Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Guys, My torsion ride is having some issues, when I purchased the car it did not work so I have never seen a working system. I've replaced the solenoids. When I hook the battery up to the car and have the override switch on there is no movement. With it off there is movement as I would expect. However, when lowering the car off of the jacks the torsion ride suddenly started moving erraticly (on and off) with the override switch on. But once on the ground everything stopped moving. When I turned the override switch off it all started moving and I let it equilbriate. However, it blew the inline fuse to the bat side of the solenoid instead. It did this twice. I noticed that there is power to both side lugs off of the limit switch irregardless if the override switch is on or off, which I found a little wierd. I also noticed when touching the y shaped buss bar to see if it is hot or not I accidently shorted it to the bracket and the motor started turning with the override switch on.

I am thinking I either have a bum override switch or I am erranously ground the unit by accident. I just wanted to confirm that there should be power to those side lugs on the limit switch irregardless if the override switch position.


I am sorry if this is confusing, I am still trying to understand all the electronics myself.

Bill

If by side lugs of the solenoid you mean the two connected together by a buss bar with a red wire heading off, that is the motor power and will be present at all times as long as the inline fuse is good.

If by over ride switch you mean the on/off switch under the dash, that controls the activation circuitry and actually never connects to the solenoids directly. It gets power from the brake light switch & circuitry and is fused under the dash in 55. Anytime all 4 wheels are not carrying the weight of the car or on the ground or supported as if the car were on the ground, switch should be off.

What that switch does is cut the power to the bimetal heaters & relays in the control box which give the 7 second delay. When the car needs to level, a primary contact is made activating a heater. After the delay and thru secondary heater contacts it feeds the power on to one of a pair of relays in the control box. The relays turn on after the the delay and a set of contacts on the relays ground the solenoid center terminal thru the limit switch. That energizes the special solenoids. Once one of the solenoids energize it passes the motor power on to level the car. Turning the switch off prevents the relays from working so solenoids never energize to provide power to motor.

On 55 cars, you could bypass the control box to work the motor by shorting the limit switch terminal to ground. Sounds like you may have accidentally done that. Still can in 56 but harder due to the different limit switches.

The side lugs I was referring to was was off of the square black box that the two buss bars from the 10/32 on the solenoids, those are hot. There is a yellow wire on one side and a red or pink on the other.

That was my basic understanding of the on/off switch (override switch that I called earlier). That is a green wire to the control box. I thought if it was off there should be no power to the square box on the y shaped buss bar to the solenoid 10/32 lugs.

Thank you for your patience. I just want this thing to work right.

Bill

On a second note, there was no 7 second delay before it started moving, it was immediate. Perhaps there is an issue inside the control box?

I am thinking what you are measuring is the voltage passing thru the solenoid coils. The solenoid coils get power internally from the side lug the inline fuse connects to. That voltage is what is switched to ground via the 10-32 screws and limit switch by the relays in the control box. You will measure that motor supply voltage thru the coil to ground.

I don't know if you have the complete system schematic but here it is just in case.

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Ok, I understand that part now. but why is there no 7 second delay and why does the unit switch on when the on/off switch is off. Is it possible for the t handle bar (manual override) to accidently ground and cause the system to turn on?

It's possible the control box has a problem. On originals, usually the heaters burn out so it doesn't work in one direction. The replacement boxes eliminate the heater setups and convert to solid state for the time delay. If you have one of those, believe they may be polarity sensitive but can't state that for a fact.

Not sure what you mean by T handle bar for manual over ride. It doesn't sound factory so more info is needed.

The Packard manual over ride kit had a three position push-pull switch. It was located just adjacent to the on/off switch. Center position was for normal operation. Pushing knob up disconnected the control box green wire and grounded the wire to limit switch and ultimately solenoid which raised the car. Pulling the knob down did the same thing for the other direction. The switch stayed in whichever position it was placed in and limit switch stopped the action at the end limits. There was no delay involved with manual operation because the control box was completely out of the picture.

There is a t bar that is coming out of the limit switch on the opposite end than the buss bars to the solenoids. I think it may be touching the pivot that it is incredibly close to. Would this cause an immediate movement in the motor?

I don't have any photos of a complete 55 solenoid and limit assy.

If you mean this T bar on the switch it is the actuator for the switch and is supposed to be touched by the bars as they come around. When one side is almost at the limit a transverse bar will move the Tbar and break the circuit. At the other limit, the other transverse bar will do the same thing only moving the Tbar the opposite direction. If this isn't what you are referring to than afraid I will need a picture.

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Yes, that is what I am talking about. If it accidently touches something that is a ground I am assumig that the unit is going to be grounded and power up. I think it is very close to the pivot and actually may be touching it. If that is the case then this may be my issue. Is this true.

Thank you again for taking the time to help me.

Bill