Ok first question is one of those "is it normal for.." questions. on road trips or after i've been towing or just driving a long time in general in our New Mexico heat i can feel the base of the t-case and shifters down near the boot get pretty hot. if i had to guesstimate, they would reach idk maybe 115 F so not stunningly hot but still hot to the touch. is this a normal occurrence to feel on a truck thats a standard with a manual t-case??

second question, i know its not a drivetrain one but oh well. before the winter, my ac blew ice cold and strong as it should but i didn't use it all winter and come sometime in march or early april when i went to use it again it won't blow cold air. it blows out of the vents and i can hear the compressor working (i think) but its just not cold. i dont know if i'm out of the coolant stuff or what? any thoughts? how do i get my cold back?

thanks RF
pavel

 

As for the Shift boot question, check to see the fluids are full. If everythings topped off, then your fine. My ranger does the same thing on long loaded drives. Its cool enough to touch it, but still pretty damn warm. I'd recommend using a syncromesh fluid if you want to keep the temps a little cooler.

Your AC system probably has a leak and leaked out all of the Refrigerant. Open the hood and turn the A/C on, is the pump cycling on and off, staying on, or staying off.

 

what fluids to i check? tranny fluid? how do i check to make sure thats full, just if it leaks a little out when i take out the fill plug?

 

stick your finger in when its cool. if you can feel the fluid at all then it fine. it expands with heat so it reaches actual full level when driving.

 

you should replace your fluid every ~50k anyway so if it hasn't been done do so.

 

Wirelessly posted

It's normal to get warm. Extra strain while towing. My tranny is on its last leg till I swap my new rebuilt one in and that sucker blistered the paint on the under side

 

The thing with the Level II shifters is they aren't as insulated as the stock black shifters. They allow more road noise and possibly heat (though I've never heard of it) into the cab.

 

i replace the fluid when i got it about 15 thousand miles ago so that should be fine. they are all metal with no insulation so i could imagine them conducting the heat really well but i'll make sure to check the fluid and call it goood.

any chance it could be a tranny cooler issue? do our trucks even come with transmission coolers and if so is there anything like a relocation or some other mod to make them more effective?

 

Manuals dont have tranny coolers