My new car has four eyeball type air vents on the dash panel, the two outer vents have a push butten opening and closure feature but the two inner vents do not.
I have seen for sale on the MX5 Parts website replacement eyeball vents that have the opening and closure feature and I would very much like to replace the “fixed” vents on my car.
My question is how difficult a job would it be to replace the vents and how much dismantling would be needed?
By the way does anyone else agree with me that ALL the vents on the car should have the feature as standard?
Of course they should but that would cost Mazda more money to produce, save a few pennies for each vent on each car = mega savings overall (there’s always that story of how an airline took one peanut out of every packet they give to passengers and it saved them millions a year, its all business in the end). I was tempted to swap the fixed ones out for closed ones but in the end never had the need to shut them off so haven’t bothered.
Its quite easy to replace them; take the glovebox out and you can see the few screws holding it in place (cant remember how many, its been a while) and then you can see the clips that just need pushing from behind to pop the dash trim panel off. the vents are mounted to the trim panel by a couple of screws so just a straight swap.
Not the best / easiest instructions to understand here, im sure theres better around but take a look at this http://www.mellens.net/mazda/Mazda-Miata-2006-2007/interior_trim.pdf
Thank you very much for the advise although the link you gave did not work.
I am not sure if I would attempt the job myself without the pictures to show.
“Of course they should but that would cost Mazda more money to produce”.
Hi
There could be another reason, have a read of post number 3 on this link: -
http://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/yaf_postst76333_MK3-bits-for-sale—Dash-panel-and-wiper-switch.aspx
Richard.
Hmm. I think that your reasoning was far more accurate than any fear of carbon monoxide poisoning!
The vents don’t open for a very good reason, for how much they cost mazda would put them in but mazda spent thousands of pounds on tests so they should known best
I thought about doing this when I got hold of a spare crash panel. However, I read around, and there seems to be a good reason that only 2 of them close. I forget the specifics, but it’s to do with making sure there’s adequate ventilation.
The question of adequate ventilation is interesting as the car was designed as an open top roadster!
Although my new car car has the retractable hardtop therefore more weather resistant and less draughty than the fabric top version it has more in common with a normal saloon car where every ventilation has an open and closed position how is it possible for the MX5 to be a potential death trap?
It still sounds more like a cost saving measure along with the cheap and tacky gear lever and handbrake covers!
- The soft top mx5 is not “draughty” either top-up or top-down.
- Without through ventilation system operational, there is negligible air-flow in the cabin even with top-down, if the windows are up.
- Driver safety would be an absolute priority for Mazda designers - just look at the owners manual to see how much is written there about safety. If they get anything wrong in this arena they are potentially looking at litigation and massive recalls as well as reputation damage.
Have trust in the engineers, otherwise why own this car?
The very concept of open top motoring is “wind into hair” and as for suggesting negligible air flow you must have the very best wind blocker available.
My real point is if ventilation at face level is a necessary then why does almost every other car on the market have an on or off feature, there is still ventilation via the windscreen vent on ALL vehicle’s
Think this relates to the possibility of Exhaust fumes being blown or sucked back into the cockpit when travelling or stationery—when the roof is down.
Cant work out why the link didnt work, try this one (4th post down) http://mx5driver.com/thread/4541/mk3-3-dash-panel-removal