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Posted By Discussion Topic: 53 electrical glitch     jimbomac 09-11-2014 @ 1:55 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 88 Joined: Jul 2014 I'm sorting out a few issues with my newly purchased 53 Sunliner 3sp with OD. After the first start and a brief warm up, when in 2nd gear the governor energizes the relay and solenoid and the ammeter needle shows a discharge about halfway between the midpoint and full DC- when I shift to 3rd and let up off the accelerator, the OD won't engage, and the ammeter shows the same discharge. If, in 2nd I floor it the engine will miss and backfire snd run very poorly for a few seconds and then the the ammeter needle will shoot over to a charging position, the engine smooths out and runs normally, and now in 3rd the OD will engage. After doing this once there are no more problems. This won't happen again until the car sits overnight. The gen was rebuilt about 2 mths ago and the voltage regulator replaced with a new one- not sure of the manufacturer. This seems like a voltage regulator issue of not switching to generator support when the solenoid is calling for power- am I right? Is there an adjustment here that I can make or should I just source another regulator- otherwise the charging system functions well- thanks for any help! cliftford 09-11-2014 @ 2:50 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 845 Joined: Jan 2014 Disengage the OD and try it again. If the problem goes away, there's your problem. The Motors manuals of this era had pretty good coverage on OD's, or maybe some of the other guys can give you some pointers. Good luck. Gene supereal 09-11-2014 @ 5:17 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 At what mph does the governor allow the solenoid to pull? If you are driving over 35 mph, it is likely the governor is Ok. Flooring the accelerator causes the ignition to be interrupted, which is normal.. If you need a diagram of the OD circuitry, I have it. With the information you have provided, I suspect the governor. jimbomac 09-12-2014 @ 6:58 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 88 Joined: Jul 2014 Thanks- the governor appears to be working fine- it energizes the relay at anout 27 mph and cuta power at about 20 or so. The problem is that as long as the ammeter shows a significant DC, the solenoid wont engage- I have to really rev the engine in 2nd and after some rough operation and missing the ammeter needle will suddenly shoot over to the charge area the engine smooths out, I shift into 3rd and then the OD will engage when I release the accelerator. Then there are no issues. The problem seems to be that the OD pulls so much power that it needs the generator to kick into the circuit or it won't engage. If the OD is locked out there is no issue with the ammeter showind DC- this only happens when the governor energizes the relay and the solenoid is drawing power. Once again, could this be a voltage regulator issue, it is not switching the gen into the circuit soon enough? The gen seems to charge just fine otherwise. Thanks! cliftford 09-12-2014 @ 9:43 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 845 Joined: Jan 2014 check all OD wiring,relay, solenoid, and kick down switch for possible shorts. Gene deluxe40 09-12-2014 @ 9:58 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 413 Joined: Oct 2009 Based on my experience with a half-dozen of these OD units in '50 and '51 Fords, I think everything is working OK except that your solenoid is slow to react. The discharge on your ammeter is because current is flowing and the solenoid hasn't fired and opened the circuit. That could be because it isn't getting enough voltage or because the plunger (pawl?) is sticky. To solve the electrical problems solder all of the riveted wire terminal connections in the firewall relay, kick down switch and governor. Over time corrosion gets between the terminals and base plates of these units. I have fixed several overdrives with your symptoms just by soldering the connections in the relay. I have also pulled solenoids and cleaned the electrical and mechanical components with some success. A couple of units wouldn't cooperate until I found a better solenoid. supereal 09-13-2014 @ 11:21 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 There are two windings in the solenoid, one to pull, and the other to hold. There is a set of points in the solenoid case which close when the OD is disengaged, allowing the solenoid to pull. When they open by the solenoid travel, the holding coil is energized thru the relay. If the points in the solenoid are not opening when it is pulled, that would account for the heavy current draw. Those points carry a lot of current, and are a main cause of trouble, You can access them by pulling the cap off the unit. It is also possible the balk ring in the OD is sticking and not allowing the full travel of the solenoid. TomO 09-14-2014 @ 8:53 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7252 Joined: Oct 2009 The solenoid needs a good 6 volts to operate, you may have some corrosion in the circuit that is reducing the voltage to the solenoid. That is why Deluxe40 has had success in repairing the problem by soldering the connections. The kick-down switch, governor, and overdrive relay could all be sources of voltage drop if their contacts are corroded. Tom jimbomac 09-20-2014 @ 1:29 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 88 Joined: Jul 2014 Found the problem- a completely frayed, rotting ARM wire from the generator to the voltage regulator. This had no insulation it's entire length, and was hidden in a melting, cracked plastic harness that was lying on the intake manifold as well as the head. The rest of the wiring in the harness was ok. Once replaced, the ammeter now immediately swings to charge once the governor grounds the relay and the OD engages effortlessly. The engine also now runs much smoother without any rough operation. Thanks for all of the advice! As an aside, I also found that a rubber mat covering the entire front floor was placed right over the existing carpet,preventing the accelerator from pressing the kick down switch when it was "floored"- removing the mat ( which had been cut to cover the entire front carpet, I didn't even know it was there!) cured my kick down problem. Can't wait to find out what other "secrets" the old Sunliner holds!

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