Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I tried to add something to my post from last fall, but it seems to have gone to the "cloud" so I will try with a new post. I was posting about a shift problem with my 56 Caribbean , winter set in and I had to put it on hold without solving. Just got back to it.

I have 3 actuator units, 2 of which have wires cut, spliced, colors changed etc. by previous owners, and a third one that seems to be very original and I don't think the tape has ever been removed. All the colors in the connector are correct, and the contact wiring in the actuator appears correct. Setting the open section of the contact plate opposite the centre screw on the finger assy as shown in fig.237, pg.116 of the manual the colors from left to right are pink, brown, purple, blue, white, grey against the left contact strip, and tan, orange with black tracer against the right contact. testing as shown by connecting pink wire from the harness to a battery and checking power at the connector gives power at brown, purple, blue and white, and also at grey. Connecting orange with black tracer to the battery sends power to the right contact strip, but nothing in the connector is powered. The tan wire in the open section of the harness is powered. That open section of the harness has both power feed wires [pink and orange with black tracer], as well as the tan wire, a yellow wire, and an orange wire connected to a red with white tracer wire.

What am I missing here? Am I doing something wrong, or is the manual wrong in its instructions- does something else have to be connected?

I don't know which drawing you might be using but here is a complete diagram showing all contacts and the internal motor connections.




The pink and orange/black end wires of the finger section do not get power directly but rather connect power to relay coils to drive the motor one way or the other. The direction driven is depending on which one of the other fingers is providing the power via one of the push buttons being selected and is touching which ever side of the split segment is connecting to an end finger. Once the segment drives and the center dead spot lands at the powered finger from PB, the connection is broken and everything stops.

Note also there were two different PB looms. Early looms had power to the buttons and fingers coming from the ballast resistor via a yellow wire connecting to the auto park relay which was used a a tie point to supply power to the pressure switch and PBs. Because of wires that were spliced inside the loom, there was only one of the other wires also connecting to the yellow wire at the auto park relay.

Since there was also a yellow wire coming from the button assy for the park button, to avoid confusion later looms changed the yellow wire coming from ballast resistor to a white wire. They also eliminated the internal splice and brought both the red/white and orange wires to the auto park relay for the tie point connection..

If your wire colors at the finger assy looks like this then it is OK Note the pink wire end finger that is completely off the sector. This was a frequent problem if the actuator over travelled and quite often the actuator had to be removed to place the finger back on the sector. Some luck was had by chamfering or rounding the sector end slightly for a kind of ramp effect and with those, Ross has had some success manually driving the actuator to get the finger back in contact. More often though, if either end finger has fallen completely off and is going to be hit by the actuator at either end as this one would be, then I believe the only solution is to remove and repair. Trying to drive the actuator with a finger in the way will most likely only damage the finger or the support.

Hi Howard:
Wiring in my actuator looks exactly like the picture you posted. I'm using the Packard shop manual with the 56 supplement on the electric shifter, and referring to page 116, figure 237 where they describe testing the wiring. They have you turn the worm gear until the open spot between the contact strips lines up with the centre screw on the finger assy. The test just doesn't work as described.

My problem is that I can't seem to get the actuator properly set on the trans shaft so that it will go into all gears. I can set it in reverse no problem, but then am stuck in low gear on the drive and high buttons. Moving the actuator up slightly [toward the top of the trans], it will still be in reverse on the reverse button, but will be in low gear on the drive button, and if I then push the high button it will shift into high. If I push the high button when first coming out of reverse, the car starts out in low and will shift to high, which would seem to indicate it is actually in drive as opposed to high. At this point it will not go into neutral, and wants to back up in low. Moving the actuator upward a bit more, and I lose reverse and the car wants to go forward. I've been struggling with this since last fall when I put a new seal on the shifter arm, and you know what a pain it is to remove the actuator from the transmission.

Does the shaft itself have rotary play? If you have more than something like 1/32nd of an inch measured 1 in away from the center of the shaft then it is too loose on the inside linkage and you need to tighten up the set screw and jam nut again. There is also a roll pin that you can install which really helps the situation.

You need to make sure the bolt is set right.

When tightening it move to motor up an down to feel the recess

That set right.. then you need to play around with motor

In P Move it up down a little then try the buttons keep trying till you get it.