[Healeys] OD still not working!

[simon.lachlan at alexarevel.plus.com]

This saga started months ago and you may remember the case and the various
suggestions made at the time. I've been away and thus unable to get back to
the problem..

 

The background was that the thing would go into OD but not come out. And,
after many vicissitudes.removing box and OD in order to drive it up north
3(!) times, it is still playing up.

 

I shall try to give all the details and background but that will entail my
being as verbose as usual.

1.	It is in a MKII BT7 centre shift.
2.	It has, yesterday, new 30 wt non-detergent. Plenty of it. Clean.
3.	Its electrics pass muster though I wish I could detect a fault there
so that I could fix it.. If the ignition is on and the engine is off, when I
put the stick in 4th and engage OD I get a nice click and the little lever
moves. When I move the lever across to 1st and 2nd, another click and slight
movement on the little lever. When I leave it in 4th but switch the OD off,
it stays engaged until I depress the accelerator a little and then it drops
out of OD. To my mind at least, this indicates that the electrics are
working. IS THAT PRESUMPTION CORRECT? I tried it with a spare, rebuilt,
relay but no dice.
4.	There is nothing in the little hole and the ball seats nicely. All
new parts in there.
5.	The lever is free to move when the ignition is off ie nothing in
there is slowing the lever's freedom to move as pulled by the solenoid.

 

I have a (new) gauge and it goes up to 500+ psi when in 3rd or 4th and stays
there until I engage the OD. Pressure drops momentarily then returns to
500+. All well and good. But it won't come out..

 

My feeling, going somewhat against received/informed advice, was that
"something was stuck inside and not releasing". This was borne out when,
with the back wheels off the ground, I was trying to find out what was going
wrong..the gauge was in and I was watching it. Into OD...the usual click
plus a different sort of noise/clunk and a distinct jerk. The gauge went off
the scale..needle all the way round and jammed on the reverse side of zero
where it remained; gauge destroyed. The gasket between the
solenoid/operating lever casing and the accumulator area ruptured and oil
started to come out. Fairly briskly. So that was a complete disaster.

 

I rang up ODSpares, for the 400th time, and Dave said that the accumulator -
brand new, fitted by them - must have jammed. He, very reasonably I thought,
said that if I brought the box and OD up again(!), he'd fit on a complete
new unit. So, I did and he did. I imagine that he fitted a casing with all
new bits where needed. He runs them on a rig for 8 hours before letting them
leave the shop..

 

Anyhow, I stuck the box etc back in - I'm getting quite good at that now -
and had high hopes. But, no good. The needle goes up to 500+ and stays there
until I move it in and out of OD by moving the stick left to right with the
ignition on and the engine off.

 

Logically, if logic applies to an OD, one might suppose EITHER that there is
a batch of dud accumulators out there OR that there is some external factor
that I've missed which has been lurking undetected all the while?!? BUT,
that would not have made the accumulator jam??

 

Is it possible that there is something extraneous that could cause the
electrics to play up only when the engine is running?

Or, do ODs need a few miles on them before they start working properly?
Clutching at straws here!!

 

One last thing, Dave agreed that there was still a pressure issue. He
suggested drilling out the little hole in the so-called "valve - operating"
(the rod under the ball bearing). That was to allow the pressure to bleed
off faster. He sent me a new rod in case that didn't work. Which it didn't!
The hole was just a tiny fraction less than 1mm and I drilled it out to
1.5mm. (Apparently, the factory used to drill them out for competition
vehicles.)

 

Anyhow, I'm stuck. As is the OD!. And I've gone completely beyond any
expertise I ever had with these damn devices. I thought I understood the
electrics and I thought I could diagnose most pressure related issues. But
I'm getting nowhere and it's been going on for months and months.....

 

Any ideas would be very welcome. Exceeding welcome.

 

Simon

 

 

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