xthomp

2004 RX8 6M - just under 70k miles. No wrecks, I haven't messed with the wiring and my driving habits have not changed in decades.

Periodically, the information display on the center console cycles continuously through all possible displays (for as little as a day upto a week). Everything then goes back to normal. Throughout this, I do not lose any console functionality or saved settings. The display is just unreadable. Each onset seems to coincide with the damp and cold(< 65 degrees Fh - which I do not get much of in South Florida). I thought I would ask y'all before I took it to the Mazda dealership where a broken spark plug clip took 2 visits to resolve

brummelk

Mine just started doing this too. The display is unreadable as all the combinations of the LCD colors flash crazily.

hindu_steve

I had the same problem. Originally, it did this intermittently, would scramble, but ended up resolving itself after a couple of minutes. The third time, it did not resolve itself, but stayed scrambled, even with the car being off overnight or for several days. I ended up calling this dealer I used to go to in Seattle, very reliable folks, and described the issue. He said he has seen it before in Mazda 3's. He said it was static electricity, and suggested disconnecting the battery. I disconnected one terminal, then reconnected and started the car, no fix. I waited a couple of hours, disconnected both terminals, did not reconnect right away but left it sitting disconnected for a bit. When I reconnected and started, that fixed the problem.

TrochoidMagic

hmmm.... may try this one out. this is the only post i can find with the issue i am currently having.

i have an '07, and just hit 30k. i believe it just ran out of 36btb warranty...idk.
but anyhow, my temperature display worked totally fine and just decided to give crazy scrambled readings one day after a wash.

worth a try.

TrochoidMagic

reporting back.

it worked!

the service manual only says to replace the unit. but under symptoms that the display does not work... i went over a few checks and overlooking some loose connections, all fine. and this symptom literally came on abruptly.

wonder why i didn't just try disconnecting the battery, but it worked. i disconnected the terminals and crossed them together, and opened the door to discharge all loads. reconnected the terminals, and turned on the car. all fine now!

thx for sharing the info.