Heater/fan issue... no good.

[UnNaturalinc]

*story followed by question.

Right toward the end of winter my heater stopped working... The air would still come out, but no heat. Every once in a while it would work though. I was busy and it wasn't that cold so I never got around to looking into the issue.

Then just this past Friday while running around getting things finished for HIN... My eyes start burning.... Every once in a while I'd smell burning tires or something. A concern in the back of my head, but not worrying about it too much.

The day is a hot one, my AC is cranked when I'm in traffic and the air is full blast when I'm on the freeway (with windows down).... Hours go by and eventually my eyes are burning/hurting that I can barely see. My nose is hurting at this point. I turn a corner and my car fills with smoke. I pull over and shut it down, searching everywhere. Finally hear a weird noise and find it to be the heater fan itself. It must have been rubbing on something and was melting plastic... Yeah, that could have been a big issue had my dash gone up in flames while cruising down the freeway. It also sucked driving to Seattle and back this weekend w/ no air at all. :)

I had a couple events over the weekend, haven't had a chance to take it apart at this point.

Anyone else have their fan go out in a short period of time? I've only got 25k on the car. There was no sign of an issue before this day besides the hot air not working. No weird noises, no inconsistencies with air, etc.

[Autox MSP]

time to go to the dealer

[UnNaturalinc]

time to go to the dealer

I won't let the close/local dealer touch my car again. They had it 3 times and managed to cause some sort of damage each time. They were rude when I complained about their poor/sloppy work habits. They also bitched me out for giving them a bad review on my servey sheet from Mazda.

The next closest dealer isn't really convenient. I'd rather just buy the part and fix it myself and not have to deal with those dealer idiots anymore.

Not to mention the fact that if they wanted to NOT work on it, they wouldn't have to. Due to the voiding of warranties I've done at this point. I've been honest with that other dealer about what is done and told him I'm a "professional in the industry". They said they'd be willing to work on it still, but it's a big issue getting out there in the morning then coming in to work. But that may be an option I look into. We do get rental cars for free with the warranty.

[Brian MP5T]

I have yet to hear of that problem, but as a guy who removed all his A/C I have seen the inside of the beast you speak of and it's well built. It's odd, when I had it appart, I commented to a bud how overbuilt it was. Sorry to hear of your porblems. It's rather easy to get at once you pull off the glovebox and if need be, the Airbag..

[CommieSpeed]

Haha, those surveys carry a lot of weight, so I can understand why they were pissed, even though they deserved it. Just so everyone knows, that is one of the best ways to get back at you evil dealer, is to actually FILL OUT the mail-in survey and bash the shit out of them in it. Act too crazy and Mazda will brush you off as a psycho customer, but the right amount of complaining gets them in TONS of trouble. I would never go back to a dealer after bitching them out....I've seen to much....just like I would never insult the waiter that brings me my food. Haha, they'll spit in your engine.

[UnNaturalinc]

Haha, those surveys carry a lot of weight, so I can understand why they were pissed, even though they deserved it. Just so everyone knows, that is one of the best ways to get back at you evil dealer, is to actually FILL OUT the mail-in survey and bash the shit out of them in it. Act too crazy and Mazda will brush you off as a psycho customer, but the right amount of complaining gets them in TONS of trouble. I would never go back to a dealer after bitching them out....I've seen to much....just like I would never insult the waiter that brings me my food. Haha, they'll spit in your engine.

I actually got a call because of servey. They wanted further info on why I gave them a bad review. My old boss filled out one honestly too from when he had his RX-8 worked on. The service manager called him pissed off about it. Yeah, that'd probably have got his arse fired had Mazda known about it.

I'm not a bitchy customer by any means, I deal with customers/clients all day long so I know how things work in that regard. I didn't think it was too much to ask to have my car not be trashed on/damaged. And that's exactly what I told them. :shrug: Oh well, water under the bridge I guess.... such is life.

I still have no fan, been too busy to address it still. If I lived anywhere that wasn't so mild with weather I'm sure I'd have more motivation. :)