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i just got back from an hour & one half drive in my packard. i have not had my car too long. today was the longest drive i have taken . Man , the car drove very well.
i am still learning every day. after the last drive i notiece the fuel tank had a small leak. i fixed that temporarily. time to take the tank off and recondition.
today i also fixed the dome light in the rear seat. so that is so cool to have that working.
funny thing though when driving the overdrive etc to me is confusing...... i never know if it is working. there is no feel .... and then to remember in or out. and the knob for overdrive on my car has very little movement. i have the ultramatic trans, and it must work very well because i do not feel the car shift. when i get up to say 50mph (give or take) i think the trans is going to shift into high gear , but nothing. today she really moved along great. no one on the road but me and i was aggresive and got her up to about 75mph. WOW that was fun. i also experimented with the passing gear and no trouble there either. MAN, I LOVE HAVING THIS CAR! i know, no caps. that was for emphasis. I also checked around today to get the radio reconditioned. so i have some leads there.
aloha, and have a great packard day!

Quote:Tim,

I'm confused too, that's a normal condition for me, but you say you have Overdrive AND Ultramatic? I thought Overdrive was only on cars equipped with manual transmission? You say your Packard has an overdrive knob. As that's the case, is it possible your Packard was converted from manual trans to Ultramatic and the overdrive knob was left in situ? And that's why you don't feel the shift into overdrive?

Congrats on your successful drive--aren't they great cars? I love driving mine.

Maybe you could shoot us a pic of this knob you are talking about.

With Ultramatic in "H" range, you should feel one shift somewhere between 18 and 50 depending on how hard you are accelerating. Your car doesn't actually use any gears in "H", just the torque converter. Somewhere in that speed range a clutch should engage that locks up the converter for efficiency. That engagement can be quite soft but when complete the car should feel like a stick shift car in high gear;ie the engine speed tracks exactly with the car speed and there is no engine running away sensation. That, and if you were going up a slight hill at say 40 and floored it, you should feel that clutch release and the engine speed increase.

Ultramatic and overdrive would be a very special and expensive aftermarket addition so we're all interested. If you ever have the car on a lift a picture of the bottom would tell the tale.

ok so obviously i am confused and need to investigate and research. thank god i wrote this topic. see, a little knowledge, or lack there of(LOL), leeds to further investigation. so i will go out now and look. thanks.

Perhaps it was an inoperable power antenna switch you were pulling?

ok so i re read my owners manual and shop manual. and now i know o/d is on cars with manual trans.
ok so now i feel lame. but that is ok. it is all part of the journey.
in the owners manual on the page where they talk about the light switch(p9) there is a pic of the switch. the switch i have in my car is directly beneath the light switch. in the picture on p 9 in the owners manual there is NO switch beneath the light switch.
in checking things out i found 1 wire loose, so i need to find what that is about. this switch has a push pull action.
btw it does not look like the switch on p 17 witch is the o/d knob.
a mystery for now . but i will go investigate some more.
thanks

ok , this is what i think i have. the loose wire fits into a socket on the switch. and the wire goes into a group of wire that go up the steering columm. i think this knob is for a windshield washer, which i do not have. next to the battery box in the engine compartment there are four holes. so maybe this car had a washer at one time. now i shoould go see if there is a spot for the washer tubing......
what do u guys think????
the push action of the knob to me fits what would be needed for a washer unit.......

ok, so i stuck my big head under the dash again w/ a flashlight and there is a place for washer tubing under the dash where the pullies are for the wipers. I think this switch is for a wiper washer unit. any other opinions????

Do you have the glass water jar and vacuum water pump portion on the L fender? If it was an electric switch for washers then aftermarket or a 54 unit and that one only needed a pushbutton. Your year would have been controlled by the wiper on/off knob by turning it in the direction opposite that needed to turn on wipers. After water filled pump, you then turned the knob the regular way to squirt and start wipers. Can you trace the loose wire anywhere?

I have no water bottle, just four holes in the fender close to the battery. the loose wire does fit into the switch and it follows up the steering colum. the wiper switch is on the sterring colum. turning it in one direction turns wipers on and the other off.