i have my seats out cuz im detailing the whole interior and i have my car running to burn up the old crappy gas.. well i sprayed som cleaner on the carpet near the shifter and i got steam/smoke.. being curious i felt alot of heat comming off/from that area.. earlier on i found that there was some melted plastic in the shifter housing .. im just wondering if this type of thing is normal.. i know the exhaust runs right underneath but should it get that hot ???

 

your missing some rubber boots.. call your local mazda dealer and get them... there should be three

 

for the shifter ??? cuz i know one is now melted .. been like that. i havent been able to get underneth the car but shouldnt there be a heat sheild or something ??

 

The three boots absorb the heat coming from the transmission. In theory... in reality, most FC's (including mine, heh) do not have the boots anymore.

One of these days I'll replace it, but I kinda like my shifter keeping my hand warm

 

ok ,, phew .. i thought that this was not normal but i guess i can relax.. dont fc's have tranny coolers?? if not they need them

 

how warm is it supposed to get? mine gets too hot to keep my hand on it some days.

 

Make sure your not low on gear oil, it should get warm.. but not hot to the point where you can't touch it. If its getting that hot.. you must be running pretty low on gear oil.

 

for me i had the car idleling for about 30 mins so i can burn the old gas up.. not to mention the clutch is completly smoked . so i meani wasnt putting any real load on the tranny or engine for that matter.. the engine temp gauge stayed perfectly centered to

 

i THINK THAT's your problem that you left it standing for 30 minutes, wich gives time for the exhauset to heat up the floor of the car.

 

that would explain it