bs46488

Sorry for the long post. I've been all over the forum trying to figure out how to fix this problem.

The inside of my car is always (gets) hot. I thought that I had a vacuum leak, that was messing with the HVAC system. I've torn most of the dash apart and haven't found a thing. No broken hoses, tubes, connections, etc. What's interesting is the Heat and AC controls all work. It blows heat. It also blows ice cold ac.

So the other day the car was hot. I dropped something and reach down to pick it up. I notice that the carpet and plastic near the gear shift was hot. Reach down closer towards my feet and it was hotter.

Then I got thinking, isn't that where the cats are? Could all this heat be radiant heat from cats? Are the cats bad? DId I loose some heat sheilds? How do I test this? How do I fix this? Could I wrap the cats with that header wrap stuff? Pull the interior and put down that silver alum lining? Spray something on the bottom to protect from heat?

Other suggestions??

My set-up is a stock 4.6 engine, with vortech (and supporting mods/tune). Stock exhaust manifold, stock h-pipe. SLP cat-back system. Regular maintenance of fluids and stuff.

Typically after I drive the car, it smells "hot", but I can't pin point where the odor comes from.

I also have a SLP mid-pipe laying on my porch. I never installed it because I heard you need to re-tune after the install. And in CA it wont pass smog. But if this would be a solution, I'd consider it.

Thoughts? Thanks...

0949er

I honestly think that its just poor heat insulation between your floorboard and the exhaust (that runs right under you). My old 99 got heater hot on the floor boards (it was nice in winter), and my 04 stays cold pretty much under any load. I think just some cars have better insulation then others.

unless it JUST started happening

Brute03

i thought i was the only one with this problem, i have a lot of heat coming off the trans tunnel area especially after a bit of driving, it sucks!

lizzyfan

Hot as Hell in mine with no cats. Just how Stangs are, poor insulation

Mustang3GT07

My car is also the same way. Between no cats and the heaton, its hot!

Sxynerd

+1 here as well BUT to go back to something you asked.

"Could the cats being clogged and bad be causing heat to accumulate"; the short answer is YES. It is very possible that you pass emissions AND you do not have a CEL. Nature of the beast with that sort of thing since the ECU cycle is so non specific. It "could" be just bad enough to accumulate heat.

Whether or not I'd waist my time or money trying to fix it would be mood/money dependent for me. To replace a factory "6" cat H pipe assembly is about $1500 and to replace the individual cats is annoying and pricey since you don't know which one "could" be bad. I say install your AF H pipe and when it comes time for smog check, put it back up. Get your car tuned and have them turned off with a flip tune leaving one position for stock for when you get checked.

JC316

I had this same problem, I noticed that the console area was HOT. After taking it apart, I found that there was no insulation between the shifter and the outside of the car. I could see the tranny and the cats after pulling the rubber boot off. I took some duct insulation with the reflective coating and cut a piece to fit. Dropped temps drastically.

bs46488

I guess I feel a little better knowing that I'm not the only one.

This problem has been happening for over 2 years, so it's not a new problem.

Sxynerd brings up a good point, I just have to decide how much it bothers me.

But I do like to hear that when JC316 put down insulation, the temps dropped.

Sxynerd

Also, 75$ worth of dynomat on your front floor panels can go along way.

WannaBeGearHead

Lol I have that same problem. Thought it was just my car but guess not lol. I finally just determined that it was poor insulation cause I could hear a lot of noise when I started the car up.