Just wanted to say "thanks" to everyone who's helped on this one! I
haven't been on the list that long, but in the short time I've been
around, I've been extremely impressed with how knowledgable and helpful
everyone is!
Anyway, I had checked the switch the first time the O/D stopped working,
but not the second time, so I decided to try it again - seemed fine.
Put it back on, went for a drive, flicked the O/D switch (it's amazing
how you do that even when you know it doesn't work!) and would you
believe it? It worked! Seems like it's just a case of very dodgy wires
- I think I'll follow the advice of a couple of people and re-wire it.
As Craig Smith says, "Cheap wire buys Spit parts", but a bit of wire
will buy far fewer parts than the solenoid I thought I was gonna have to
shell out for!
Thanks also to James Carpenter - this was exactly the information I was
looking for (even though it turned out that this wasn't the problem at
all) - I will definitely be investing in a copy of this manual in the
near future!
Dean Dashwood
'77 Spit 1500 (back down to 3000rpm on the motorway!)
>----------
>From: Dean Dashwood
>Sent: 01 March 1999 15:34
>To: 'Spitfire List'
>Subject: Overdrive story
>
>Hello list!
>
>Recently, the J-type overdrive on my Spitfire stopped working - it
>wouldn't engage. So I checked the Haynes manual which said that the
>likely causes are low gearbox oil, faulty wires and faulty solenoid. So
>I checked the wires on the switch - and as I took the switch off, all
>the wiring fell apart! Ok, I thought, that's the problem. So I
>re-wired the switch, and it worked - for about 3 days, then it stopped
>again.
>
>I checked the wires in the switch - still good, so I decided to take off
>the gearbox tunnel and check out the rest of the wiring. Again, it fell
>apart as soon as I touched it. So I sorted all that out, checked the
>gearbox oil while I was there (it was fine) and put everything back
>together again, expecting the problem to be cured. But it still doesn't
>work!
>
>Seems like I might need to replace the solenoid. But solenoids don't
>come cheap, and I'd like to know that this is what's wrong before I
>cough up the cash.
>
>Does anyone know how to test a solenoid? Is this a really stupid
>question - is it obvious whether it's working or not? I have absolutely
>no idea, and Haynes does an excellent job of completely avoiding the
>issue!
>
>I'd appreciate any advice anyone has!
>
>Cheers,
>
>Dean Dashwood
>'77 Spit 1500 (doing 4000rpm on the motorway)
>
>
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