Hi Mark,
I had a similar problem with my OD on my '6 also. It turned out to be the
electrial (several faults).
A couple of checks...
1. Earthing...
Check the condition of the earth wire from the solenoid to the gearbox.
>From memory this is a black wire which runs from the back of the solenoid
to a bolt on the overdrive housing. You are looking for dirty or corroded
joints, loose connections or any other sort of visible damage.
You will need to get under the car to see this (unless you want to take out
the carpet and transmission tunnel!).
This in my (limited) experience is the most common problem because this
wire is exposed to road dirt, heat, cold and oil giving it a pretty hard
life.
2. The overdrive column switch...
My overdrive column switch had a lot of fore and aft play in it (i.e
towards the dash and back to the steering wheel). On the tip of the lever I
probably had nearly an inch in play. When I went over a bump, the lever
would jump and the overdrive would disengage. It turned out the little
hinge pin in the lever was worn (not to mention bent!). I replaced this
with a bit of brass rod and soved the problem. Be warned though, removing
the overdrive switch can be a bit of a mission!
3. The wires between the OD column switch and the gearbox...
Bear with me on this as I am going from memory, but I think there is one of
those silly black connector housing for the OD bullet type connectors.
Check this for a loose connection. When they get older, they have this
nasty habit of breaking which can result in a loose connection. In the
finish with my car, I got so p****d off with it, I replaced the connector
with and AMP Mate'n'loc and haven't had any trouble since.
4. The inhibiter switch wires...
If you get really keen, you can pull out the gearbox tunnel and check for
the connections on the overdrive injibitor switches. These normally aren't
too bad as they are reasonably sheltered from road grime and oil.
I know that Dan Masters has done a book on electrical problem. From what I
hear, it's pretty good. If you aren't too sure about this electrickery
stuff, perhaps that's a good place to start.
Hope this is helpful.
Cheers
Bernard Robbins
'71PI (still in disgrace - chewed out diff nose cone bearing)
'73TR6 PI
At 14:53 20/10/00 -0400, Creamer, Mark wrote:
>Hi all,
>I did the gear oil replacement, and shifting seems smoother as an added
>benefit. But as far as the OD jumping in and out, that problem still exists.
>At first I thought it was solved, because it worked on short (2-3 mile)
>trips around town whenever I could get up to 4th gear speed to test it. But
>last night we took the car on the highway for the first time since the gear
>oil change, and OD jumped in and out almost right after engaging it.
>
>Just wondering if anyone has some ideas as to what to check next.
>
>Thanks!
>Mark Creamer
>76 TR6
>CF53032UO
>
>
Regards
Bernard Robbins
NEC New Zealand Ltd
Network Solutions
P.O. Box 1936
Wellington
Ph (04) 381 6274
fax (04) 381 6284
email brobbins@wlg.nec.co.nz
http://www.nec.co.nz
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