volvo od relay question

[astrotaz]

Hey all. just got a question you probably have had it before. I have a 1983 240 dl wagon. It is in fair condition, not great, but working on it. Anyways have had problems with the overdrive relay. I bought a new orange one, which lasted a short time period, but eventually fizzled. I am at the point to where I want to just by pass it and run it to a switch and control it myself( since the relays are known to fail), rather then pay an additional 25 each time. Do you know if this is possible? If so which set of wires and would I need to use a reducer since there would be no relay? Any help would be appreciated Thanks again

[LaRy]

Hi, I dislike special connections like this, because if you do it, you really need to know what functional change you have done. You will be able to use the OD in any gear. To make it very clear, I will make an electrical description how to bypass the OD relay without knowing anything about the eventual mechanical conseqensies for the gearbox. My suggestion how tho make the bypass is related to reading the electrical drawings, so I have not tested the solution. Hopefully some gear expert can give a reply in this forum about the gearbox. In origin connection the relay is getting feedback from the gearbox that OD is OK to use.
The OD relay is getting voltage from the blue wire coming from the fuse. If you connect a switch between that blue and the yellow wire going down to the solenoid you can manually switch the solenoid on or off at any time. I do not know the power consumtion in the solenoid itself, but switching off a coil is causing problems for any switch. Buy a good switch (=big), that minimum can stand 10 Amp DC at 25 volt or higher.