I have noticed hot air coming from the shifter boot on my '89 n/a GTU. I usually notice this during stop and go city driving, but not on the highway. I am usually on the highway at night though, so I can't tell whether the cooler air is partially or entirely responcible. The transmission was rebuilt very recently, so it should be good. I think it is probably just heat from the engine, that doesn't get blown away with the lower speeds and frequent stops and starts. If someone could comfirm this it would ease my mind, but if there is a problem somewhere I want to jump on it now.

Thanks.

 

word, i'm having the same problems too!

 

Shift boots...

 

Need new boots! I had same problem on 89 vert. HOT AIR
I put in short shifter from MazdaTrix, and went ahead and ordered the new boot while i was at it.
NO MORE HOT AIR

 

So it is not an indication of anything really wrong, right? Just hot air (normal) leaking from the seams of the boot?

 

no, it's normal when the insulation and the boots for the shifter are worn, torn or gone...

keeps ya warm in the winter though!! hah

 

The inner shift boots have a tendancy to rip/tear fairly regularly. If they've haven't been replaced recently then they're probably bad, time for a replacement. I've heard of Miata inner boots tearing at under 30 000 miles. The tears let in hot air from under the car (hot exhaust is under there). New ones should fix the air blowing in.

 

you also could have an exhaust leak like i do

 

Easy DIY: unscrew shitft ****, pull up boot surround, cut out square peice of insulation, ram the shifter through it at the center, re-install boot cover. Worked great for me.

 

Don`t be a tight ***! Order a new set of shifter boots (Mazdatrix) and install them.
There IS a small chance that when you had your tranny work done the boots were not reinstalled correctly but odds are they are worn and torn. Remember, anything worth doing is worth doing right! (if you`re gonna plead poverty you may have bought the wrong car)

 

Also, this commonly happens because hack-job mechanics decide that reinstalling the exhaust heat shields after some service work is optional. Without those heat shields, you are cooking the transmission and letting loads of heat into the cabin.

 

yea the boot tears all the time. i havnt heard of one rx7 not having the inner boot tearing. you can just easing pull it apart and just take an old shirt or towel and wrap it around the stick and itw ould work just fine might get a tiny bit of heat but its alot better then a lot of heat and no they wont ketch on fire

 

Don't mind the hot air, will fix it right once I have taken care of more pressing matters (like plugs, air filter, fuel filter, plug wires, tranny fluid, diff fluid, coolant flush and replace, have already changed oil and oil filter, working on doing temp repairs on paintwork). I am just glad that it isn't a sign that there is an abnormal amount of friction in the gearbox or something. Thanks alot everyone.

 

Now, if you REALLY want to do it up right, pull out all of that torn, cooked insulation and put in some new protection. You can buy a small 8 SF roll at coolandquiet. The Lytherm works great for this.

 

Dam... I don't think any of the 7 rx7s I owned ever came w/ the boot... I always had to buy them... I live in fla and I don't have ac... So, even when its cool outside, I'm cookin inside the car...