The OD quit working on my daughter's '84 240. I checked out the electrical system and found there was no electrical continuity from the relay down through the solenoid to chassis. Upon inspecting the solenoid, I discovered that an old repair on the connection to the solenoid had finally broken. I removed the solenoid and found the connection was broken down inside the solenoid. This made the car a candidate for using the IPD bypass plate. This was far less expensive than a new solenoid (call me cheap).

The bypass works fine, the car just has the OD enabled all the time which was about 99.9% of her driving anyway. Here is my feedback on this job:

1. As stated in the 700/900 FAQs clean around the solenoid thoroughly. I used brake cleaner.

2. Unless you have a custom-bent wrench, it is easiest to get a wrench on the two bolts holding the solenoid if you: a. put a block and small jack under the transmission pan; b. remove the 4 bolts holding the rear cross member; c. lower the transmission about an inch with the jack.

3. Be prepared for a lot of transmission oil to run out when you remove the solenoid. I caught most of it and nearly filled a 1 lb. coffee can. I'd guess about a quart was lost.

4. There are two o-rings on the solenoid. I missed seeing the smaller one under all that oil so I had a leak when I installed the bypass plate. After finding and removing that o-ring using a mirror, the plate sealed fine with the new o-ring.

5. The IPD instructions say that you must take out the OD bulb in the dash instrument cluster to avoid having a constantly lighted OD light. I found that removing the OD relay turns out that light contrary to their instructions.

The car shifts just fine and has the same kick-down for passing as always. This seems a good way to go if you don't want to spend the large price for the new solenoid. IPD was super fast on getting the item shipped. Their web site claims they now have lower, more competitive prices. We'll have to see about that. They have always provided good service to me.