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Hi all,

Well my 47 2126 is just about ready for the road after rebuilding the front end, going through the brakes, and fitting a new wiring harness ( from YnZ).

My only area to resolve is the overdrive. When the Packard came to me the lockout lever was int the "out" position. We have since moved the lockout lever to"in". Now the over drive green light on the speedo is constantly on, and the lockout lever is very stiff to operate. I assume this is not how it should be!?

I'm unsure whether I have the R9 or R11, as I understand the green light should only illuminate when the right speed has been reached for the overdrive to engage.

Does the the green light extinguish when the overdrive drops out?

Is it possible for the overdrive to be permanently locked in, as indicated by the green dash light?

What mechanical and electrical tests should be done on the overdrive?

Thanks in advance.

Am assuming the OD knob and cable is hooked up. If the lockout cable is needing lube, it could be part of the stiffness. It would be advisable to lube it anyway because if there is too much strain, the attachment point at the rear of the under dash piece where the cable housing is crimped to the pot metal assy can separate.

The R9 has the green light, solenoid has 4 terminals and relay is a squarish black box with 6 terminals. The R11 has no light, solenoid has 2 terminals and relay is a smaller rectangle with 4 terminals and a fuse on the side. Verify exactly what you have just in case the light has been wired in when it should not be.

On the R9, the OD knob when pushed in closes a switch and completes a ground circuit from the governor. The light is off until the car reaches OD speed of about 17-20mph. At that speed, governor supplies a ground, thru lockout and kickdown switch to relay. Relay will pull in powering solenoid and light. Light will then illuminate to signal the operator the car is ready to go into OD. He lets off the gas momentarily, the solenoid completes it's travel to lock the sun gear and when solenoid is fully engaged, a set of contacts open and the light goes off and stays that way until the car drops out of OD for whatever reason -- slowing below 17 or kickdown. When out of OD, the cycle will repeat when the car gets back to engagement speed.

Did you energize the solenoid to extend the plunger when installing? If not, make sure the solenoid has been inserted correctly into the pawl socket. If not it could be forcing the pawl in which would be equivalent to OD all the time. It could also be binding and does not have full travel to open the light contacts. Also check that the spacer is oriented properly. If memory serves, the small holes on one side is toward the rear of car. To energize the R9 solenoid, use heavy wires to connect the case for ground with one wire and for the other wire, BOTH terminals 3 and 4 at the same time. Make sure the plunger is out, pawl is retracted, then angle the solenoid case toward the rear of car and engage the end of plunger into the pawl socket.

Typically, the governor will have wires for both the OD and the ElectroClutch. If the clutch option is not present, that clutch wire on the governor will be unused and tucked aside. If you do have the R9 and the light is on all the time, verify the governor is hooked up correctly. The overdrive terminal and wire is exposed and more toward the middle of the governors bottom bakelite piece. There should be no continuity when measured to ground until the car is going approx 17-20mph. The clutch wire and terminal is positioned so it enters into a sort of raised bump on the bottom toward the side and terminal may be covered with tar. That lead will have continuity to ground with the car sitting and up until the 17-20 OD speed. If being used for OD, the relay would be energized and trying to bring in the solenoid and probably be the cause of the problems.

Verify that part is wired properly and if so, then the problem is farther along -- either a miswiring elsewhere or something damaged. If wiring is correct and light is on that means the solenoid is energized or at least trying to. That would be the reason for the stiff lockout lever. To have the solenoid energized & trying to go into OD with car sitting is serious on an R9 if selecting reverse. Whatever you do don't force it to go in reverse until you correct the problem.

Thanks Howard, thats very helpful inforomation. Am I correct in assuming that when the overdrive drops outs (below 17 or kickdown) that the green light will illuminate again when the car is ready to engage OD again?

Thanks
Lyndon

The light indicates that the overdrive is ready to engage and depends on the contacts in the governor switch being closed which happens above approximately 17 mph.

If the overdrive drops out at higher speed by flooring the accelerator to initiate kickdown the light will come on until the pedal is lifted to allow the overdrive to engage again as the governor switch contacts will still be closed.

As speed drops below the set point on the governor, the switch contacts will open, the car will drop out of overdrive and the light will be out. It will come on again when the speed increases above the set point to once more allow the overdrive to be engaged by lifting the pedal momentarily.

Yes it will go out if you are below speed. As soon as the car drops below appox 17mph the governor contacts switch functions. The OD lead loses the ground which drops out the relay which kills power to the solenoid and light circuit and it drops out of overdrive. Even though the light contacts in solenoid close, lamp has no power so stays dark. As BDeB mentions, when in kickdown governor has still got that OD lead closed to ground. Light will stay out as long as the accelerator is kept floored or at least depressed far enough to keep the kickdown switch active. That could be a few seconds or, if the car is under load like on a climb, a longer time. Once the accelerator is relaxed a bit, kickdown switch will close again to repower the relay and solenoid. The lamp coming off the same terminal as solenoid will light until the solenoid can complete full travel and turn it off again.

Howard should write the book on trouble shooting the overdrive operations. He was most helpful to me in getting the one on my Packard functioning once again.

You may have the wire from the throttle/kickdown switch to the governor shorting. Here is my story.

After the work was done and the OD working I was driving the car around and enjoying a functioning OD once again. Then, after one drive I parked in the garage, but the OD light was still on. What the heck? I noticed as I moved the clutch pedal the light would go off and come on. Off when the pedal was pushed in, on when released. Now I knew there was no direct connection between the clutch and the governor. Up on jack stands and under the car, once again. I found that a wire I had replaced from the throttle/kickdown switch to the governor had become entangled in the clutch pedal and was shorting between the pedal arm and floorboard. I rearranged the wire routing and all was well, again.

(o{}o)