Interior gets hot on a cool day

I searched around some, but it's kind of an odd question and i didn't see anything that rung a bell...so here goes!

Is it normal for a lot of heat to come up through the floor and firewall of these Jeeps? I notice a lot of heat radiating into the cabin and i'm not sure if something is wrong with my system (causing abnormally high exhaust temps) or whether this is normal. I'm certain the heat isn't coming from a stuck heater valve or something like that, there is nothing coming out of the vents.

As far back as i can remember it's been like this. The car is not overheating. I have a 2.5" exhaust, so the exhaust does come a little closer to the floorboards than normal.

I welded a cookie sheet with some spacers on top of my muffler to try to block out some of that heat, and i planned to do the same for the cat. I also have some LeBaron hood vents to install. Kinda curious if these will help or not.

Anyone else have a similar problem? Is this normal?

Have had same issue with several of my last XJ's. Tranny tunnel and firewall were major areas.

Do you have a tranny cooler?
What are kind of conditions do you drive in to cause this?
I have had the center console out and went up a long steep canyon pulling a boat and noticed smoke coming from where the carpet is cut also. I figured it was just my trans getting hot...

Do you have carpet in your XJ?

I do have carpet, basically a full interior (did a late-model console swap, but otherwise stock). I also have a tranny cooler.

I've replaced the intake gasket to fix an intake leak. My o2 sensor is probably at about 50k now, i guess that could be due. Now that i think about it i guess the hot exhaust could be due to either rich OR lean, right? I had been guessing lean before.

Porch951 said:

I welded a cookie sheet with some spacers on top of my muffler to try to block out some of that heat, and i planned to do the same for the cat.

Click to expand...

AirBake, double layer cookie sheets are the ones to use for heat shields. They work significantly better than single-layer sheets.
http://www.amazon.com/AirBake-WearEver-Natural-3-Piece-Baking/dp/B000222C8O
This set has three sheets so you can give the wife one and make a point...maybe. Woman are hard to predict.

Ahh nice, i was looking for those at Walmart but settled for some cheap crap. Maybe i'll pick some of those up for other spots like the firewall.

So i'm gathering that this is a fairly normal problem?

Mine does not seem to have that issue in normal driving. Maybe a little warmth coming through when playing out in the Puerco for a few hours. Interior is all stock.

Porch951 said:

So I'm gathering that this is a fairly normal problem?

Click to expand...

Make sure none of the exhaust pipes are contacting the floor pan.
With the engine running and in park, check for exhaust leaks along the enough length of the exhauste system. A small leak, can release a lot of heat.
My 2001 XJ has a dual-layer Factory aluminum heat shield above the muffler that works well.
AirBake sheets under the catalytic converter and muffler should help keep things cooler. Make sure there are air gaps between the body, AirBake and the muffler and/or cat.

My coworker has a stock '98+ and he was telling me there are factory heat shields on his, didn't know about that! I'll just continue adding shielding and see how tolerable it is. I do also have a small leak that i had planned to fix in the process. Thanks everyone!

Not sure if this was resolved, but I had the same problem... excess heat coming from console area/e-brake lever slot... I have AX-15, and turned out to be shift boot over tranny hole was ripped... replaced with jy part, no more excess heat... just fyi...