n/p anything for a fellow mp3er lol. well, when mine went, i still had freon in the ac, so it pretty much all dripped out onto the high hose lol. mine was soaked with it. IF mazda used a leak check (usually some kind of dye that they put in the ac unit to check for leaks) u can use a black light to see if u see any of that dye pn the high hose. u can also buy that dye at walmart or any auto store usually. but i think u need to have the ac unit to run it through the whole system before anything. make sure u read the directions on how to use that. i havnt used it in a while, so i dont want to tell you wrong. but just dont try to run the ac with no freon, u might burn out the compressor. u can just take out the high hose AS LONG AS THERES NO FREON LEFT IN THE AC!!! make sure of that first, cause its really pressurized inside n might shoot at ur or something when u take it off lol. but anyway if it does leak, i doubt it will have any pressure left in there. n ya, i would recommend that u do it, save urself alot of money. if u buy a used hose it should cost like 100-150 at most. i did mine i think for.... 60 or 70 including freon, did the vacum myself though. u can just take urs to a auto repair place for them to recharge your unit for like 50 dallors usually. that way will be much easier. just make sure u replace the hose yourself. unless you have a vacum.
just take a flat head screw driver n press it on the LOW side of the ac, close to the passenger side strut tower, teal cap, open it n it looks like a tire valve stem. press it like u would on the tire stem, should let out the rest. be cafeful n make sure u have towels around the low side area, cause if theres anything left in there it will spray all over.
lol sorry for posting so messy -_-