Warrior_84

I have have 1991 Mustang GT 5.0 5 speed.. I've noticed when I'm at freeway speeds for a while that there is alot of heat coming from the center console (the whole area above the gear box)... If I have a candy bar or something in that area it'll melt the chocolate... I was just wondering if that's a problem... Thanks

Lee

94Yellow50

i have that same problem in my 94..only when the ashtray doors open i can feel it...if its closed it stays trapped. my guess is its just the exhaust heat coming thru the hole that the shifter goes through. even tho the rubber boot is supposed to seal it..the heat still makes it through

PRO50SC

The trans tunnel acquires heat. Mine does the same thing.

mjr46

you need to pull the shifter bezel up and make sure the rubber insolator boot is still intact and sealed...otherwise the cats are in that area and generate heat too.

HACKGT350

yup and those cats get to 2500*+ so you could only wonder why it gets so hot

U S Marine

Where did you get 2500 degrees? I never heard how hot they get, so I'm just curious.

FoxGT

The steel your exhaust pipe is made out of melts at a lower point than that. So, you won't be having a cat on your car for very long if you're seeing those temps.

LesteR723

the catalyst inside the cats creates heat when it reacts with the unburned fuel comming through the pipes.

U S Marine

Thanks. I understand the workings of the cat, but never heard an operating temp associated with it. No big deal, just a curiosity.

U S Marine

Here's the scoop"

"The average light off temperature at which the catalytic converter begins to function ranges from 400 to 600 degrees F. The normal operating temperature can range up to 1,200 to 1,600 degrees F. But as the amount of pollutants in the exhaust go up, so does the converter's operating temperature. If the temperature gets up around 2,000 degrees F or higher, several things happen. The aluminum oxide honeycomb begins to degrade and weaken. The platinum and palladium coating on the honeycomb also starts to melt and sink into the ceramic substrate reducing its effect on the exhaust. This accelerates the aging process and causes the converter to lose efficiency."