Recently my '89 240 has started showing her true personality...from phantom rising temperature gauge to the more annoying trend of not shifting into overdrive!

As the overdrive has an affect on my 80 mile daily commute, I need to do something about it! It isn't always that she screams in 3rd gear on the freeway, just intermittently. It appears more pronounced when the vehicle is fist driven. Once it shifts into OD (when it does) it seems that even after stopping, it shifts fine...it's the initial reminder that it needs!

I have heard of a solenoid on the top of the transmission that sometimes gets plugged up or fails. I have also heard of the nightmares of removing it with some hand made bent up wrench! Someone even mentioned to me that I can use a dremel tool to cut a path in it between two sids that will make it constantly shift into OD.

Can any of you Brick Gurus offer any suggestions:
Is there anything but the solenoid that could be causing this problem? What and where is it located?
How hard is it to replace?
How Expensive is it?
What tooling is required to do it on my back under the car?
Can the existing unit be "cut" to allow constant acceptance into OD? How do you do it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Rob

Does the o.d. off light come on when the overdrive stops working. As others said relay would be the first suspect, it's happened to me a couple of times. Search archives for tips on re-soldering. I fixed a friend's relay problem last week and it was actually the wire going from the shifter to the solenoid, it was bare in places and shorting out occasionally causing an intermittent situation.

Good luck.

Kirk S.

The car is an automatic and the orange OD shift light works with the button (comes on and goes off accordingly). I can hear the relay clicking behind the dash when I press the button. The problem appears to be getting worse.

When I first drive the car it will not shift into overdrive ever until I have been driving for a while. It seems like it is time or heat related. Almost as if something is sticking or the fluid is thinning? I drove for about 20 miles at highway speeds before OD finally kicked in. I got off of the highway and shut the car off for over an hour and once I got back in it seemed like the car was fine! The car never shifts out of OD at highway speeds just has trouble getting into OD!

Thanks for all of the ideas and tips.

Assuming that it is the relay most people I spoke to seem to think it is) how do I get it out and what tools do I need? Any tips for repair?

Thanks,
Rob

I had the same problem, after 14 years of the wire rubbing there was a bare spot worn. Replaced the wire and that solved the problem. Best of luck, I know how much it sucks when the OD takes on a mind of its own.

Pete '89 244 240K+

Eliminate the relay and the wiring. I had the same thing happen to me over a year ago. It's most probably your overdrive relay, located behind (more like to the left) of the glove box. it's made of white plastic and you cannot miss it. Over time due to the varying interior temp, the solder joints in the relay begin to crack. All I did was re-solder all the connection. Worked like a charm!

The other thing you should check is your kickdown cable. It might be be stuck preventing it from going into overdrive. Either lube it or replace it...

Cheers,
SM
--
90 BMW 325is, 98 BMW 528i, 90 Volvo 240DL

automatic right? i'd eliminate the possibility of the relay and its associated wiring first.

VVRROOOOM/Sirmebes,
Thanks for the response, how do I check these components? Did you solder the relay..why not replace it? Is it expensive? Do I have to rip half the dash apart to get to it?

Where is the kickdown cable? How do I get at it?

Thanks again for all your help!
Rob

yeah like they said relay is in dash. take out the glove box and look left to where the air vents are. you should see a white relay mounted horizontally. the socket that the realy mounts into will actually be closest to you. i've found that grabbing the realy and rotating it up removes it from its bracket easiest. when mine went bad i just bought another one, but i get a good deal on parts, so i got a real volvo relay for 25. just depends on how good you know the person that is selling you the part ;) as for wiring, the spot that normally goes bad is at the base of the gear selector.

I'd also recommend buying a bentley manual if you haven't already. i have all the chiltons and haynes manuals too, and bentley is the best, i think.

neal