Hey guys! I was driving my '85 today and I noticed that the tranny area in the cab (e-brake, right in front of the center console, all around the shifter) got really warm. Tranny behaved fine, though, no smoke and everything else seemed fine. I never noticed this before... Any ideas?

EDIT: stock 5-speed manual.

 

auto im assuming? When i had a 700r4 i noticed that it would get really warm. I ended up putting a tranny temp gauge in the pan and would routinely see temperatures as high as 220 or more. This was with a stock transmission (to my knowledge). So i ended up putting a aftermarket transmission cooler in front of the radiator and never saw temps above 195 on my gauge again.

 

Actually it's the stock 5-speed. Thanks for the input, though, I may try a temp gauge to see what's going on with it.

 

Hmm if thats the case skip the gauge. If your getting heat up in your center console my bet is your lower shifter boot is torn or non-existent. I ran with no lower boot for about a week and couldn't stand it. It was a like a space heater through my center console. New lower boot later and no heat coming up into the cabin.

 

Make sense. I'll dive into it tomorrow and report back. Thanks!

 

It's probably the catalytic converter,they do get very,very hot.

 

Hmmm... I'll check the lower shifter boot, and if that's not the issue I'll check the cat converter. You think it's clogged or something? Engine seems to be operating normally.

 

hmm - interesting. i have an 87 5.7tpi w/700-r4. I noticed that for 1st time the other day. the console area was ALMOST too hot to touch. I had got caught in traffic and was not moving very much. Engine temp was fine. I rested my hand on the area next to parking brake and noticed it was REALLY warm. Well, after i got where i was going, and got OUT of the traffic, i noticed once i was at speed,the area cooled down to normal. its like the heat got trapped in that area with no airflow, and once we had airflow, all was fine. I had never had that happen before, but then, i almost never drive that car in heavy traffic.