[Healeys] 100-4 overdrive

[warthodson at aol.com]

I thought I would forward the question I received from one of our members
concerning his overdrive/clutch slipping problem for the mailing list member's
input.
Please let me know your suggestions & I will pass them along.
Gary Hodson

The o.d. solenoid that we installed last Tuesday solved my recent problem.
The transmission now goes in and out of overdrive....yeah. Thanks for your
help.
However, I still have my long standing problem of a slight slippage of a
clutch or the equivalent. I had previously removed the transmission to
replaced the flywheel pressure plate and clutch a few times years ago trying
to solve the problem.  My next course of action was to remove the overdrive
and send it off to be totally rebuilt, but thought I would first try to
further diagnosis the problem thinking it could be the overdrive clutch or
an incorrect fluid pressure issue, with the fluid pressure problem possibly
being solved with the transmission in the car.
I called Roger at Hurst Imports who was nice enough to offer me his pressure
guage. I could not talk him into working on the overdrive, even out of the
car.  He did give me some advise which was worth a fortune. He told me that
the fluid could be an issue if it was slipping only in overdrive. Since mine
is slipping in and out of overdrive, he is 99 percent sure that it is caused
by a broken circlip spring (Vicky B part number 14623) in the overdrive.
This spring puts a little tension on the (spray clutch?) He said something
about rollers run up and lock it???) He indicated that one shop in the past
has replaced about five flywheel clutches thinking that this was the
problem. I only wasted one new clutch and had another pressure plate rebuilt
so I must be doing OK!!!!!!!!
I am a visual person and don't fully understand the overdrive unit. I took
notes while I was on the telephone, but I am still a little lost. I'm
putting what I know down in writing so others in the club who are more
knowable than me will have a general idea of what is happening and may be
able to assist in replacing the spring/circlip.
The tranny  needs to be removed and the overdrive unit removed from the
tranny. The spring can be replaced in about 30 minutes by a reasonably
knowable person (not me). He said to use a hose clamp to assist getting the
rollers back in with the spring.
I feel lucky that he was able to direct me to the problem which I believed
can be solved at a tech session, at least the portion of work done when the
tranny/overdrive is out of the car.
I probably will be putting off removal of the transmission/overdrive unit
from the car for quite a while for I really am not looking forward to
removing that heavy hunk of junk again. Perhaps I will do it when I have
absolutely nothing else on my agenda.
Jim Hager