Excessive heat from gear lever /trim??

[ChrisFox 0]

I've been running a '91 16v 126K for about a year now, mostly motorway miles on it. However I've noticed that urban (nothing excessive in the rev's) driving seems to cause a lot of heat from the gear lever/trim, to the point where the stick is positively hot, and lifting the trim around shows the gear stick/linkage area is pumping out heat like a radiator. But if i then get on the motorway crusing in 5th, it cools right down to nothing.

 

Is this normal?? Someone once told me they 'run hot'.

 

Something to note is 3rd is getting stiff to select, somes requiring a fair amount of concentration to get right when hot.

 

What might i be looking at here?

 

Thought of getting the oil changed, as i dont think this has been done.

 

Any comments or advise would be more than welcome!

[C488ADO 0]

matt changed his gearbox fluid recently and he said it made the world of difference to the selection of gears maybe have a look at that first?

[dukest 0]

they definitely do get very hot down the centre tunnel which obviously you notice in summer more than ever

[Jim 2]

Could be missing a heatshield down there? There are heat shields that run along the centre of the car and obviously you have hot exhaust running along there too.. without a heatshield there you're REALLY gonna notice some heat.

 

Worth getting the underside inspected!

[ChrisFox 0]

Cheers guys, thats a weight off my mind- oil change will be order of the day.

 

Was really not up for a new or referb'd box!

[coullstar 0]

Sounds like you have the heat sheilding missing from underneath. Unless the box is making some funny noises then I wouldnt worry about it.

[fla 9]

if you need it i've got a heat shield which I cut across the width into two pieces for easier fitting (slide in each section one from each end of the gearshift tower)

[joeyboswell 0]

I put mt90 gear oil in my vr and it drastically improved the gears.

[Album56 0]

The cat sits under there & gives off a lot of heat, heatshield may be missing.

That darned cat!

[Jim 2]

Will say it again, as others have said - it sounds very much likely to be a heatshield. I think gearbox oil may be a red herring personally.

[joeyboswell 0]

heatshield isn't going to help his dodgy gear changes though. two problems and two possible solutions. get some good gearbox oil in and put a heat shield on. hopefully these will cure everything.

[ChrisFox 0]

It's too old for a cat, pretty much straight through exhaust; only realy noticed this since the summer, and like i said it clears up completely in top gear despite consistantly higher revs (which i find odd)..

 

Garage had a good look over when the shocks were changed, didnt mention a missing heat sheild; I will try a 'box oil change for the time being and keep my fingers crossed on that.