain anymore. Now we have very low temperatures -27C yesterday. I was driving around for about 25 minutes and the blue engine light stayed on the whole time while heater was pumping warmish air. I am wondering if this is normal for Mazda engines to take this long to warm up?
My friend has a Civic and his light stays on for at most 10 minutes in the same conditions. Should I keep bugging them about it or is it OK?

Thanks for your help.

 

The Skyactive engines, in my experience, run so efficiently that heat build up in the motor does take some time. Toss in a -27C temp, and I'm just guessing your 25 mins of driving around was done at city speeds, poor heat performance seems very plausible.

Once the temp warms up a bit, stop back at the dealer if you feel it still is not right.

 

there is an ssp that mazda is aware of. it is an issue with the coolant in cold temps. i suggest you bring it back in for repair. the coolant slushes up and clogs the heater core. the fix is simple. just bring her into the shop and your service advisor SHOULD know what do do.

 

I just found that SSP. For anyone else who might be having the same problem, the SSP covers 2014 thru 2016 Mazda 3 built from 12/04/13 thru 09/23/15.