stuck in overdrive
 

my 1992-240 sedan is stuck in overdrive.


what can i do to fix it?

presumably this is an automatic transmission as there were very few 1992 manuals ?

when the OD yellow arrow light is switched ON, the Overdrive is disabled. when the light is OFF< the overdrive is enabled, and shifts automatically just like its a 4th gear. its impossible to be 'stuck in overdrive'. It IS possible for the overdrive control circuit to fail so its always disabled, leaving you with only 3 forward gears.

could you be more precise with your symptoms? otherwise I can't do more than guess.

sorry about being so vauge. im still new to this. the arrow on the instrument panel is always on. is there a way to turn it off? the button on the gear selector does not seem to do anything.

ok, so you're stuck OUT of overdrive, not IN overdrive. if you accelerate smoothly from a stop up to 50+ MPH speeds, you'll probably only count two shifts, 1->2 and 2->3, and not the final 3->4(OD) shift, and at freeway speeds your RPMs are higher than they would be if OD was working, which means your gas mileage on extended freeway runs is somewhat down.

if the light isn't toggling, there's two possible causes.. the OD control relay is stuck or otherwise broken, or the wiring to the button in the shift knob is bad. the shift button wiring is a SOB to get to, pretty much unrepairable. the relay is fairly easy. I believe you have to pull the glovebox out of the dashboard to access it (remove the passenger side kick panel first,then the various screws around the face of the glove box behind its door to pull the box out. be careful with the door hinges, they are a bit fragile). now, the relay is, I think, the one tucked in behind the center console,on its side, with the connector on the right end. it has 5 pins labeled 31, 87, 87a, 86, 15 (but so do a lot of other relays), and the wires to it are white, black, yellow+red, blue+black, green, and green. the OD relay is part number 3523804 or 1347764, I believe.

if you remove the relay, and jumper pin 15 to pin 87 at its socket, the OD should now work if everything else is good. take it for a test drive, accelerate gently from a stop and count your gear shifts, should be 1-2, 2-3, and 3-OD. when driven with very little throttle, a 240 shoudl go into OD at like 40MPH or so.

If the OD is working when you do this, my next test would be to connect a ohm meter between the relay socket pins 15 and 86, and push the button on the shifter, you should see continuity (0 ohms) when the button is pushed, and open circuit when its not pushed. if THIS passes, then a new OD relay will fix you up. Overdrive Relay Automatic 240 740 760 780 940