I work for DaimlerChrysler and was on a road trip the past 10 days. We drove from Vegas to Houston on a development trip for some of our HVAC systems. One of the engineers on the trip from a supplier happened to be a former employee of Mazda USA. Needless to say, I fired away a lot of questions at him.

He said that Mazda used to ship their cars over here with most of the HVAC system not installed. Apparently, Mazda got a huge tax break from doing things this way. He said that the HVAC systems for the US were developed here by Mazda USA, and they also did some work with the engine cooling side of things. All in all it was a really cool conversation.

Anyway, he also offered to answer any questions that he could for me in the future. If you guys have any, make a post and I'll relay them to him and then post back his replies.

 

HVAC = ???Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning???


I've got a question. Why does it always leak its refrigerant despite multiple gasket changes.

 

sorry for my ignorance...whats HVAC?

 

Sorry, HVAC = Heating, Ventilation, & Air Conditioning like Jonski said.

 

Thats awesome, maybe he can give us insight into some of the.. ahem... problems the FD gas, (AS tank, seemingly inneficient cooling, etc.)

Anyway, cool to know one of the guys who designed something on our cars.

 

If this guy is one of the guys that did work on the team to develop the HVAC system, maybe he could help iron out some of the air conditioning electrical problems people are having. Assuming that he was one of the guys assigned to that portion of the project.

 

The rx7 HVAC is the worst of the Jap cars.

My 85 626 and 88 626 lasted 185K each and their A/C worked just as well new and when I donated them.

In constrast, the rx7 leaks R-12 repeatedly. I'm down to my last 2 bottles of R-12 but I'm to the point of ripping out the damn AC and drive in my underwear.

Take that engineer out by the dumpster and kick him in the knee for design a suck *** AC for me.

 

ExpensiveHobby22: cool deal - I would love to have talked to a Mazda engineer! I have a question, but it's not about HVAC. It's about the sequential turbo control system at altitude. The forum has been helpful, but I haven't found any definitive answers on what exactly the control system should do at altitude (I don't know if mine is broken or if it's just the altitude). I have a thread about it:

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=183756

If that engineer can help me with any of this, or even if he can connect me with someone else that might know, I'd be eternally grateful .

Any help is good help

Phil

 

Ask him what the hell the air seperation tank if for.

 

I agree with pomanferrar, my wifes 92 MX3 HVAC
runs circles around my 92FDs'. I am drving the MX3 while
restoring my FD and know for sure that that guy should be wipped!

 

Because your not finding the right leak?
Did you change all the O-rings and shrader valves?

 

Ask him "how can I get heat from my center vent!!!!!"

LOL.. i know it was Mazda's intention to let cool air out even if the heat was towards the face at max setting... so it prevents the driver from fatige(sp?)... BUT i want heat!!

 

How about his take on the infamous 3K RPM hesitation. It would be interesting to hear it from Mazda ...

 

why did mazda use a minivan tranny for the auto???

 

hey does the fan suck... at high its slower then any car I have had.

 

The AC on my 93 is awesome, but the heater takes foreeeeeeeeeever to heat up.

I have to choose defrost and put it on high to get my car warm, but no direct heat coming from the vents!

 

It supposed to be like that. Check the owner's manual. It's cold air from just the face vents and warm air from both the floor and defrost vents.

 

My 94 FD a/c is very cold as well. I just hope it makes it thru the texas summer. Heat seems ok. Just a little weak.

 

My heat is awesome! Heats up quick, and gets really hot. But this may be because Texas winters never get colder than 25F.

I just got my AC fixed and it works great in Texas summer. So I guess I got lucky on both..

 

What a bunch of moronic questions...

I always wondered why Mazda installed AC in the US after the car was built. Legal/tax reasons totally make sense.

People that are having continual problems aren't fixing the right problem.

For heater operation, uh yeah... Do you really want hot air blowing in your eyes? The heat will work fine aimed at your feet or defrost. Many things are designed to save people from themselves, this is a good example.

What is the AST for? I dunno, look at the latest Road & Track, the Saleen S7 has an AST too. Someone that has done a lot of research has found out that you just might need one.

 

My AC in awesome. It did me well the 2 years I lived in phoenix (120 degrees days) But you have to be extra easy on the car which isn't much fun.

 

ExpensiveHobby22,
If you are still in touch with this guy, could you please ask him to recommend a Do-It-Yourself R134a conversion kit?

 

we all envy those few with working a/c and heater options.
oh yeah, the rest of ours work, they are just barely mediocre and could be easily beaten by a 79 pinto's hvac system.
raj

 

My heater works well in 5k foot high winters, and my AC works well, in that it blows cold air and overheats the motor nice and quick at low speeds in the SoCal summers. Good thing my windows roll down. Now if only I had bought a silver one instead of that damn black...Oh yeah, a question, is there some way to improve the defrosters? I have brand new dash vents (my old ones kinda disintegrated), and yet it doesn't defrost much of the upper-drivers side of the windshiel. Thanks, Josh

 

My A/C efficiency got dramatically better when I went single turbo with everything that gets hot ceramic coated. I'm following up with more heat insulation in the cabin, with particular attention to the tranny hump and the firewall (though I'm going to make sure everything is covered, roof to floor, hehe)

talljosh85: you might be developing leakage in the ducting that goes to the vents. Nothing but cheap open cell foam to seal the different duct pieces. Mine, being 10 years old I guess, are crumbling. One other thing I'm doing to improve the A/C's efficiency is silicon sealing the duct connections.