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Comments
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Can anybody suggest a good method to clean these panels?
what i do is keep a box of SWIFFER wipes in the huge glovebox.
that way i can always wipe down the car without making it glossy like Armour All and all the other products do. (Good on the leather too, don't have to buy special 'leather wipes')
My gf and I are smokers and like you said, this interior picks up every little speck of dust and ash but at a red light, i just reach in the box and do a quick wipe and it's like I just drove it off the lot again! The wipes pick up everythig REALLY well 'cause of that "static cling" thing.
Try it out, I think you'd like it.
Thanks
Don't use the parking brake in freezing weather as the parking brake may freeze."See page 4-9, "Winter Driving".
Seems to be lots of confusion about this. According to my dealer, they are not aware of anything from Mazda about a TSB or even a memo.
After 3,000 miles the brake dust is almost gone but rear rotors have slight grooves. Fronts are totally smooth.
Don't use the parking brake in freezing weather as the parking brake may freeze."See page 4-9, "Winter Driving"."
This Southern Canadian knows that one never uses a parking brake in winter - slush may freeze on the linkage. It is annoying dragging a wheel home on dry pavement.
In winter, if on hills, y'all must park facing downhill, with the front wheels pointing to a light standard or hydrant. Up hill, I suppose you could use the tie-down hook if you came equipped with a chain or something.
Make sure the outside air/recirculate switch is on recirculate. Otherwise your system will be trying to cool and dehumidify 90-degree (or whatever) air all the time. In recirculate, the air it's cooling is getting progressively cooler. After four years (May 24) and 74,500 miles, my Protege's air conditioning is still working wonderfully. We've had a week of 90+ temperatures and high humidity here, and it's performing great even while I'm wearing a business suit.
Meade
The problem is almost surely the pump - a number of posts describe it. Any dealer who says it is normal to start this way is lying, because they must have encountered it before. If they don't respond, call Mazda - they are aware of it.
creakid1 "Mazda3" May 16, 2004 12:46am
The AC is a problem - IMO a major problem - if you live in an area that gets hot - Do not buy the Mazda3 until this issue gets fixed. Unless of course you like sweating while you drive. The AC will cool the car - if it is in the shade like if the sun is behind a cloud or at night. But when above 85 degrees & in the sun the car never cools down.
I put a digital meat thermometer in the center vent - when I first start the car the air temp drops all the way down to 40 degrees - for about 5 seconds - then the air temp quickly jumps to around 48 - and stays between 54 and 59 degrees (depending on outside temperature). Some days it will hold between 48 and 54. Even with this cold of air the car stays sweaty hot.
This will be my 1st and last Mazda product - Having customer service tell me to go see the states attorney general as a way to get rid of me without solving my AC problem is reason enough for me to never buy another Mazda product. This is in some ways more of a problem then the AC issue. If a company will at least work with you to solve an issue - I could live with that.
Just take some comfort in the fact that they ARE working on it. Technically, they could just say it's "working as designed" and leave you to sweat, while quietly making a modification for the next model year vehicle. So give them some time to figure out exactly what's wrong with the system and come up with a fix. It's not like they can wave a magic wand and give you instant arctic temperatures you know.
I'll tell ya, if someone asked me what I'm gonna do about their computer not working right, I'd tell them I'd have a look at it and try and figure it out so i can fix it. If they asked "well, what are you going to do for me in the meantime?" I'd probably flip out on them. Which is what Mazda did. Give them a chance to look at the problem and figure out what's going on. They're not trying to get rid of you, they're trying to tell you to give them time to work on it. That "work with you" bit works BOTH ways...you have to be willing to work with them too, not just start demanding a solution that doesn't even exist yet.
2 other things. 1: So far I'm not having any AC trouble. It's been up above 85 here, and sunny.
2: "Specialist, Customer Assistance E-Business" is a euphemism for "e-mail help desk answerer." She's just giving you the Mazda line she got through her chain of command. It is NOT her personally that's going after you. And it would be wrong to take out your frustrations with Mazda on her.
Do you think they have even told the dealerships that they have a problem?
How many people will buy a Mazda3 this week only to find out that the AC is underpowered?
What we don't know is how long Mazda has known about the problem - could be a few days or a few months. But telling a customer to go see the Attorney General is - by any measure of customer service - a poor business practice. It leads me to think that they already know what the problem is & that the cost to fix it is high enough that they are planning on NOT fixing the problem.
Mazda could have (at least)offered to get back to me once the engineers have determined what the problem is. If they have a solution to put me at the front of the line to get my car fixed.
OR
Even if they determine that the AC is "good enough" - that they are not going to provide any repair - they could have at least gotten back to me and told me that.
They did. That was the point of the first e-mail they sent you. When you sent another one (likely intended as a genuine request for additional information, I admit) it probably came off as they weren't working fast enough and it should be fixed yesterday...you know, the kind of pushy customer no one wants to put up with. So I bet the poor lady answering your e-mail got a bit annoyed.
Incidentally, I WOULD immediately start using different parts in the computers to fix the problem...as soon as I figured out which ones were the cause, through a rigorous testing process (see "Engineers researching").
Believe it or not, by continuing to sell the Mazda3, they may be ACCELERATING finding the cause and coming to a solution. It means more examples of the thing are out there, so more data can be gathered on exactly what circumstances are causing the failure, etc. It MAY only be limited to a specific production run of Mazda3s. Or it MAY be limited to a specific production run of A/C compressors that were put into Mazda3s.
Speaking of which, do you know what the production date of your car was? I've heard the ones from 10/03 tend to be more trouble-prone than others.
I see this situation completely differently. I was direct in my request for action - but not rude or profane.
What a good customer service person should do is ask the unhappy customer what they can do to solve the problem - many times what the customer wants can be provided. Once in a while the customer will ask you for something that is not possible - and you need to tell them - no I can't do that - but I CAN DO THIS. Just saying we are aware of the problem does nothing. Telling a customer to go to the attorney general is a horrible excuse for good customer service.
Come to think of it, what have YOU done? Did you put a sunshade in the car while it's parked to reduce the effects of the sun while the car sits? How many times have you taken it to the dealer to fix the A/C issue? If the dealer's DON'T know about it, you have an advantage, and then you might want to examine the lemon laws in your state. Usually they're similar to a "3 strikes and you're out" thing...if the dealer can't fix it after 3 tries, then they're supposed to exchange it for a different vehicle of the same model. Tends to be easier said than done, but it's an option.
And like I said, I seem to hear about a comparitively greater amount of trouble with the 10/03 run of cars...if you get a newer one it might not have the same issue.
Sorry if I seem to be making a major point of this, but I work with call center guys a lot, and I work in support, only it's PCs and networks rather than cars. I know how the other side of your problem can feel. They're doing the best they can, and it can get very frustrating. If you want to take it out on anyone, take it out on the engineers who are "working on it" who probably aren't giving her enough information to give you a clearer answer.
I did plan on taking the car back to the dealer -on a nice hot sunny day so that I could take a sweaty test drive with the service manager. But have not had the time to do this yet.
Have not used a sun shade, but I park in a garage most of the time - so I am not even in the sun - it does not make any difference - the AC still does not cool.
I have tried all the little tricks to get the car to cool better - they help - but do not solve the problem - The temperature has not even been over 90 degrees - I should not need to do anything except turn the AC on -
Lemon law in Texas is 2 strikes (same problem) in 12 months / 12,000 miles - then 2 more strikes (same problem)within 12 months 12,000 miles of the second problem - but Mazda is not part of the BBB car problem program. That means in order to use the Lemon law with Mazda you need to get an attorney. Like I have said before - by the time you pay for an attorney you would be money (and time & trouble) ahead to just go trade it in.
I'm not sure if I buy that, but the next time I go have checkup, I'll definitely ask about it again. And that damn Airbag light near the shift knob. It keeps going on and off, and recently hasnt turned off. I'm sure people have had problems about that, any news? thanks.
The airbag light .It is to go on while starting the car but should go off. Not good is it doesn't.If there is any weight put on the seat under 65 pounds(passenger seat) that may make it go on.I was told that yesterday.My dealer was to check it but mine goes off. I emailed mazda about the brake dust ( I call it grease) How do you clean it?
Yesterday the afternoon temperature was between 88-89 degrees - and it was mostly sunny - The heat index was 100. I expected to suffer in a hot car - but for most of the day the AC worked good. At times I even turned the fan down to level 2. For a while I thought that maybe whatever was wrong with my AC had somehow fixed itself. But then later in the day I experienced two situations where the AC was back to blowing barely cool rather than cold air. So whatever the problem is I still have it.
In my experience this is the worst type of problem - some times it works - sometimes it doesn't. I would rather have it just break and not cool at all - then I could at least get it fixed.
I have owned the Mazda3 for 4 months / 3,700 miles - I have had 4 trips to the dealer
1 for AC & brake problem
1 for brake problem and check engine light
1 for check engine light - only talked about AC
1 for check engine light and oil change
Also - 2 calls to Mazda's 800 number and 3 E-mails from customer service.
The strange thing is even after all of these problems I still really like the Mazda3 - but if you must have a new car that is (mostly) problem free I would wait until the next model year - maybe by then they will have worked out some of these bugs.
http://www.mazda6tech.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&- amp;id=47&Itemid=57
I am also having an inordinate amount of brake dust on the rear wheels as well as early rotor wear. I had the dealer check it yesterday and they agreed that the rotor wear was not acceptable and offered to install new rotors. After some discussion, I elected to hold off on the rotor replacement and give Mazda some time to get to the root of the problem. My thinking - if the root problem is not fixed, then the new rotors will wear as well. The service manager told me that they could replace the rotors anytime up to the the first 12K miles. So I decided to wait it out for a while - knowing that I have the option of having them replaced at any time.
Regarding the A/C - I live on the Gulf Coast of Florida and don't find the A/C to be any less effective than my Protege5. It's not the best I've ever had, but it is adequate. The points of about using Recirculate to cool the car are correct - however, I would drive for a bit with the A/C on fresh and the windows down when the car has been sitting in the sun. After the hot air has exchanged out of the car, then raise the windows and turn on Recirc. My experience is that you don't have to leave it all the time - once the car has cooled down, the regular fresh setting is fine. And I should add that I am very warm-natured. My build date is 03/04 - 700 miles so far.
Ken
Ken