I bought my '90 convertible (as far as I know, all stock except for a K&N air filter) a couple of months ago and have been trying to figure out what is causing my inner and outer shifter boots to melt. A week or so after I bought the car I noticed that the shift lever was getting really hot, and that the heat was transferring to the entire console and boot.

Last week I noticed that this only happens when the top is down, if I put both windows up with the top down the heat disapates almost instantly!

I have searched this site as well as a couple of other sites for information on this but haven't seen anything listed about this specifically. I have seen a couple of postings about the inner boot and plastic bushings missing on convertibles - most likely the end result of too much time with the top down?

Has anyone seen this before? What can I do to correct it?

I know that the car had some tranny work done on it before I bought it, so I looked at parts diagrams and the shop manual I have to see if I am missing any heat shields. At this point all that the local Mazda dealer and I have been able to find missing is a 4"x6" "shield that mounts to the transmission brace above the exhaust. Is there a larger piece to go betweent he cats and the transmission?

I have some Thermo Tec high temp cloth that I installed above the forward 2 cats, because I first noticed this heating at my feet. I have some left, and am thinking about putting some insulation around the bottom of the transmission up in the area of the shifter.

The car runs very well, I have replaced plugs, wires, O2 sensor, There is a small leak somewhere in the Exhaust system that is most noticeable when letting of the throttle too fast, but if the top or window are up there is no noticeable heat inside the car. I have also changed out the tranny fluid, it was a little too thick and black for my liking (to be expected with the heat it saw?)

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

 

I have the same prob. Actually, it is due to a leaking exhaust gasket. I am not too worried about it.

In addition, I am going to add some heat sheilding under the carpet.

 

I had a similar problem with my 87 NA coupe roll up the windows and the heat went away.