[Healeys] Overdrive fails to engage consistantly

[Peter Schauss]

You can adjust the overdrive inhibitor switch by adding or removing
the washer(s)
between the switch and the gearbox case.  In your case, it sounds like
you need a
thinner washer or no washer at all, if, indeed, the switch is causing
the problem.

As an additional bit of information, I have found that the replacement
switches from Moss
need to be pushed in farther than the originals in order to work
properly.  On initial installation,
(on my MGB which uses the same part), I had to remove the washer.
After a few thousand
miles, the switch had worn to the point where it would not complete
the circuit at all.

HTH,
Peter Schauss
1963 BJ7
1980 MGB

On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 4:20 PM, edic at tampabay.rr.com
<edic at tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> I am having an intermittent problem with my Overdrive and I need the wisdom of
> this list. It seems to always go into overdrive when I first engage it, but
> later on it will not engage. I suspect the problem is the overdrive inhibitor
> switch. I believe this because, after a run when the overdrive didn't engage I
> checked to see if the inhibitor would click with the key on, overdrive switch
> engaged and the gear shift sliding over to 3rd and 4th neutral position. I
> have only done this when the car was in the garage and have not pulled over to
> see if it will click when the O/D has failed to engage. My question is, if my
> inhibitor switch is faulty, are there any adjustment one can do, or is a
> replacement in order? Or is there something else to consider? Up until
> recently it has performed flawlessly.