I've been having trouble with my OD in my 89 wagon w/ auto transmission. The OD began working sporadically months ago. My mechanic swapped out the solenoidto no avail and couldn't figure out the problem. He was able to keep me highway-happy by bypassing the solenoid on the transmission. He did this on the solenoid by removing the smaller inner o-ring seal and replacing the larger outer o-ring seal with an oversize one. This effectively disabled my ability to lockout the overdrive but enabled me to get highway fuel economy. The Od would still engage when I stomped on the accelerator.

I was not satisfied with this band-aid fix so I had him put things back to normal. My OD worked sporadically for awhile afterwards but is now completely non-functional. The lockout switch does cause the OD relay to click and my dash light comes on but the car is always in 3rd. I pulled the relay and the car still drives the same. When I looked inside the relay, I saw one trace on the PC-board that looks like it got hot(small burn mark on inside of case), but the trace still looks intact. I reinstalled the relay but no change.

What I'm trying to figure out now is what to try next. Is there a way to verify if my OD relay is good/bad without replacing. Can I jumper something on the OD relay socket?

BTW, my relay is a -04 version which looks quite different internally than the pictures posted in the FAQ section by D. Foster.

Looking for ideas :-(

Ed
89 245