My OD started clonking out intermittently the other night, dropping suddenly into fourth gear and then grabbing again. I drove without it for a while, but it eventually began behaving like its normal self again.

Would this be a wiring or mechanical problem? The green OD light stayed on, if that has any bearing.

Thanks,

Steve

Since the OD light stays on, your trouble is with the solenoid itself, or the wiring to it or its ground. Check at points of wire to connector or just loose dirty connectors.

The key here is the suddenness of the dropout and re-engage. Sudden is electrical. If the fluid was low, slippage would occur as the pump would be able to maintain some pressure but not enough to hold the OD on positively.

Duane

OD Guru (Laycock only

Steve --

After checking the tranny fluid and solenoid connections as George and Steve suggest, also check the OD relay. An intermittent relay can cause this. The OD relay can be resoldered ($0, 15 minutes, no risk), and you do it all sitting around.

Another less common cause of "ghost shifts" with a 4-spd/OD tranny is frayed or broken wires from the pushbutton to the relay. The wires sometimes fray going through the shift boot, where they flex 'n rub with each shift.

This relay is behind the glovebox, yes? Do I have to remove the box to get to it?

I've never soldered. This a do-able task for a non-solderer? What exactly do I need?

smm

The relay on my '83 240 was tucked in behind the dash just to the left of the glove box. You do need to remove the glove box but that is easy, just remove the screws around the top and bottom and lift out. I use a low wattage soldering pencil from Radio Shack (25-30 watt) and rosin core solder, NOT acid core. You will be soldering on a printed circuit board so excessive heat needs to be avoided. A good solder job "wets" the copper foil so that the solder flows onto the foil smoothly. A poor solder connection tends to look like a drop of water on a waxed car. If you've never soldered, get a throw away portable radio at Goodwill with a printed circuit in it and practice on that. Radio Shack may still sell a booklet on construction tips which will show how to solder. Once you get the hang of it, it's easy. Good luck.

Steve,

Many years ago I had the O'drive go out just as you described. It got worse and worse, and finally had to be rebuilt.

The cause of the problem was I hadn't changed the tranny/O'drive fluid in 120K miles (owners manual said not necessary--not true). I now change fluid every 30K miles and no more troubles. That little fiasco cost about $1,500 when all done.

Hope your problem is just low fluid.

Steve Y

You need to check the transmission fluid level. Also check for good connections at the OD solenoid. Yellow wire & ground.