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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

I am not an expert by any means but have had similar problems with my '47 with the R-9. Is the fuse OK? If so you could ground the governor terminal and should hear the relay and the solenoid click. There may be two terminals on the governor one is for the OD the other is for the E.clutch I also would ground the terminal at the lockout switch (under the dash attached to the cable housing) and you should hear both the relay and solenoid click together. You should have continuity between the terminals when The cable is pushed in. If none of these work you should check the solenoid and relay individually. I think I can find pictures and more info if needed. Let me know and we can sort it out I am sure unless it's something mechanical Good luck.

Dave, perhaps a line drawing showing exactly which terminal on the solenoid should get the OD wire would be helpful. I can envision connecting the OD wire to the clutch terminal (if two) and OD would never work.

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.

Yea ground the wire at the governor as you don't have the two wire unit. Do you have a wire diagram for the car? The lock-out switch wire to ground is the one on the passenger side of the switch although you won't do any damage if it's the wrong one. I wouldn't take out the solenoid unless you absolutely have are are reasonable certain it is defective. I know how hard they are to get back into place. Wiring diagrams are available online at the Packard Club site.

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.

When you check the system by grounding the relay terminal, make sure the ignition switch is turned on. May sound silly, but when I first started working on BW overdrives a guy working for me made the mistake and it cost a couple of hours trying to figure out what was wrong with the system.
Good luck.

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.

Well that all sounds good. You should also be sure that the lockout switch is closed when The rod is pushed in. If the red light does not come on when the car reaches the governor activation speed of about 22mph perhaps the governor is the problem. I haven't heard of a way to test the governor with the car stationary that I know but make sure that the points open and close and that they are clean. Is the kickdown switch OK? Test it with a test lamp to ensure it is closing and opening when It should although I doubt this is the issue. Check to make sure the buld is Ok and that the wire for the bulb on the solenoid is OK. Although it shouldn't make any difference in the operation of the overdrive the bulb is a good indiactor that the solenoid is energized. Does the light come on when you ground the lockout switch?

It sounds as if wiring intact to governor. Any chance the ground through governor was disrupted. It's provided by a small bar from a rivet on bakelite through a screw into governor body and then to transmission. Also, the indicator light completes it's path through the solenoid. Any chance of wires switched there when reinstalling or, since you said "felt solenoid vibrate" the solenoid ball end is not actually in the pocket so can't engage.