- Joined
- 25 February 2012
- Messages
- 2,165
The story so far...
Driving home from work one Friday afternoon, roof off, taking the long, twisty way. Notice for the first time heat coming from the shift boot and the gap in the rubber gasket behind the parking brake. Very strange. Concerned, I pull over, pop the hood, and wait for the fan to kick on (left the car running). It does, but in short order the car overheats (temp gauge spikes) so I shut off the car, let it cool on the side of the road with the engine hatch open for half an hour or so, then babied it home with the heater on and the windows down.
Turned out that I had been losing coolant on account of a misplaced hose clamp in the tunnel, and I guess that day I finally lost enough to overheat (and blow the head gasket...). This also explains the heat coming from the tunnel, as I found coolant stains around the end of the hose, so I assume hot coolant (steam) was pouring out of there while I was driving.
So the HG was replaced and the hose clamp moved back into place. But, I was still feeling heat coming from the tunnel under hard driving. What the heck??
Well, turns out that when the engine was dropped to replace the HG, the small rubber gasket that the shift cable runs through into the passenger cabin was torn (yes, in case you're keeping score, all issue so far were caused by careless workmanship...) and that explains the heat from the tunnel leaking into the cabin.
Of course, there's no way to order just that gasket - it comes with the change cable assembly ($600+) and the labor to drop everything out and replace that cable is substantial. So, as a stopgap, my (new, careful) tech told me he filled in the tears in the gasket with some kind of flexible foam that should take care of most of the heat.
Unfortunately, it didn't. So, what should I do? I know it's not a sign of anything being wrong with the car - coolant levels and temps are stable under all kinds of driving now. It's just distracting and annoying.
I can either spend the likely four figures to get a new shift cable assembly installed (when all I really need is that tiny rubber gasket - might even be doable from the cabin side), or maybe I can put some kind of other heat shielding underneath my center console?
Driving home from work one Friday afternoon, roof off, taking the long, twisty way. Notice for the first time heat coming from the shift boot and the gap in the rubber gasket behind the parking brake. Very strange. Concerned, I pull over, pop the hood, and wait for the fan to kick on (left the car running). It does, but in short order the car overheats (temp gauge spikes) so I shut off the car, let it cool on the side of the road with the engine hatch open for half an hour or so, then babied it home with the heater on and the windows down.
Turned out that I had been losing coolant on account of a misplaced hose clamp in the tunnel, and I guess that day I finally lost enough to overheat (and blow the head gasket...). This also explains the heat coming from the tunnel, as I found coolant stains around the end of the hose, so I assume hot coolant (steam) was pouring out of there while I was driving.
So the HG was replaced and the hose clamp moved back into place. But, I was still feeling heat coming from the tunnel under hard driving. What the heck??
Well, turns out that when the engine was dropped to replace the HG, the small rubber gasket that the shift cable runs through into the passenger cabin was torn (yes, in case you're keeping score, all issue so far were caused by careless workmanship...) and that explains the heat from the tunnel leaking into the cabin.
Of course, there's no way to order just that gasket - it comes with the change cable assembly ($600+) and the labor to drop everything out and replace that cable is substantial. So, as a stopgap, my (new, careful) tech told me he filled in the tears in the gasket with some kind of flexible foam that should take care of most of the heat.
Unfortunately, it didn't. So, what should I do? I know it's not a sign of anything being wrong with the car - coolant levels and temps are stable under all kinds of driving now. It's just distracting and annoying.
I can either spend the likely four figures to get a new shift cable assembly installed (when all I really need is that tiny rubber gasket - might even be doable from the cabin side), or maybe I can put some kind of other heat shielding underneath my center console?