[bho15]

I bought my used Mazda 3 and the guy who bought it before did not add AC, so is there a way to add AC in my car?? I went to the dealer and they said there is no AC part for the Mazda 3.

 

[mndsm]

WTF? Where are you they sold you a 3 with NO ac?

 

[jdesclafani]

just trade it in..y did u buy a car with no ac??? why wouldnt u check that before u bought it...

 

[bho15]

Im from Canada, and of course i would want AC in my car who wouldn't but it was a really good price for the car so i bought it thinking that you can add one later. The Protege you can add an AC if you originally didn't put one on the car but i don't get why not the Mazda 3. Just wondering if anyone knows a place i can get one or know if i can contact japan and buy one?

 

[mndsm]

You can always add A/C, be prepared to spend like 1000$ though, thems expensive parts right there. ...

 

[Guest]

A dealership should be able to add it...all the parts are available from Mazda, but the issue will be if you have $1200+ to spend on it. I had A/C added to a Sentra I owned years ago and it's very labor intensive.

 

[mndsm]

PITA to do IMO, trade the sucker. NO car is that good of a deal unless it was free.

 

[gallax]

At least you won't have to worry about AC kicking in when you switch the air controls to windshield/floor...

 

[revenant]

On the Protege, there was a bolt on kit for the AC. On the 3, there is no such kit. You may be forced to buy things that you didnt think you'd need to just add AC, like the wiring harness. Its hard to say. Just trade it in.

 

[mz3frs]

[quote author=Revenant link=topic=68343.msg1181497#msg1181497 date=1170368144]
[snip] Its hard to say. Just trade it in.
[/quote]

Or just live without A/C. It's not overly great A/C anyway...

 

[KoRn]

The AC is a joke in the Mazda 3. I have it and cant even use it. It doesnt even get cold. Mazda knows about all the AC problems but they arent doing a damn thing about it.

 

[revenant]

I'm interested to see how the AC works come Az summer...then again..I rarely use the AC anyway

 

[stephanie]

I was about to say, the AC in the 3 isn't really impressive anyway. When it's hot outside I prefer to cruise with the windows down anyway 8)

 

[DUBS]

[quote author=bho15 link=topic=68343.msg1180365#msg1180365 date=1170309317]
Im from Canada, and of course i would want AC in my car who wouldn't but it was a really good price for the car so i bought it thinking that you can add one later. The Protege you can add an AC if you originally didn't put one on the car but i don't get why not the Mazda 3. Just wondering if anyone knows a place i can get one or know if i can contact japan and buy one?
[/quote]


lol im sorry but maybe you should have checked how much it would cost before you got the car, and i didnt think you could get a car without a/c... i looked at diff cars at dealers, all kinds and everyone had a/c

i dont know.. if not just open your windows and drive real fast


lol just messing around, its going to cost you atleast a grand to get a/c but maybe find a used 3 in a junk yard and take the a/c unit of that one... good luck

 

[Mazz]

[quote author=DUBS link=topic=68343.msg1182702#msg1182702 date=1170426511]
lol just messing around, its going to cost you atleast a grand to get a/c but maybe find a used 3 in a junk yard and take the a/c unit of that one... good luck
[/quote]

Unit ?????

lets see ... compressor, condensor, evaporator, receiver/dryer, expansion valve, both hi & lo pressure piping, lo side taps, dash controls, wiring harnesses, probably a cpu in there somewhere.....
you're looking at least a grand in parts if you do it yourself, a $2500 estimate from a shop wouldn't suprise me.

use your windows or trade it in. not worth it. Resale value on a non-A/C car is worthless, now you know why you got a good price.

I find it hard to believe a MS3 even comes without an A/C. I truly believe you have an AC in there, but the salesman told you it doesn't have one ... because its broke. Do you have a compressor mounted???

 

[bearda]

[quote author=Mazz link=topic=68343.msg1182790#msg1182790 date=1170430004]
[quote author=DUBS link=topic=68343.msg1182702#msg1182702 date=1170426511]
lol just messing around, its going to cost you atleast a grand to get a/c but maybe find a used 3 in a junk yard and take the a/c unit of that one... good luck
[/quote]

Unit ?????

lets see ... compressor, condensor, evaporator, receiver/dryer, expansion valve, both hi & lo pressure piping, lo side taps, dash controls, wiring harnesses, probably a cpu in there somewhere.....
you're looking at least a grand in parts if you do it yourself, a $2500 estimate from a shop wouldn't suprise me.

use your windows or trade it in. not worth it. Resale value on a non-A/C car is worthless, now you know why you got a good price.

I find it hard to believe a MS3 even comes without an A/C. I truly believe you have an AC in there, but the salesman told you it doesn't have one ... because its broke. Do you have a compressor mounted???
[/quote]

The Mazdaspeed3 does come with AC standard, but the base Mazda 3 i doesn't by default. It's an $880 option (non dealer-installable, too).

It's probably going to cost a good bit more than the grand just for parts. If Mazda charges almost a grand for it factory installed expect to pay closer to $2000 as a baseline, as there's going to be a lot of stuff like the dash you're going to have to replace in addition to adding the new stuff. And to top it off, it will still be a shoehorned unit that is probably never going to work quite right compared to the factory A/C.

If you can do without it's time to suck it up. If you can't, sell the car.

 

[bearda]

Just out of curiosity I pulled up onlinemazdaparts.com's parts section and started adding up their parts cost (which are generally pretty good, below MSRP for sure) for the AC components. Bear in mind I don't know much about air conditioning units, but one of everything in their "Condenser compressor and lines" section comes out to $2343.40. The evaporator section is separate, but there's some pricey stuff in there that would be required for AC as well. That doesn't include all of the dash stuff you'd need for the vents, ducts, etc.

I don't know how much you spent on this car, but for new Mazda parts and install it's possible you'd pay more than you paid for the car. Unless you know a hell of a lot about air conditioning units and can do the install yourself AND you're able to find a wrecked Mazda3 to rip all the parts out of cheap, don't even consider trying to get an AC system installed after buying the car.

 

[mndsm]

Cheap A/C recipe

You will need-

One Igloo cooler (I like red, but blue is good.)

A fan that can plug into your ciggy lighter.

Sawzall

Marker of some sort.

Duct Tape

Take igloo cooler and sawzall and marker and Fan. Trace fan sized hole in side of cooler. Make sure said hole is near top of cooler, or switch to waterproof floormats. Cut out hole with sawzall.Repeat on other side of cooler, opposite of first hole. Attach fan to side of cooler, in hole (Idea is here fan blows into said cooler). Put big ass block of ice in cooler. Turn fan on. Now you have sweet chilly A/c for a fraction of the price!