center console vinyl lift
 

My center console has a problem with the vinyl lifting away from the plastic base. It seems the most prevalent lifting occurs where it meets up with the cassette box at the very edges by the seat belt lock mechanism. This summer I noticed that the transmission tunnel seems to get very hot. Hot enough that it actually has caused a warp on the bottom of my cassette box. The previous owner removed the original carpet and replaced it with silver knit. I was thinking that they may have removed some thermal protection, has anyone else had this occurrence and if so what was done to fix it.

How are your motor mounts? I think I read about the motor sitting lower with squashed MMs and this causing some hot air to go up into the tunnel. I don't think the padding under the carpet has anything to do with heat insulation. I'm pretty sure it's just for noise. Mine doesn't have any and it doesn't get very hot around the console or anywhere else in the cabin. Before I did the MMs though, I used to get lots of hot air up through and around the shift boot. It's no longer a problem.

Don't know if this is a problem with the 89 (also whether you have a 5 spd or auto).

I second the possible issue with the motor mounts. You should check that first!

The warping of the vinyl as you describe is is not that uncommon. I have not had it on my own car, but a few owners here have fixed this and written about it here. You may want to do a search and see what you can find here.

Lastly, a lot of time the support brackets on the console - the plastic eyes near the casette box that hold the console down - they tend to break off. Then the whole console wiggles around.

While you are working on fixing the vinyl, check , if your console is lose near the cassette box. I have a nifty little kit that can either be used as a preventive measure, or to fix broken support brackets.