I had a problem occur that seems to be common one on these cars. The overdrive light on the dash intermittently flickers, goes dim or off or stays on. After about a few weeks of this, the overdrive locks on when the car is started warm only to turn off eventually or not at all. I soon discovered that if I banged the relay(white) repeatedly, it would return the overdrive to normal but the dash light would stay on. Since I now suspected the relay, I replaced it only to find the exact same symptoms. I noticed the pin arrangement on the orange relay for earlier models was the same so I gave it a try(risky I know), but the car now behaves perfectly with the orange relay. I've heard it's sometimes necessary to resolder the connections but why bother if the orange relay corrects the problem. Is there any harm in using the orange relay?

Comparing the '84 (orange) to the '86 (white) in the Bentley diagrams, they appear to work the same:

• Both types "toggle" when pulsed by the OD switch
• In one state, the OD solenoid is energized (Light is OFF), i.e. "4th gear"
• In the other state, the OD solenoid is "OFF" (Light is ON), i.e. "3rd gear"

Maybe the later (white) relay is considered an improvement of some kind?
--
Bruce Young,
'93 940-NA (current)
'80 GLE V8 (Sold 5/03)
'83 Turbo 245
'76 244 (lasted only 255,000 miles)
73 142 (98K)
'71 144 (track modified--crusher bound)
New 144 from '67 to '78
Used '62 122 from '63 to '67