Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone could help me please. My 1956 Patrician push button ultramatic was working fine and then i went to go into reverse and nothing. If i put it into drive, no problem, but sometimes if i put it into neutral it wants to go forward and if i put it into reverse it wants to go forward (sometimes) but if i put it in park, then netural, then reverse nothing. I hear the actuator selecting/clicking but nothing. I tried the trick with the jumper wire to drive to align it back up, nothing, i tried it for reverse as well and i had nothing for any gear, so i redid the pink wire and it was back to how it was, minus the reverse.

My thoughts are that the worm drive or selector has over hunted and now can not reach reverse. Is there a way to fix this without having to pull everything apart? Or am i completely off the mark?

The motor could be loose

Or.

The manual shift lever.. If its the pot metal ones.

To check the lever. Drop the pan.

If its the lever. Then. Trans. Needs to come out.

Forgive me as I'm not too familiar with the push buttons. But there's essentially 3 possible failure points:

- Maybe the actuator is either not reaching R or overshooting R.

- Maybe the actuator goes to the right place electrically, but there is misalignment between the actuator and lever. Or something is loose in that area.

- Sometimes the set screw holding the linkage on the inside loosens up and causes all kinds of annoyances. I actually just made a video on this just the other day.
youtube.com/shorts/8VWbsWP6gmA?si=QEPHdjAUHoRN6r6W

The system in your car was rebuilt some years ago (I believe the electric part only) so I would expect/hope it is one of the latter two bullets as those are pretty easy to fix. You just have to be able to lift the car. That being said, I would start by checking the first bullet by doing the "electrical tests" section on p. 118 of the 55-56 Ultramatic manual. You only need a test light or voltmeter and don't need to lift the car.

Yes, the first things I would check is that the set screw that hold the motor to the shift shaft is still tight (reached through the little cover with two screws on the bottom).

The second, and even more likely cause is the set screw that holds the control valve lever to the shaft on the inside of the trans. Drop the pan, tighten it up, and then drill through the lever and the shaft and install a roll pin to prevent re occurrence.

I just remembered, I think I read that the third bullet in my previous post was repaired with a roll pin some years ago by the previous owner. So almost certainly the problem is my second bullet, and as Ross and RH mentioned also.

I need to retract my previous comment; I can't find a post saying that. I believe I was thinking he did it when tweaking the thing in this post, but it's never mentioned.

FYI, the other main post on your car's transmission.

Regardless, if you are able to manually grip the rotating shaft from the outside it should have a firm "clunk, clunk, clunk..." with no / very little play between the clunks except on the one extreme where the clunks stop and there is a large gap between Neutral and Park. If there is any noticeable play it would be highly advisable to drop the pan and fix it, as it will only get worse.

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Sounds to me like you very well could have bent contact "fingers" on your pushbutton actuator. So. The more you run it back & forth, the worse it will be. It won't get better on its own.

These assemblies are old and most are very tired. So... it is very possible on some 1956 Packards with pushbutton shift that the contact pie section can– and will– over-travel. Then you've got bent contact fingers... and a repair job on your hands (no pun intended).

TWO suggestions:

1.) Remove the small plate under the actuator housing. Look for any broken bits and see if things are tight. If not, be sure to properly position and tighten.

2.) OR remove the actuator assembly (some will say this is impossible, but it isn't) open it up and see what's going on inside.

Finally... why not simply contact the fellow known as "Mr. Pushbutton" and get to the bottom of things rather than guess? Mr. Pushbutton is the expert... the pro-from-Dover on these systems, repair and rebuild. I believe he has rebuilt systems on hand and ready to go.

Contact him through the Packard Club web site. I believe he is also on Facebook.

By the way... I have owned MANY of these Packards, over many, many years. A LOT of them. My own method for avoiding problems with the pushbutton shifters when they are old and worn (as most are) is as follows:
>>>>> shift NOT directly from PARK to DRIVE (or vice-versa) which invites over-travel. Rather, I go from PARK to NEUTRAL... THEN to DRIVE (or vice-versa). This reduces assembly travel to slow and small increments and thus reduces possibilities of over-travel.

Good practice to help longevity of service on these units.

I had the same problem on my 56 push button. If I was more computer savvy, I would include a link to my thread. Had H, L, and D but no park, reverse, or neutral. Turned out to be the pressure switch on the transmission had a broken orange wire. This switch prevents you from accidentally going in park or reverse when moving forward. fixed the wire and all is right in the world.

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