Overheating of gear stick and surrounds

[manx52]

G'day All,
This is a pretty strange thing. About once every 4 or 5 times I drive my BA Astina, the gear stick, gearstick gator and surrounding plastics get very hot. So hot that you can feel the heat coming out to your leg. Only the bit around the gearstick gets hot. I've been under the car and checked that there is no way that they exhaust can be touching on the selector rods and its all clear. the problem area is only around the gearstick and surrounding plastics. I'm guessing that at some time there has been an earth for something put back to the metal around the gearstick and now its causing an electrical short which is heating up the area but don't really know. I think that I will have to do some investigating this weekend but just wondering if I am missing something or someone else might have had the same problem. Oh, its a V6 but this shouldn't matter.

Cheers

Doug

[mike_d87]

things dont have to come into contact with each other to become hot. heat is a radiant form of energy so dont discard the exhaust. thats all i can think of sorry

[Cosmo Dude]

Take out the centre console and go for a drive, when you feel the heat you can (carefully) feel around for the heat source. I had a similar problem a while back and it was hot air coming from the engine through a hole in a rubber seal.

[Dogo]

Ive had heat coming thru there.

turned out the rubber seal around the gearstick - where it goes thru the chassis - had popped loose.

[geetee]

is the heatsheild on your exhaust still there?

[manx52]

There are still heatshields but none of them are actually on the exhaust. There are a couple on the body itself. One where the original cat/resonator was, for example but this has been changed and replaced by a 'hot dog' type resonator which then feeds back to the rear standard exhaust. The problem is that the heating thing only happens every now and then. I drove the car all day today and it never heated up.

Anyone got a parts fische for the exhaust and underbody of the BA or know where I can get one on the net. A fixit manual would be better but I guess there aren't any up on the net.

[manx52]

Originally Posted by Cosmo Dude

I had a similar problem a while back and it was hot air coming from the engine through a hole in a rubber seal.

Cosmo Dude, it looks like you win the prize. I have done some experimenting today on the way to and from work. Window open, heat starts to build. Shut the window, heat disappears. Its a flow through effect from somewhere in the engine bay and the heated wind is getting through into the back of the dash through a hole somewhere. MGB's in the old day and many other cars used to have that exact same way of heating the cabin in winter. Open a vent to the engine bay. Anyhow, now I have to try to find the offending hole and put a plug in it. I'm suspecting the hole where the old alarm system went through the firewall as that has been removed but I bet it wasn't plugged up when the guys changed the alarm a couple of weeks ago.

Cheers
Doug