1985 240 DL Manual OverDrive button not working

What model tranny do you have? If you can tell me that, I can give you a parts breakdown thru vadis which might make it easier to replace.

-Brian

It is an M46.

Basically what seems to have happened is the gear shift knob somehow detached itself from the shift lever, and whatever wires there were connecting the gearshift knob to the thing at the bottom of the inside of the gearshift lever are gone. I think all I need to do is simply replace the gearshift knob, but as to how to go about it I cant find out, as the manual I have (Chilton) doesnt show how. I am told that the former owner just let it go, but from time to time would megshift some sort of wiring to make the connection so the overdrive would work, but after a while it became a hassle, he got another car and did not bother to fix it. So I *think* the solution is simple in theory, it is just the execution part that seems tricky :)

Thanks for the reply

Brian V wrote:

Hopefully the attachment comes thru. If not let me know a valid email and I'll send it to you.

Looks to me like there is small pin that you can remove and replace the entire upper shift lever, part number 18 in the drawing.

Hope this helps.

-Brian

I dont see the attachment on the thread. If you can, please send it to my yahoo email

tradingessentials@y........

(do not want to spell out the y___o.com in the email address line because spiders will pick it up and then the spam comes pouring in!)

Thanks again!

Brian V wrote:

OK, got it, thanks!

Well, I got the pin out, and was able to slip the top half on without incident, connected the wires up and still no go. I am informed it might be either the relay or the solenoid. I know where the solenoid is, but not sure where the relay is. Do you have a chart to show where the overdrive relay is and how to replace it? Also, would you happen to know how to test the solenoid to see if it is working?

Thanks again!

Brian V wrote:

Unfortunately I don't have the electrical portion of Vadis, only the mechanical.

As far as testing the solenoid I would guess that you can turn the overdrive on and off and with a meter see if you have 12v at the solenoid in one of the positions. If you do then you've prooved the relay and are down to either the solenoid being bad of something within the overdrive unit itself being bad. Once you confirm voltage at the soleniod listen for a click at the solenoid, that's the armature pulling in, if it doesn't click then you've got a bad solenoid coil (double check with an ohm meter) or a gummed up armature. If you hear the click then it would be something within the overdrive unit itself.

Have you confirmed that your getting voltage to the switch itself? One of the wires to ground should give you the 12v, accross them may get you 12v also.

-Brian

If the wires were bad inside the shift lever, at some point wouldn't the fuse blow?

If not the shifter then the 4th gear switch.

It's pretty easy, there's an allen set screw on the lower end of the shifter which you get to down under the car and then a pin pops out. From the top you remove the circlip around the ball joint and the lever lifts out.

I'm not sure why you're replacing the lever though, it's much easier to simply replace the wiring by splicing it at the base of the lever under the rubber boot. If you get some silicone rubber test lead wire it'll last longer than the original.

M46 is the only manual gearbox with electric OD that was ever offered in a

No, it would just engage and disengage the OD sporadically. There's only two wires, connect them together and the relay cycles, or in pre-'81 cars which have no relay, the OD engages when the wires close and complete the circuit.

Hello all,

Many appreciative thanks for the suggestions. I replaced the upper half of the shift lever by taking out the pin at the base of the old and then putting the new one back on top. The new one had the new switch installed which had a nice little 'click' to it.

The first one I got (from the recycle yard) did not have a 'click' in the button, and that did not seem to be working.

I also re-soldered the OverDrive relay, which is found (after removing the glove box) immediately to the left, behind the dash. The o/d relay in the car was a Hella relay and the color was rust/brown, but the connector was blue. When you look ionthere you see the blue connector but you have to reach in there a bit an pull the relay out. It unplugs from the blue connector easily enough, but the hard part was taking the plastic shell off the relay to get at the circuit board.

At least this one was hard, as there are only plastic phlanges to work past, which was a hassle (busted a knuckle.)

Once I got the circuit board exposed to the light of day, I noticed (clearly) there were a couple of 'lines' or 'paths' where the solder looked like it 'should' have been so I resoldered those. That is tricky becasue the lanes are barely 1/6" wide. There were other places that looked suspect so just for insurance I added some solder there as well.

After plugging the relay back in and splicing the wires from the new top half to the base (blue and brownish red wires) took it for a test rdrive and voila! it worked! woo hoo!

There is a link on this site that shows the pictures of where the relay is located as well as what the relay looks like inside which was very helpful.

Anyway, there it is for the next guy that has this problem.

James Sweet wrote: