I was wondering if anyone else here has had a problem with their LED stereo displays have gone haywire on them. When ever my dash gets warm(not even hot) like if it was sitting in the sun or with the heater on, the display would start going crazy and the stereo and HVAC controls would become sluggish or unresponsive. Im thinking its a short in the circutry but im gonna have it checked out when i have tme to drive 200 miles to the closest mazda dealer.

 

I think dmp has had this happen

 

i remember reading about people having this problem, but it was in the middle of summer in places like arizona, where the outside temp was getting well above 100.

 

yeah i remeber the vid looked like the predator countdown clock it was too mcuh heat making a loose connection on the back of the stereo IIRC.

 

I have something Crazy going on with mine...you will start hearing beeps and then the air stops blowing out the front vents but you can still hear the blower and then after several beeps all of a sudden i will get the traction light on with ABS on and THEN.......the engine light has now come on with LOSS of acceleration....I can put the pedal to the floor and only be going a few miles per hour . Found if I unhook and rehook battery this all stops and goes back to normal. My battery is only about a year old. But this will just continue to happen now so being I don't have the money to take it in I don't go far with it. Any ideas what to look at??

 

You might want to look at the accelerator pedal circuit. Check the codes and see if you have a CEL for drive by wire throttle errors
Also check the room fuse in the cabin fuse box.

 

Kept getting Linking Error....so I don't know about codes..I tookit to an auto parts store to try to read codes after engine light came on but got the linking error over and over so they told me to take it to this shop by them and see if they could use their machine but the guy that put his machine on for me was a real jerk wouldn't tell me what codes came up he just said you will have to take this to a Mazda dealer this is going to cost $4000.00 I kept saying well what are the codes and he said something real fast that I think now he might have said OMP but not sure but he said there were 3 codes. I tried again at another auto parts store and got the linking error code again. My car only has 95,0000 is a 2004 RX8 well taken care of I'm the third owner I live in Florida. I'm on disability so dont have money to take it in if I don;t have to so trying to fix myself with help from a friend. Battery terminals are clean and tight. Can you tell me exactly what and how to check please? Thanks

 

Also dannobre the car goes back to working fine once I take battery terminals off and back on I have to leave off about 5 mins but then it goes back to working for a few days..then all of a sudden while driving I will start hearing the beeps and the air will stop coming out the front vents but I still hear it then sometimes it will pop back working then go back out then the ABS and DSC lights will come on and still continue driving ok but then all of a sudden the engine light comes on and then I lose power the car goes down to like 20 miles and hour will gradually increase as i go but not by too much...I then pull over and take the battery cables off..it'scrazy...then its fine again and I can get back home. I've stopped driving it as much as possible for now.

 

It sounds like it is going into limp mode of some sort. The most common limp mode causes are the OMP and the drive by wire throttle.
The room fuse supplies power to the OBD connector under the dash... and the dash display. That's why I wanted you to check that. Pull the fuses and reinstall... both in the cabin and under the hood. Poor connections can cause voltage problems that can result in strange errors.

It might be worth buying a moderately priced code scanner. You can likely get a decent one for about $50. Without knowing what codes are being set makes it almost impossible to diagnose anything.

As a FYI the OMP often will cause limp mode without a CEL. Often it will work for about a minute after resetting the ECU before it faults. A way to check if it is in limp mode is to remove your intake tube at the throttle body. See if the throttle plate opens normally when the key is on and you press on accelerator pedal... if it doesnt....reset the ECU and see if it works then. Start the car and see if the plate stops moving fully after a minute or so. If it does it is likely the OMP limp mode.... unless you are getting DBW throttle error codes.

Where in Florida are you? There are a number of good rotary garages in that state...

 

It sounds like the battery terminals are loose or dirty. They stretch with age, so even fully turned down, they're too loose for a good connection or work themselves loose over a few days.

Clean them up (the posts and terminals) and either shim them with copper foil or just replace the terminals with new ones. When fully snug you should not be able to rotate them about the battery post even with some force.

The battery and terminals are the only component that the display, DSC, air vents and ECU have in common, and as you say, replacing them fixes the problem temporarily.. So..