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RE: Overdrive story

To: "'David Gates'" <dgates@mailcc.com>,
Subject: RE: Overdrive story
From: Craig Smith <CraigS@iewc.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 13:09:37 -0600
Cheap is a relative term....
Cheap wire buys Spit parts


-----Original Message-----
From: David Gates [mailto:dgates@mailcc.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 1999 11:57 AM
To: 'Spitfire List'
Subject: RE: Overdrive story


Dean,

It sounds like your wiring my have seen better days.  If the wiring fell

apart on the switch and then on the solenoid, your wiring may be very 
brittle.  You could have a broken wire in the middle somewhere.  It may
be 
a good idea to ohm out the wires to be sure they are good.  Wire is
pretty 
cheap.

David Gates

On Monday, March 01, 1999 5:35 AM, Dean  Dashwood 
[SMTP:DDashwood@softwright.co.uk] wrote:
> Hello list!
>
> Recently, the J-type overdrive on my Spitfire stopped working - it
> wouldn't engage.  So I checked the Haynes manual which said that the
> likely causes are low gearbox oil, faulty wires and faulty solenoid.
So
> I checked the wires on the switch - and as I took the switch off, all
> the wiring fell apart!  Ok, I thought, that's the problem.  So I
> re-wired the switch, and it worked - for about 3 days, then it stopped
> again.
>
> I checked the wires in the switch - still good, so I decided to take
off
> the gearbox tunnel and check out the rest of the wiring.  Again, it
fell
> apart as soon as I touched it.  So I sorted all that out, checked the
> gearbox oil while I was there (it was fine) and put everything back
> together again, expecting the problem to be cured.  But it still
doesn't
> work!
>
> Seems like I might need to replace the solenoid.  But solenoids don't
> come cheap, and I'd like to know that this is what's wrong before I
> cough up the cash.
>
> Does anyone know how to test a solenoid?  Is this a really stupid
> question - is it obvious whether it's working or not?  I have
absolutely
> no idea, and Haynes does an excellent job of completely avoiding the
> issue!
>
> I'd appreciate any advice anyone has!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Dean Dashwood
> '77 Spit 1500 (doing 4000rpm on the motorway)

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