2004 Mazda 3 AC Evaporator Temperature Sensor Replacement

[00scrub]

I was wondering if anyone here had any tricks to replace the Air Conditioning Evaporator Temperature Sensor on a 2004 Mazda 3. My AC compressor won't engage with the AC button, but the clutch engages fine when given 12V and the relay operates just fine. I measured an open circuit on what I think is the temp sensor to the left of the passenger side fuse panel.
The shop manual wants me to remove the entire AC unit from the cabin which is a daunting task. I was hoping someone knew if I could separate out the heater case and evaporator case some and get to it.

 

[Jetronic]

Don't know about getting to the evapoator without splitting the unit, my experience with modern cars says no. But I would look to find the wires for the sensor and try tricking the ac into running, especially on a 21 year old car where dismantling plastics must be carefully considered.

 

[Chris142]

Don't know about getting to the evapoator without splitting the unit, my experience with modern cars says no. But I would look to find the wires for the sensor and try tricking the ac into running, especially on a 21 year old car where dismantling plastics must be carefully considered.

This. Sometimes you are better off leaving the bad part alone and putting a new one next to it without taking too much apart

 

[WobblyElvis]

The blower fan should be just upstream of the evaporator. Sometimes you can remove the blower and reach into the evaporator sensor.