Doug Gennrich

I have a '87 auto and have noticed that have real warm air coming from the window switch area. The car has 180K miles and I don't know if the motor mounts have ever been replaced. I have read this might be the reason.

deliriousga

That's probably the problem. When the mounts squish, the foam insulation slips down and leaves a gap where hot air can get through.

heinrich

If there's a gap ... one can always seal it

Ron_H

I have an '86.5. I do not have squished motor mounts; my mounts are in great condition AFAIK. Since I have owned the car (3 1/2 yrs), I have experienced hot air from the tunnel flooding the central console. On the way home the night I bought the car, I was perspiring with the windows open in the warm central California heat. The radio buttons were too hot to touch and the CD would ultimately shut down from the heat. Awful, I thought. I put a hand towel over the shift lever and another over the switches so I wouldn't burn myself. I listened to the "motor mount" stories. Not my problem.

Then I figured out that if I shut the windows and the sunroof the blast of air went away. Duh!! No more negative pressure above the tunnel. I repaired my AC and left it on and the windows shut. But sometimes, on a warm night I like to open the windows. Back to the hot center console. Not good.

Then it came time to repair my transmission. Thankful for the chance to finally replace the central foam sealing whatchamacallit above the torque tube, I celebrated the expense of the transmission rebuild. Devek installed a NEW foam thingie and assured me that thing would seal. Wrong!! Same problem.
But not a problem it was, since my AC worked perfectly. I laughed off into the sunset and drove to Nevada. In Nevada I trashed the AC compressor on a roller coaster road, and spent another 4 or 5 thousand miles in miserable heat with most of it coming from the central tunnel.

Well, I couldn't tolerate it, so I "fixed it" by removing my ashtray and placing a small sponge under the console to divert the air coming from the shifter base out the open ashtray. Then I cracked the passenger window just enough to suck the hot air out the passenger window, and away I went. I don't smoke so I didn't need the ashtray. When the windows are open, the ashtray door is open and the hot air exits the passenger side. No more hot switches or hot radio *****.

I am about to replace the dead AC compressor, and will then have climate control back for the trip to Denver. But I need to install some means of sealing the tunnel around the shifter to stop the hot air when the windows are down.
In another post by Sniper, he claims he stopped his by using aluminum foil stuffed in the space under the shifter under the console. I have to try that or I will remove the torque tube and seal the space under there. Another fix I've heard is to use foam insulation in a can available at OSH or Home Depot. It is the kind that is used to seal around outlet or junction boxes in your walls. Spray it where you want it and it expands to seal up cracks and holes. Of course it probably squeaks when it moves around, and then you're screwed.
Finally, simply remove the console and form a sealing mat over the tunnel and re-install the console.

This hot air thing is a PIA. That and my miserable steering are the two irritants in my 928. One more and I may have to use my shotgun on the *#@$%@!! car to end this pain once and for all.

RDS928S

I had the same hot shifter issue on my early 86 especially with the windows open.
The windows creat a vaccum for the heat to be sucked into the interior at speed.
My problem was solved when I switched to a ceramic coated X-pipe with no cats.
Your cats run at extreamly high temps. and if the insulation is compromised then the heat migrates up into the tunnel.

RDS

heinrich

Yes the cats get ridiculously hot down there and cook everything. And open sunroof/windows suck the air through to the cabin. There has to be a way to seal that little hole where the air comes in at the shifter. Maybe the rubber boot needs replacing?

Ron_H

Heinrich, I thought about the rubber boot. But the hot air just goes all throughout the console and pours out of the cracks, and heats the radio and the switches. The fix must come below the shifter and must stop the air from entering the top of the tunnel. I need to drop my torque tube sometime soon to remove the transmission to replace the broken parking pawl I broke not long ago. When I do that, I will get into this issue big time and solve the freaking nuisance

heinrich

Ron I believe there is just one real hole there, no?

Ron_H

I recall the shifter being the only real hole or access point for the air. I stuffed some foam from above but with no success. Sterling's fix seems the best. Access to this is available only with the factory foam seal removed. Sniper's fix worked for him, but to fix it properly I think the fix must come from below.

Big Dave

Is there anyway to fix this from below without removing the torque tube/exhaust pipes? I replaced my motor mounts but the original foam must have been displaced since I still get hot air when the windows/sunroof are open.

I should have done this when I did the engine rebuild, but I thought the new mounts would solve it.

fbarnhill

Guys,
I was just thinking about making a post for just this same thing. Mine gets so hot, it is a PIA to lay your arm on the console. I have not cats. The muffler, however, is right where the cats would be. Do you think it would do any good to wrap the muffler in heat insulating wrap?

Thanks,
Frank Barnhill
79 Euro

Big Dave

I think the heat is being sucked through from the engine compartment, and not just heat radiating up from cats/muffler.

Ron_H

Dave, I don't think the heat is coming from the engine compartment. I place some diverter sponge material at crucial points under the console and directed the heat from the shifter hole through my missing ashtray and then out the window. If you went under the car and sprayed foam in a can up between the torque tube and the factory foam piece, maybe a seal could be effected that would prevent the heat from entering the console. Maybe I'll try that before Denver, because I dont want to drop the torque tube yet. I simply use the handbrake to park the car.