overdrive issue

[Stewart]

Lost use of my over drive on the way to the labor day run. Made it 25 miles with it working and then it quit.

What I know so far

I have power all the way to the solenoid
Changed the solenoid.
Oil level is full 20w50 oil.

So that should take care of the electrical side of the issue so it should be hydraulic. What are the common parts that would fail and also since I'm going to be there what should be redone.

 

[JPSmit]

Have no idea about B solenoids but Mark (Abarth69) had the same issue with his big Healey - was a weak solenoid. Would engage for awhile but then drop and not re-engage.

 

[Stewart]

Well I think I found the problem

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The silver spring above the plug with the 2 holes in it should be moving.

The plunger was pretty much stuck and took a good blow to free it. Pulled the assembly and gave it a good cleaning and light polish. Seems to be working smooth now. Just need to replace the filter and cover and add oil and hopefully that will be it.

 

[JPSmit]

easy fix - the best kind, congrats!!

 

[Stewart]

Its now working better than it has before. It always took a mile or 2 for the initial engagement of the day then it would work fine. Now its works right off the bat. You forget how much you use overdrive till it dosent work then you really miss it.

 

[drooartz]

I really need to do a drain/clean on mine. Glad you got yours sorted.

 

[Big6Mark]

I used to have problem with the overdrive in my MGC GT. Every time I did an oil change in the gearbox it seemed to stir up something that would get into the valve above the solenoid and it would refuse to disengage for a while.

Not good when you had to drive to work and the only parking spaces you could find meant you would have to put the car in reverse sometime!

Had to go back in, take the solenoid and valve out, clean the hole out with a Q-Tip and everything would be OK until it was time to change the oil again.

Finally got tired of changing the oil and switched to Mobil-1 (10W40, I think) in the gearbox and it never happened again.

C Ya,
Mark

P.s.: Yes, I always took out the filter screen and cleaned it when I did the oil change!