Heat from transmission tunnel

**Baggy** · 14th December 2016, 11:33 PM

Hi All,

Purchased a 92 classic while my 81 2 Door awaits some spare time to do an engine rebuild.
One thing I've noticed is the heat that comes from transmission tunnel specifically where radio sits inside the cabin.

Seems to get mighty warm ....(warmer than my 2 Dr) ... in fact I've not needed to use the heater during winter though some may say it doesnt get cold in Perth.
Since the weather is starting to warm up again the heat from transmission tunnel is noticable again.

I purchased through ebay a Nubee infrared thermometer ...arrived in mail today.

Took the Rangie for a spin and checked tempreture at bell housing and the flat pan on ZF gearbox.

Read 74 deg C at bell housing and 58 deg C at flat pan on gearbox.

While playing with my new toy ....the radiator and and thermostat housing tempretures were reading lower than the above and engine was running at normal operating tempreture.

Appreciate your thoughts .....

Cheers

Baggy

**DoubleChevron** · 15th December 2016, 09:01 AM

Originally Posted by Baggy

Hi All,

Purchased a 92 classic while my 81 2 Door awaits some spare time to do an engine rebuild.
One thing I've noticed is the heat that comes from transmission tunnel specifically where radio sits inside the cabin.

Seems to get mighty warm ....(warmer than my 2 Dr) ... in fact I've not needed to use the heater during winter though some may say it doesnt get cold in Perth.
Since the weather is starting to warm up again the heat from transmission tunnel is noticable again.

I purchased through ebay a Nubee infrared thermometer ...arrived in mail today.

Took the Rangie for a spin and checked tempreture at bell housing and the flat pan on ZF gearbox.

Read 74 deg C at bell housing and 58 deg C at flat pan on gearbox.

While playing with my new toy ....the radiator and and thermostat housing tempretures were reading lower than the above and engine was running at normal operating tempreture.

Appreciate your thoughts .....

Cheers

Baggy

I'd added a few layers of this to the transmission tunnel in mine. It's very effective, as is the air conditioning surprisingly. I didn't expect a pommy vehicle to have a large effective air conditioner that moved a lot of air!

EZ Cool Automotive Insulation heat barrier and noise reduction for cars, trucks, classic cars, street rods and much more

I'm getting a lot of heat from the pedal area, but I'm pretty sure one of the big wiring bungs is displaced, so a lot of hot air can blow straight in from the engine bay when the radiator fans are running.

seeya,
Shane L.

**Davo** · 15th December 2016, 03:02 PM

I'm having the same problem now with heat from around the steering or pedals, and this is in a car with as much heat and sound proofing as I've been able to stuff in. I've checked and checked and still can't find where it's coming from.

**Baggy** · 15th December 2016, 07:36 PM

Shane - Thanks for link .... looks just what I need.
I'll remove centre console and front carpet to work out how much I need to order.

Davo - understand your pain ....the 92 Vogue I picked up is a great ride... miss my 81 2 Dr sitting behind the gate but she does ride nice and has a few extra creature comforts.

Unfortunately air-con dosent work ...previous owner was having an issue with steering and removed the compessor to get a closer look at steering column.
Turns out that wasent the issue .... but the return to centre steering dampener was the culprit.

I went back to him after I purchased vehicle and retreaved the air con pump ....need to refit, new belt and a regass ...hopefully thats all it needs.

Still be interesting to see if others can measure the tempretures of their transmissions at similar points for a comparison.

Cheers

Baggy

**DoubleChevron** · 16th December 2016, 09:05 AM

Originally Posted by Baggy

Shane - Thanks for link .... looks just what I need.
I'll remove centre console and front carpet to work out how much I need to order.

Davo - understand your pain ....the 92 Vogue I picked up is a great ride... miss my 81 2 Dr sitting behind the gate but she does ride nice and has a few extra creature comforts.

Unfortunately air-con dosent work ...previous owner was having an issue with steering and removed the compessor to get a closer look at steering column.
Turns out that wasent the issue .... but the return to centre steering dampener was the culprit.

I went back to him after I purchased vehicle and retreaved the air con pump ....need to refit, new belt and a regass ...hopefully thats all it needs.

Still be interesting to see if others can measure the tempretures of their transmissions at similar points for a comparison.

Cheers

Baggy

It should be a harddash rangie if it's '92. The evaporator unit is huge, and the fans move quite a bit of air. It will freeze the hell out of anyone in the front passenger seat ( so if you have a wife that tends to get "aggitated" when hot in old cars, it's quite good

).

The later soft dashes seem to have a smaller refrigerant capacity and less airflow. It'll be a mixer flap system like modern junk that seems to always be broken in modern cars that I own

seeya,
Shane L.

**Baggy** · 16th December 2016, 03:51 PM

Hi Shane,

Appreciate additional information.

I'll ring a few air-con places and get an idea of cost for re-gas etc.

Would be nice to get that working along with seats and electric mirrors.

I've researched and seen posts on electric seats ....a pain the a+#@ if you ask me ...specially the cost of seat switches and their crazy position ....not a lot of thought went into that exercise

Understand the reasoning for linking mirrors to seat memory but just another problem to go wrong for those of us who like to drive 24 year old cars ......got to love the simplicity of my 2 door classic.

I've purchased a set of matching Leather manual seats abet in a cream leather.
Being one who likes it all to match I'll re dye seats in matching colour ......that will be a project for next year along with engine rebuild for my 2 door.

You never have idle hands with a Landy ....

Cheers

Baggy

**DoubleChevron** · 16th December 2016, 09:48 PM

Why don't you see if there is anyone on here that can throw some bang gas into it for you. All you really need is a vacuum pump, manifold and some hi-chill -30. The hychill is very effective as an automotive refrigerant.

I have an old Robinaire dial-a-charge system. I just use the vacuum pump on it and charge by weight ( you can by 20kg scales for pocket change these days from ebay).

seeya,
Shane L.

**gavinwibrow** · 16th December 2016, 09:52 PM

I concur about the airflow. I've recently realised that my softdash has only about 2/3rd the a/c flow of my D2a and with a new compressor and regass in the RRC they are not suspect.

**DoubleChevron** · 17th December 2016, 03:12 PM

Originally Posted by gavinwibrow

I concur about the airflow. I've recently realised that my softdash has only about 2/3rd the a/c flow of my D2a and with a new compressor and regass in the RRC they are not suspect.

If it's anything like most modern cars I've owned.... check the recirculation and mixer flaps. If hot/cold are working the mixer flap is fine. A/C seems to work best if all the flaps are working and you concentrate the cold air from just the dash vents (so you can guide cold air at the front seat passengers).

Some of the mixer systems are amazing if they are working properly (just look how well the aussie and american cars are with heating/cooling the interior).

seeya,
Shane L.

**Mercguy** · 5th February 2017, 08:58 AM

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

...It should be a harddash rangie if it's '92. The evaporator unit is huge, and the fans move quite a bit of air. It will freeze the hell out of anyone in the front passenger seat ( so if you have a wife that tends to get "aggitated" when hot in old cars, it's quite good

)...

If it holds gas, it WILL freeze the pants off both driver and passenger - however the far RHS dash level vent doesn't seem to balance as well as the others.

It's funny... That foam insulation is exactly what a hard-dash RRC needs - but not just on the metal, it needs it on the HVAC ducts as well - because so much cooling is lost in that huge cavernous dash-level distribution system.

The only really ****ty thing about the hard dash RRC's is that stupid control lever setup. it really is the pits. I've looked into a bunch of other arrangements, servo controlled, vacuum controlled... it's all just evil.

The ac failed on me for no apparent reason last year, after being as cold as charity and working well, but because winter approched rapidly, the heater was pressed into service and I delayed the overhaul - thinking I had a massive evap leak or somesuch.
Well, some other 'dash-out' work was required including the removal and replacement of the centre console, so I took the chance to remove that dash-vent panel and clean all the vents as well.
Found a bunch of decayed foam in the evap core, along with leaves and other crap, so did the needful there, replaced it all and of course, the blower fan speed controller decided to pack it in about 3 weeks later...

I happened to be working on one of my MB's down @ my mates workshop in CBR and they happen to do a lot of HVAC system work on really old cars, including retrofits etc, so we thought we'd at least vac it down and see if there were any leaks..... and surprise surprise, it held a vacuum.

So replaced the high and low side valves with new ones (not just the cores) and vac'd again. aok. charged it up with about 1200g of R134a and boom. it's so bloody cold now it's not funny. And it has been awesome in the ridiculous heat we've been having recently.

we had this spate of 36-40 deg days just a few weeks ago, and found ourselves driving in the RRC during the worst part of the day, just after lunch (where the car was unfortunately parked in full sun) so upon returning to the vehicle - aka furnace, windows were downed, car was started and ac turned on for about 30s, and then we got in, wound everything up and drove off.

within 30 mins the missus was complaining it was too COLD.

So my conclusion is that there's nothing wrong with the hard dash HVAC system if it's working, but it needs to have gas in it...

So my first port of call would be to check the hig and low side valves. Replace them even if you think theyre OK, vac it down and check to see if it holds a vacuum. If not, then don't go any further until you've checked everything for leaks (UV light on everything - most systems have the UV sensitive dye in the oil these days - if not then you need to run a dye through it to find the leak).

Anything that looks like crusty green coolant should be checked over as well.
also check the heater is able to be closed - because heat plus cold won't give you COLD.

It's really not a massively 'difficult' job to get in there and clean up the dash and blower etc, but it is time consuming, can be patience testing, but I suggest if you have a spare weekend to tackle it, get into the R&R of the plastic bits and at least vacuum / clean / check what you can in a day, before putting it back together and forming your plan of attack.

I estimate I would have spent approximately 4 additional hours over and above the other work I was doing, just 'getting in there while everything was out of the way' and that includes pulling the blower case, motor, evap, dash vents, cover etc apart, cleaning them, drying them, testing , (respraying the centre dash vent plastic as well) and reassembly.

Makes a huge difference to the air quality too. I found 25 years of dust and crud in there and was only too happy to see it gone. Next big job will be the hood cowl panel and getting in there and properly cleaning / overhauling everything under there.

OK that was a bit verbose, but You'll see what I mean when you start unbolting / unscrewing stuff. It makes sense just to get in there and do it while you have the opportunity, even if it is not a complete overhaul - it will still make a difference, and you will know exactly the state the hvac components are in.

Thread: Heat from transmission tunnel

Thread Tools