brickboard saves the day...yet again....thanks to the posters who commented (archives) on how to diagnose overdrive failure....and yes...it was a wiring issue...the wire under the car was so worn out and cracked/destroyed that the insulation looked like beads on a string. the little snap connector was destroyed and as a result, the relay worked only speradically. after replacing the wire, the relay still only worked about 80% of the time, so i opened her up. after pricing a new relay and realizing that i am never gonna tow anything and that i never took her out of overdrive, i simply wedged a piece of plastic into the relay to hold it permanently in the overdrive engaged position...problem solved (as far as I am concerned at least) no money spent, and only about 2 hours lost counting looking on brickboard....thanks again...carry on