Overdrive wiring

[KLJ895W]

Have you taken the boot off the gearlever and had a look at the wiring at the bottom? I had exactly the same symptoms as you. It turned out that the wiring had chafed on the metal pressing which holds the gearlever in place. This is made worse by being over enthusiastic when you tape the wires to the lever so they are held against this part. Also the action of banging the lever into reverse creates a burred edge which chafes the wires. I found where the problem was because smoke was coming out of the top of the gearlever boot!<br>
<br>
David

<p>1980 Sprint<br>
1980 1850HL with Sprint gearbox, propshaft and axle<br>
1972 VW Camper Van</p><i></i>

[davepoth]

Right. All the bolts and nuts out, and it seems the Gearbox tunnel has rusted itself to the floor pan. It isn't a structural member, is it?<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :o --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... rassed.gif ALT=":o"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END-->

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[MaddMart]

Have you taken ALL the bolts out ??<br>
<br>
Presumably the parcel shelf bracket has been taken out. the 4 small nuts on the bulkhead undone. Centre console & gearstick out. It should lever off, start from the hand brake end.<br>
<br>
Martin

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[Jon Tilson]

Taking the tunnel out is a last resort job...its prolly stuck in well with sealant. I find on older cars like my 3 rail jobs the tunnel has a nice rubber seal and they go in and out no worries....later single rail jobs its a diffrent story...cheap and bendy tunnels and loads of sealant and they are always a bitch to line up again.<br>
You should be able to see if wires are touching by just taking the parcel tray and grommets off...<br>
Jonners

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[davepoth]

I've got 15 bolts and 4 nuts in a bag in the car. Centre console is off, as is the parcel shelf and supporting bar. There is a big load of rust in the corner where the driver's side footwell meets the transmission tunnel, and the tunnel and the floor have both rusted. It's all loose apart from that one corner. There is a rubber seal around the tunnel, except it's decayed where the tunnel and floor have fused together.

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[MalcGE]

You'll probably find that at sometime or other the clutch Mastare has leaked fluid into the footwell. This then acts as a great rust accelerator. Have you insulkated the OD wires where the fit to the switch, they can some a tad close to earth at this point

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[davepoth]

I did that after I earthed the gearstick through my hands and the steering wheel. I ended up cutting a little of the black insulation from the loom to make more room in the gearknob. It's still pretty tight in there, but since it will fuse with the gearknob off and the switch disconnected it must be further back.<br>
<br>
Anyway, since the tunnel is stuck to the floor, will prising it off cause the car to buckle in two, or am I ok?

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[Jon Tilson]

its just binding on the small studs in that area. Large flat blade screwdriver behind the tunnel should do the trick...the tunnel isnt structural.<br>
Jonners

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[davepoth]

A large flat balde screwdriver did it...eventually.<br>
<br>
A PO seems to have spot welded the transmission tunnel to the car down the side of the driver's footwell, possibly because there was some rust there. A couple of sharp blows with the hammer and screwdriver sorted that out, and I now have the drivers' seat, transmission tunnel and passenger's seat arranged in order on the driveway.<br>
<br>
Looking at the gearbox, I immediately saw that when I shifted the gearstick, the feed from the fusebox pressed up against the overdrive gearbox switch on the top of the gearbox. The wire wasn't hooked through the little bracket for it at the front of the gearbox, and the wrapping around the wire had been worn down smooth by the action of rubbing on the switch. I put it into the little bracket, and wrapped extra insulation around the worn piece. Hopefully that will have got the problem sorted. I just have to find one more fuse to try it with...<br>
<br>
Incedentally, is the gearbox overdrive switch polarity sensitive? I disconnected the wires to see whether there was a problem with them, but they are so discoloured I can't see which one is which.

<p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p206.ezboard.com/bthetriumphdolo ... avepoth</A> at: 26/5/05 7:49 pm<br></i>

[MaddMart]

Dave, If you mean the inhibitor switch on the top of the g/box then no, nor is the one on the gear stick, it doesn't matter which one goes where.<br>
<br>
Martin

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[davepoth]

Lovely. I just took the good fuse off the other circuit, and tried it in the overdrive side. Plugged the gearknob switch in, switched it on, turned on the radio, and waggled it through 3rd and fourth. There was a fair amount of crackling on the radio, which I guess is due to the radio being earthed to the gearbox, but the fuse didn't blow. I even managed to free up the seat runners on the passenger side. <br>
<br>
So hopefully I've finally found the problem. All I have to do now is have some welding done to the floor, a bit to the transmission tunnel, and I can take it down to Jon for the new roof. The joys of classic cars...

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[Jon Tilson]

That'll be Tony on the welder....<br>
Have you booked a slot yet?<br>
<br>
Jon

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[davepoth]

Not yet. I still ned to book into another garage to get a bit welded into the floor so I can reattach the transmission tunnel before I ring to book a slot, since I wouldn't be sure I could get down there.

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[MalcGE]

Sling the tunnel back in and hold it with a couple of bolts, take out when you get to welder man and have floor and roof done at the same time. I 'road tested' A Sprint without Gearbox Tunnel once, As speed increases so does the amount of grit that comes flying through the hole.

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[MaddMart]

Sound advice Malc. I only have 2 nuts & 2 screws holding my tunnel on all the time. Makes sense to get both lots of welding done at the same time.

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