Ok, first id like to appologize for my longwindedness and poor spelling!
I have two issues that are haunting me:
First, I was driving home the other night and i decided that it was chilly enough to try and get some heat going on in the car. I first turned the thermostat to "hot", that didnt heat it up enough, so i turned on the "heater", the last time i did this was like 2 years ago and it smelled really bad as though something died in there! ( i park it in the winter outside) It started to smell and my drivebelt started to squeal ( I know its loose) and I got mad so I cranked the fan to "high". The belt began sqealing loudly, then from the defroster vent and all other vents, the car quickly filled with smoke! I hurried and shut all the heater stuff off and opened the windows. I could still see smoke pumping into the cabin. I was amazed that even though i was p*ssing myself, i still managed to think quickly and whipped into a local car wash. I shut the car off and bailed out. I opened the hood to see a small fire just under the hood light bulb. I blew it out but it still was smoldering and smoking in the car, so I reluctantly put 2 bucks into the car wash and soaked the area. After a couple minutes, it stopped smoking all toghether. I drove it home with the worst smell i could possibly have had! Later the next day, i looked in there to see it had melted a half-dollar size hole in the plastic and there was a lot of small, crushed leaves in there. I vaccumed it out as best as i could and i can see what looks like a small radiator (heater core??). Any idea what the heck happened and how i can ever have the courage to turn the heat on again?!
My second issue: I have replaced my shift cables awhile ago. The left to right shifter motion was replaced with a rodney's cable, the front to back was done with a fiero store cable. I have been noticing that it seems as though the shifter wont go far enough left or right to engage the first, second, fifth, and reverse gears. I literally have to put both hands on the shifter and pull hard to the left to engage second during downshifts (its probably pretty funny to see when im in a hurry!). Now, something has happened that no matter what gear im in, the shifter itself jiggles to the left and right very loosly and quite a good amount too. I looked in there but i cant see anything that looks broken. The ball that fits into the plastic socket is attatched to a rod that goes through the shifter and sticks out an oval shaped hole. everything moves easily and it stays in gear, but the thing just flies around like crazy!
I have no idea why it moves so much or why I have such difficulty putting it in the gears.
I have pictures of the shifter on my phone that are pretty good, but i dont know how to put them on here, I dont have a photobucket account or anything like that.
Thanks for any and all help!
Mike.

First Issue:

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/120744.html

quote Originally posted by Gall757: First Issue: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/120744.html

Thanks! I honestly figured it was a mouse but i will pull all that stuff off and vacuum the living crap out of it!
Thanks again.

Welcome to the Fiero repair world. Condolences! For future references when posting please give year and engine. It makes it easier to help.

There is a special procedure to adjusting the shifter cables. Get a Haynes repair manual for Fieros or download this (it's the 87 Fiero service manual) and follow the shifter adjustment process.

Glad to hear your car did not completely catch on fire, that must have been kind of scary!

I can't really help with the second part, but as for the first issue I believe it is what was posted in that link Gall757 gave. Those little resistor coil things get really hot and if they are covered in dead leaves and stuff it can cause a fire. I cleaned mine out last year, I actually took out both the resistor plate/coils and the blower motor so I could clean the heater out better (blower motor not as vital to remove and clean behind I don't think).


Behind the coils wasn't too bad on mine, but still some pine needles to clean out


Behind the blower was quite the mouse nest





As for posting pictures there is a button on the bottom of the page to Pennock's Image Poster that takes you to a little program (and instructions on how to set it up and use it), it makes uploading images to use on this site easier and you dont have to get a photobucket (or any other image host) account. Also using it helps fight the red x

quote Originally posted by firejo24: Welcome to the Fiero repair world. Condolences! For future references when posting please give year and engine. It makes it easier to help. There is a special procedure to adjusting the shifter cables. Get a Haynes repair manual for Fieros or download this (it's the 87 Fiero service manual) and follow the shifter adjustment process.

Thanks, but i'm very used to having to fix the car! I have a Haynes manual but it is extremely vague! I looked at the cables, but I think the problem lies in the shifter, or at least it's connection to the cables. And I have NO idea why it flies left to right so easily!

Second Issue....

The 'select' cable...the one that goes left and right....appears to have stretched or is not fastened properly. My hunch is that the select cable has melted a bit down by the exhaust, and you are stretching the casing. I hope I am wrong!....

quote Originally posted by Gall757: Second Issue.... The 'select' cable...the one that goes left and right....appears to have stretched or is not fastened properly. My hunch is that the select cable has melted a bit down by the exhaust, and you are stretching the casing. I hope I am wrong!....

When i installed that cable, it kinda felt like it twisted a bit when i was trying to feed it through everything. Could that have caused it to be off maybe? It's the rodney cable and it has the heat wrap. It looks like it goes everywhere the exhaust is. Im just trying to figure out the shifter issue, it looks like evrything is fine!