Here I am again. Having trouble with the overdrive again. I have had the transmission out several times in past years and never had a problem before. I suspect that it may be the solenoid, even though I feel it clunk when energized. On the road the red light and relay feel fine, but just is not going into overdrive. I pulled the solenoid off, I am not sure how to energize it from a spare 6 volt battery I have. Can you give me which numbers on the solenoid should be the 6 volts and possibly jumpered. I put my finger in the hole in the overdrive where the plunger rod would go. I can feel the pawl and can (after rotating the drive shaft by hand) go in about a quarter to half an inch. This locks the drive shaft from rotating in one direction. Does this sound at all correct? One of you mentioned that there is a boot in the inside that might restrict the travel of the plunger. I just went ahead and bite the bullet and order another rebuilt solenoid. So if we can't get this ironed out, I should have a spare in a few days. Thanks again.

no oops. I just want to thank you for even taking the time to help. This is an excellent site, that will benefit everyone involved with Packards. I have to work many hours each week, and have limited time to spend working on my Packards, so this site has saved me probably a couple of weeks of down time for the car. You can read the manuals, but it is a whole lot easier if you have starting points of where to check. I just hope one day I can help someone else. I have a 39 12 sedan, the 40 limo and 52 Mayfair. All I have restored myself. Thanks again.

Ok, got to spend a few quiet minutes on this, and thought I would do the easiest thing first from all of the suggestions. I pulled out the governor. Made sure I had continuity from inside points to the outside wire. Put it in a vise and spun by electric drill having an ohm meter connected to outside wire and ground. Could not get continuity. Opened up the top for the third or fourth time and bent the copper a bit, still nothing. One last try took out the gasket and put the lid back on. Guess what, it works. Well, I can leave it without the gasket or possibly buy a top from Max Merritt. What do you think? Thanks to all of you again (until it doesn't work again). Todd Los Angeles.

There is no reverse switch. I did not energize the solenoid when put back in this time, because when I had it out a number of years ago got it back in without doing so. So I think later today I will recheck the governor and energize the solenoid to take out and then put back in. But I do believe that the rod is connected. The solenoid is not upside down as I left the wires connected while servicing the clutch. You talk about binding, I do remember this last time the adaptor plate seems not to make a difference as to which direction, the shaft hole does seem to line up with the solenoid shaft. But, I will check again. So many good ideas thanks.

Went out for a minute before I need to run some errands. When grounding the passenger side of the lock out switch, the red light does come on. There is continuity between the two terminals of the lock out switch, it is 50 ohms which is alot, but probably has always been that way, may or may not be correct.

Thanks for all the advice. I will go out and play a bit later today. I did check the bulb with ohm meter, checked ok. Kickdown switch I just made sure the wires were connected. I think four wires, but not sure how to check these, which ones should show open or closed depending on position of the button. I did open the governor to carefully clean the points, pushed the little tab inside that pops the points closed and took the ohm meter from the end of the wire to inside contact and there was continuity. It looks new inside and when I spin by hand the two weights move and the inside spring does move up. Perhaps not enough, what I might be able to do is hold the governor in a jig and spin with an electric drill and check the wire with an ohm meter. As for the solenoid, I did not take any wires off, but one did come off and I put it back on. I can feel around the solenoid and that they are still all attached at this time. Something I thought of, is the solenoid is very tricky trying to get it hooked inside of the case. I am reasonably sure that this last time I did get it hooked as I pulled on it a bit and it would not come straight out of the hole. But, when bolting in plate the two bolts needed to put pressure on the solenoid to get it seated, I can't remember if this would be correct. Thanks again.

This site is wonderful. I just came across it the other day. Anyway, grounded the lock out switch (from passenger side) to chassis. Heare relay clunk and could feel the solenoid jump. Grounded from governor wire under car to chassis and again could hear the relay and feel the solenoid vibrate. If I could have the next check that would be good. One more thing I remember from the last time I took it on a test drive, the red light in the dash did not light up. Does that narrow it down a bit. I did check all of the fuses with an ohm meter, they checked ok. I could have missed one but I don't think so. Thanks again.

I have down loaded the r-9 manual, but my printer is out until tomorrow. I will try the grounding either later this evening or tomorrow evening. I will let you know how it turns out. What packard do you have and where are you located. Talk to you soon.

Thanks so much for the response. Have checked all fuses and they are ok. This is one thing that I am not sure of is the governor has only one wire, it goes to the harness and somewhere under the dash for to the relay. There is no electro mechanical clutch. Should I go ahead and ground the one wire to the chassis? And the lock out switch? As these are positive ground I didn't want to blow anything out. I am trying not to pull out the solenoid as it is a bit of a pain, but I just might need to. Not only is it hard to get to, but it takes about ten to fifteen minutes of getting just the right angle to get the solenoid rod hooked to the overdrive. Talk to you soon and thanks again.

I have owned a 1940 1808 for a number of years and never had any trouble with the R-9 overdrive. I just put in a new clutch and of course had to remove the governor, and solenoid to remove the transmission. Got everything together fine, but the overdrive does not work. I have down loaded the manual that you have available on this site. But I would like a starting point for checking. I have made sure the overdrive lock out button has continuity, and power is going to the relay. It is difficult to try something, take it out for a drive, put it back in the garage and jack it up to try something else over and over. On one try I did remove the governor and very easily with a business card and brake parts cleaner, clean the points to make sure that was not the problem. Thanks