Out of the blue yesterday, the overdrive on my car started acting up.
After about 15 minutes of highway driving at 75ish mph, the o/d kicked
out for about half a second, then went back in. A minute or so later,
it kicked out completely. I rode along in 4th direct for a while,
smelling for any electrical troubles. After another 5 minutes of
driving, I tried engaging the o/d, and it worked. I hit the gas hard
for a while to see if maybe I had a low oil level which was giving the
o/d unit trouble (by hitting the gas hard, load on the o/d unit was
increased and would therefore knock it out if the oil level was low).
Everything was fine, and the o/d was engaging smoothly as usual. Low
oil level is ruled out. After 5 minutes the o/d hiccupped, then kicked
out again. Upon returning home, I turned the car off and then put the
ignition on (car not running). Put the shifter in 3rd and hit the o/d
lever, relay clicked but no sound from the solenoid. A few minutes
later I tried again and everything worked fine. Drove the car to work
again this morning (no choice really, no backup transport) and the o/d
worked fine again for 15 minutes, then hiccupped and kicked out. A few
minutes later I was able to engage again, but then it kicked out again
later. The weather is cool, the o/d unit has worked flawlessly for
hours in temps 20 degrees hotter than yesterday.
Sounds to me like the solenoid is overheating. Once it cools off, it
can work again, but heats up and shuts down a few minutes later. Is
this possible, do solenoids do this? Can I test it in anyway to make
sure that is the trouble before ordering a new solenoid (no return
policy on electrical items from TRF)? What else could it be? I figure
it sounds like everything is fine elecrically up to the relay and
mechanically everything is good, it's just a trouble either getting
juice to the solenoid (could the relay be causing trouble-maybe not
giving enough juice to the solenoid after a few minutes, perhaps
because of overheating?). Since the relay is clicking, it sounds like
juice is getting to the solenoid but the solenoid overheats. Let me
know what you think and how to proceed.
For now I'll just have to go along without using overdrive, I don't
know how you non-o/d equipped drivers can stand it. At 80 mph (my
usual highway cruising speed), I usually turn 3250 rpm, but now she's
revving her guts out at 4000. I have to cruise at 70 now, and even that
is 3500 rpm. Triumph should have done a better job marketing the o/d
feature in the USA. Most of the European market cars have it, but only
a very small percentage of US cars seem to.
Tim Holbrook
1971 TR6
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