T 86 oevrdrve issue

zoegrant

zoegrant

Well-known member
When I turn the key on the ignition and check current on the overdrive relay with a test light it shows that the current is live on both side of the fuse.
Shouldn't the relay only be live on one side as the car is not moving so the governor is not activated.
Does this sound like the solenoid points are stuck ?
 
with the key on the only relay connection that shows no current is the switch marked TWSH...should that be ?

I jacked up the car rear wheels and put the car on stands and with the car in high gear brought the car over 30 mph and the THSW still showed no power at that connection using my test light...should the governor have sent power to that connection ?
 
The governor sends a ground to the relay when the car reaches the preset speeds, so there would be no voltage present on that terminal. You would need to check for voltage on the "SOL" terminal when the car reaches about 30 to see if the relay system is operating.
 
Are you talking about power at the relay where the blue wire attaches on the drivers side of the relay under the hood ?

Or are you talking about the power wire on the solenoid under the car ?

If you are talking about getting power after 30 mph on the sol side of the relay under the hood, then I tried that and there is no power at that terminal even at the 30 mph speed.
 
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I was talking about at the relay terminal. As a test of the relay, with the ignition on, put a jumper wire from the governor terminal to a good ground. It should click. If so, you should have power at the soleniod terminal.

If you Google "troubleshoot Borg-Warner overdrive" you will find lots of information and an understanding of how the overdrive works.
 
OK...I appreciate all the help...I have traced the problem to the solenoid...the points were stuck together...I cleaned them up but need to know what " POINT SETTING" to use.

Also, the outside case is stamped with a numeral 6 on one and a number 4 on the other electrical terminal.
What does that mean ?
 
The THSW terminal on the power relay is the ground path to the governor switch connection where it actually grounds the circuit at ON speed. This is what activates the relay on the dash. When it activates, the relay energizes the coil and closes the power switch to the actuator soleniod on the transmission at terminal #4. Terminal #6 on the actuator solenoid is for kick down function.

I don't know why the actuator solenoid is marked the way it is but it has to have an ID marking of some kind to get it properly connected. It performs several functions inside in order to conserve electrical power in operation. It has an energizing coil and a holding coil so there are actually two sets of switch points in there. One to kick out the energizing coil and one to kick out the holding coil for kick down function. The engine ignition coil is momentarily cut off till that kick down set of points open and allow the ignition coil to resume function. That ignition cut off happens pretty fast so it's not so noticeable.
 
Before you start tampering with the points, you should determine if you hooked the power wire to the correct wire on the soleniod. As rotor said, one wire is to ground out the ignition, the other is to energize the solenoid. The heavier wire will power the solenoid, IIRC, it is the orange wire.
 
40cpe...I have adjusted the one set of points to .0005, 2mm.
It appears that the set of points that sit on top of the plunger is not adjustable.
On the wire harness that I purchased all the wires seem to be the same size, 16 gage.
The power wire has to be correct as my overdrive has been working for a while now. One day it just stopped working.
The first good day I will try it out and let you know how I make out...
 
The set of points inside the solenoid on the side are the heavy amperage pull-in points; the points on top are the lower amperage hold-in points and are normally closed until the kick down feature is activated. The pull-in points should open as soon as the plunger extends leaving only the hold-in points live. When driving torque is released by lifting your foot the plunger completes its travel due to spring pressure pushing the pawl into engagement with the drive plate, stopping its rotation and directing the driving torque through the OD. If the pull-in points don't disconnect the heavy amp draw will eventually burn the windings in the bottom of the solenoid, destroying it.
 
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