Mazda CX-9 Heat and Air Conditioning
I am researching the CX9, hoping to buy the Grand Touring in December. I test drove one last week and loved it. I can't remember if there were air registers in the 3rd row. Are there any? If not, has anyone found it a problem? I have 4 children and the 3rd row will be used often. Living in hot South Arkansas, I am afraid the kids will toast back there.
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Can't see it being a problem, though, as the A/C is very strong.
As far as 3rd row cooling, I have found (actually my kids) that the 3rd row is adequately cooled at outside temps up to 115. We regularly visit the CA/AZ border and I have yet to hear one of mine complain that it's too hot in the back.
Note that the air ducks below 2nd row seats stop functioning when the air flow is only directed to the upper torso. That might be how you jump to that conclusion.
Perhaps I should have prefaced that with: when in AUTO mode.
Now that we have that out of the way, let's discuss how effective floor vents are for the perceived cooling of a vehicle. Next time it's 90 degrees outside, manually run your A/C through your floor vents only and let me know how long you last in the vehicle. Cooling through floor vents is plain useless unless you have severe foot sweat (in which case I'd recommend seeing a good doctor). There's a reason the auto mode doesn't route cooling through floor vents.
Again, I have to tested it myself to believe that the floor vents is completely blocked out from cold air. Right now, I have a hard time believing it.
After some testing, I believe you were right. I stand corrected.
In AUTO mode, cold air flows thru the upper vent, hot air flows thru the floor vent (which makes sense). For cool air to come out of the floor vents under 2nd row seats, one has to choose the venting mode manually, not AUTO mode.
Recently I have been testing how much MPG I could save by turning off A/C (since the weather is pretty cool, I opened the moonroof). My A/C has been completely silent. I don't recall A/C actions at all.
You might want to go to the dealer and have it checked out.
BTW, my experiment showed that you can easily save 1-2mpg with A/C off.....
Has anyone else had this problem or the odometer ones? I took it to the dealer three months ago when the check engine light came on and the car started to run real rough and then would die. Took them three days to figure out a vaccuum line had broken near the firewall. They never could figure why the meters reset.
It seems like some electrical short exists in your vehicle (that causes improper grounding).
You need to have it checked out by your dealers before the OE warranty expires.
Something is not right with your A/C.
Have your dealer look at it before warranty expires (soon I presumed).
You could have a faulty switch in the A/C system.
So does anyone have a definate answer? Any Mazda techs out there that have encountered or fixed this issue?
I am out of warranty so if it just a switch or a relay a part number and location is all I need to purchase it and install it myself. Thanks!
If you're referring to the blower motor (fan for air coming out of the dash vents--front blower, or fan for air coming out of the vents on back of center console--rear blower), TSB 07-008/09 addresses that issue. If you haven't driven 36,000 miles yet, take your vehicle into your nearest dealer and mention the TSB number listed above.
However if you're referring to a radiator/condenser fan under the hood, that may run to cool the motor when you turn the car off.
Last time I printed out TSB when I visited my dealer, the service advisor returned it to me and said, "We can find it on our computer."
If the same had happened to me, I would read the TSB first, and try it fix it myself if my CX9 was out of warranty.
Another thing people should consider is it to call MazdaUSA corporate. If you argue your case calmly, Mazda could pay for the parts, and you pay for the labor cost. It helps, but not entirely. This is especially true when your CX9 is barely beyond 36K miles.
Anyway, early models (2008) have more problems (already better than 2007).
Buying a 2010 model should be a much safer decision.
I personally am not aware of any vehicle that is problem-free. My co-worker's Lexus RX330 already had two stall issues. That is a much bigger problem than the A/C staying on. You got stranded for THAT. And, yet, he seems to still love
his "reliable" Lexus. Go figure.
The new problem is in the AC but is totally separate of the relay problem. After many days of 90 degree weather & constantly running the AC, I began to hear a swishing sound under the dash. On left turns, the swishing sound would be accompanied by a fan & swish sound like a boat propeller entering the water. After a few days, the noises were accompanied by moisture on the passenger mat & all around the underside of the dash. After reading many posts, I determined I had a clogged AC evaporator tube. I found the tube outlet under the vehicle & blew out the obstruction with an air compressor hose. The water caught in the evaporator came gushing out. The good news is that I cleared the obstruction - the bad news is that during this entire process, my front blower has stopped working while the rear blower continues to work. The AC is working but you have to sit in the back to stay cool. I checked the relay to see if that may be the problem but it wasn't. I checked all fuses related to the front blower but they're all good.
Has anyone had this problem - I'm guessing I may have fried my blower motor but I want confirmation & history before I rip my dash apart?
Please help!!!
No, you blew the "obstruction" (mouse nest??) BACK into the A/C plenum area where it is blocking the blower from turning.
The above is especially true when the human comfort equation tilts to the heating side, COLD surrounding outside landscape, and the system still INSISTS on routing cool and DRY airflow to the face and upper body.
NipponDenso, Denso US, IDIOTS ALL...!!
And now let's broaden the discussion....
Yes, our "perception" of rapid cooldown of the vehicle is heavily influenced by the boundiful level of cool and dry airflow that is automatically routed to our face and upper body in cooling mode. BUT ONLY IN COOLING MODE.
What about when the human comfort equation has tilted toward the need for HEATING, the surrounding landscape is COLD, and these systems still go into COOLING mode, coolish and DRY system airflow from the dash outlets.
It is at those times, mostly, that the system needs to remain in, switch into, footwell airflow outlet mode.
Believe it...!
Most modern day climate control systems when in automatic mode and the cabin temperature is with a few degrees of system setpoint will ONLY route airflow via the dash outlets. (Doesn't mean you can't override it.)
If you look at the internal design of the A/C plenum area, blower, evaporator and heater core placement, you can easily see that it was designed primarily for dash outflow, "cooling" mode.
OAT for the entire trip was not so hot as to be really discomforting even with teh windows (tinted) up.
There is an aftermarket device, EED by airsept(.com), that can be used to keep the blower motor running (intermittently running, interval timer) up to a hour after you switch off the ignition.
Absent DRYING the evaporator immediately after use via some method such as the EED you may soon encounter a serious level of mould and mildew odor as a result of the "leavings" of the microbes thriving in the cool, damp, and dank A/C plenum area.
Even worse yet you may encounter a thoroughly MISTED, FOGGED over windshield about 3-5 miles down the road some early coolish morning drive absent an evaporator drying system.
Mazda may now be using such a system.
See the EED write up at airsept.com
Second...
If the position of the squirrel cage blower motor/assembly is like many others today, motor below the squirrel blower itself and shaft vertically oriented, it's highly likely that water got into the motor commutator and brushes area.
That wouldn't blow a fuse as the motor simply wouldn't draw any current.
"...15 minutes later and it was off..."
That would mean the "relay" contacts closed just as/after the ignition was switched off. That IS NOT a function of a relay, ANY relay, that is known to man. Much more likely a logic flaw in the Body Electronics ECU firmware.
Plus which, VERY few, if any, automotive HVAC blower motors are energized via a simple relay, most are transistor driven using a PWM technique to control speed.
I did the relay swap per TSB and have never had it occur once again since.
Having a relay fault wherein it closes the contacts asynchronously is unheard of.
Having the contacts already closed and remaining closed after power is removed is certainly not unheard of and generally only happens after many hours of use, contacts "pitted".