Excessive Cabin Heat
 

Okay, before I continue.

Bear in mind that Ive owned my RX8 for 5 years, have over 82K miles Ive driven, and have over 3700 posts on this forum before you tell me this issue is normal or tell me to search.

With that said, I know that it's normal for a little heat to come through the center counsel.

However, I just recently had a lot of work done to my car, including a new transmission. When I got the car back, everything runs great, however the interior is hot.

Now, its not warm, it is sweating hot. My E-brake lever hole feels like it's blowing heat out. With my A/C on, windows and sunroof open, I am literally sweating as if Im working out.

Put it to you this way, there was some residual trans fluid on the cat from when it overflowed when we filled the new trans. The steam from the fluid smokes INTO MY CABIN via the ebrake hole.

Ive had trans fluid thats leaked onto the exhaust before and I NEVER saw smoke in my cabin.

Im also hearing excessive road noise as well.

Now to the point:

Is there some sort of heat shield or insulation that may be missing? I took the center piece off, the rubber shift boot (the one right on top of the trans) is in tact, the little worthless piece of insulation is still there, everything appears as normal.

What could it be??

I am really concerned with this issue. BTW, I have a dashhawk, my cat is reading normal temps (1200-1500 degrees operating temps), no loss of power. Ive had a clogged cat before and its not clogged, something else is wrong.

Please shed some light on this issue, I dont like heat anywhere near my car :anger:

bump

any ideas guys?

I would agree that some heat shielding is gone that used to be there. Possibly removed during the transmission change and not replaced.

Your cat is the usual suspect, but you ruled that out, so the only thing left that makes sense is "does it feel like you have a 1,200 - 1,500 degree cat about 12 inches away?" :)

I was thinking maybe excess transmission heat, but no way that will come close to the normal cat temps.

its very hot yes.

Some quick food for thought, at times the cabin is hot but my shift knob is still cold (I have a greddy all metal shift knob). When a little fluid hit the CAT the smoke was coming through my ebrake hole (had much bigger amounts of smoke from burning fluid BEFORE this trans and the smoke never came into the cabin.

The passenger side seat bolt (the one that connects the seat to the floor) gets so hot that it will literally, literally burn your finger if you touch it.

Plus, from prior experience, when the transmission is running hot, you can feel the shifts getting a little clunky, the trans feels great.

However, according to the operating temps, the cat seems to be doing what it's supposed to.

Which leads me to believe it MUST be some sort of heat shield or insulation.

Any idea what is supposed to be there heat sheild-wise? Any aftermarket parts I can buy? Ive seen people wrap exhaust parts with heat wrap.....

idk, any suggestions are welcome, but its almost to the point where the car is undrivable, the interior with all the windows open and AC on is probably still around 80-100 degrees, extremely uncomfortable on cruises or drives....

From another thread:
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/g...r/IMG_0655.jpg

I'm sure there are better pictures around that might show it better, but just one that I saw recently that I could remember where it what.

Anything missing?

You can see the heat shield in the pic to the left of the cat, shinier metal there. Wraps up around the top.

Heat shielding could certainly channel smoke elsewhere, even if it isn't designed to do so.

wow, that picture shows it all lol.

I have to get under there to see, but this definately paints a good picture of what to look for. Thank you very much. I will update when I find the time to crawl under there in my gravel apartment parking lot :uhh:

Same Issue
 

I have come upon the same issue. I was wondering if you ever found the problem or found a solution.

My problem started happening at the 2000k mark of a cross country road trip. Car filled with trans fluid fumes and the heat in the cabin was extremely high. Also my clutch pedal lost hydraulics.I am assuming from the heat changing its consistency. Cat sensor read 1800 F. It was freaking hot that it melted my carpet and chair rail plastic on the passenger side.

Got it to Mazda and they rebuilt the motor under warranty. Said it was misfiring and dumping fuel into the intake and down to the cat. All new plugs, wires, coils, and new clutch.

Drove it for 1500 miles with no issues and now its back again. When I push it to redline once the cars warmed up I smell trans fluid strong in the cabin and heats flowing up from the console and i start loosing hydraulics in the clutch. Still shifts fine, just the pedal almost drops to the floor.

Any help will be appreciated .

So a gentle warmth from the centre console is normal?
I thought that this might've been a problem

Gentle warmth yes. If you can't keep your hand on it, no.