Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Hello, My name is Bill cook and I am a new Packard owner. I just stumbled on to this site and it looks very educational. I look forward to joining the Packard family. I have a 1941 120 sedan with a standard transmission with overdrive. The car runs good but I am having issues with the overdrive not staying engaged. There seems to be oil in the unit and I want to change it but I am unsure what modern day type. The green light comes on fine at the correct speed, and the drive will engage but as soon as you put a load on the tranny, it kicks back out. Any comment would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Bill

Bill,

Welcome aboard, I'm sure you'll find this a rewarding and interesting site with plenty of people willing to offer advice or assistance.

Regarding the overdrive, I don't have any experience with these but having just imported a '41 120 Coupe from Idaho which is O/D equipped, but doesn't work although it's supposed to check out fine mechanically, so I'm about to find out! Yesterday I was speaking with some members of the Packard club here and the first thing they said was use the correct grade of oil in it as too heavy a grade can effect the operation of the O/D. As I learn more I'll let you know.

It would be good if you could complete an entry in the Owner Registry of the '41, including a pic and history, so we can all see and enjoy it.

Again, welcome.

Welcome also. Regarding the overdrive, have you been able to determine if it is electrically disengaging as if the kickdown switch is misadjusted and coming in early or if it's mechanically failing. There is an overdrive manual here in the Articles--Service Manuals and Wire diagrams (item 31) section you can read or download which might be of some help.

Thank you for the replies. As far as the oils, the owner manual says S.A.E. 140 viscosity in warm weather all the way to 80 in extreme cold weather. That's quite a large range of thickness. I have not changed the oil as of yet. Maybe dirty oil is the problem.

All of the wiring is hooked up to the aero-drive solenoids, I also checked for loose attachments. If anyone knows of an old Packard mechanic in Central Florida, please advise.

I've used SAE 85/140 gear oil in Packard overdrives and manual transmissions for many, many years, never with a problem. I suspect the problem is not lubricant-related.

Hello this is Bill Again. Thanks' everyone for the past replies.I am still trying to get the areo-drive operable on the ?41? 120. I have removed the solenoid and checked the points for any noticeable problems,
None were found., in fact the gear and points looked surprisingly clean with no burnt contacts.

I have changed the oil (twice) on the areo-drive unit with SAE 85-140. I took the car for a spin and the unit worked flawless, shifted into over drive in second and third with the over drive Came home from the short outing , picked up the wife and we went for a celebration drive. About a mile from the house, the car kicked out of overdrive and would not stay engaged. Something I didn't mention in the previous post is that the Speedo makes intermittent noises coming from the instrument panel. I have noticed that when the Areo drive works well is when the Speedo is making the worst noise. I know that according to the book the solenoid is driven from the Speedo gear.

Could this be my problem? I am not sure how a dry Speedo cable could affect the over-drive.

I will try and lube the cable and see if anything becomes of that. Pardon me for my ignorance, It seems working on Packard's is a far cry from Building houses. Thanks Bill

In addition to my previous post, The kickdown switch is properly adjusted. Thanks again, Bill

Bill
It sounds like you checked the governor insted of the solenoid as it has no gear.
The noise in your speedo could be gunk in the speedo at the dash or your sun gear may be shot. [pain in the butt]
Greg

Without some real troubleshooting, it's going to be difficult to narrow down to electrical or mechanical. Mechanically, the only thing I can think of without a teardown would be make sure the lockout lever is adjusted properly and fully engaging or disengaging with the lockout knob moving the lever down on OD full travel. Electrically if kickdown sw OK, that leaves governor as next most likely & relay or lockout sw down the list.

Packard did issue a service bulletin after the war on that same series OD where a problem had been found with the connectors that joined the harnesses corroding and causing problems. Don't remember if all years were mentioned but if you have a harness that has the bakelite connectors (5 or 6 of them)about 3-4 ft from transmission then possibly that is causing an intermittent problem. I don't see how it would be load related unless there is a poor connection which heats and fails or jiggles open about the time you get to speed.

I would remove the speedometer cable immediately, before you bust your cable. Once the speedometer freezes up, the cable breaks immediately afterward. You need to take out your speedometer and clean and lubricate it.