Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

The kick in speed should be around 20 mph. If you start slowly and it's quiet, you should hear the solenoid clunk at 20+/- and letting off gas should allow it to fully engage & revs should drop.

When you ground the relay, then solenoid will try to engage as soon as you turn on key. If the pawl and mechanics not lined up so the stroke can complete, the solenoid may overheat if in that condition for long period.

If you run a wire into the car you could control, and attached it in place of the wire at kickdown switch going to governor you could control the engage speed and see if you hear a clunk when the solenoid trys to engage. Letting off the gas should complete the engagement. Kickdown would work normally if everything OK with solenoid in that case.

Grounding the relay directly will not allow kickdown to work but might prove if the solenoid and contacts are the issue with engine as I believe those contacts will be and will stay closed and the kickdown switch will complete the ign shortcircuit so engine should die. Unfortunately, I don't have that type solenoid to look at and see what state the ign circuit contacts are normally in to know for sure.

Running that wire is a great idea. I'll try it tomorrow
Regards

I hooked up a jumper on the govenor side of the kick down switch. I could hear the overdrive relay and solenoid click. The car would not go into fourth. First, second and third ok but not going into od except it does free wheeling. No kick down. No change detected in engine rpm.
I guess it must be a problem in the mechanics of the solenoid. Any tricks in pulling it and re-installing?

The ball end of solenoid has to be engaged into the pawl which usually requires a twist and bit of a turn and may have to be done with solenoid energized so stem is fully extended. The older units also had a spacer which had to be oriented correctly or things would bind. Not sure if V8 units have that same spacer setup. Have you downloaded the Borg Warner manual. It is not Packard specific but has a lot of information and decent troubleshooting section on the later units.https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/article/view.article.php?117

Thanks for the Borg Warner info. Very helpful. I made a hard copy and will keep it with my service manual.

I took the cover off the od relay and ran a light bulb from the non-operating contact to the inside of the car where I ground it on the dash. At 30 mph the light came on. This tells me the governor is working fine. At 40, I goosed the engine and the light momentarily went out and then came on. So the elecrical part of the kick down is working. I can hear the solenoid clicking so that must be good. I guess the thing works but I'm just not tuned into hearing the lose of rpms. I am going to assume it works and the problem is me.

Thanks for all the help.