94 ATX OD Light

[rvrbluemoney]

I have 4 MTX Gen 1 & 2 SHO's Just got my first ATX 1994 3.2 and seems dumb but I don't know the normal state/condition of the overdrive light in the dash. Rebuilt and upgraded the trans and all works great in overdrive, light out on dash the problem/question I have it is always out even if I press OD button. Before I start digging any deeper was wondering if bulb may be burnt out. Is there a way to check easily? When I turn key on to start car all dash lights come on for a few seconds and then go out such as coolant, ABS, air bag. I beleive this is to verify the bulbs are OK, my OD light does not come on when I do this, is it suppose too? Thanks

 

[rubydist]

When you first start the car, it will be set to allow OD, so the light will be off. If you toggle the switch on the shifter, the light should come on.

The most common reason for it not coming on is that the little wire that runs up the shifter handle breaks and then the switch doesn't actually do anything. You can test this by driving the car at a steady speed of more than 45 mph, then toggling the OD switch. The trans should downshift and the tach jump up to indicate that it shifted from 4th to 3rd. If that doesn't happen, then the likely cause is the wire problem. If it does shift down, but no light appears, then the bulb is out. (iirc, the bulb should light briefly when you turn the key on.)

 

[rvrbluemoney]

Thanks, I may have two problems. the light on the dash never comes on at all. Might be burnt out. Took shift **** off to change because button broke and keeps popping out. I have no power to OD wires. Everything else feed by that fuse is working so I guess I'll take floor consule apart and start tracing wires back to find the problem, hope it is just unplugged when I get in there. I really don't care if I can get it out of OD because I can always pull it down to drive but would be nice to have light send any codes it finds. Just kind of suffer from ACD and want everything to work the way it can from the factory. I have no problem taking engine, trans, steering, the big stuff apart but don't enjoy dashes and interior type stuff.

 

[rubydist]

Yeah, its a pain to get that wire strung up the shifter tube and connected to the handle, then put the handle back on the shifter tube. I have seen guys put a momentary switch on the side of the console.....

 

[rvrbluemoney]

Found power on back side of fuse OK, took console apart and no power to OD plug. Have continuity on wires for shifter OD switch, I am not going to find were wire is broken between console and fuse but will run a new wire from fuse to connector in console, have already installed a jumper wire to test and then the OD light comes on and off when toggled.

 

[apanthropy]

This might be a dumb question but where's the light on the dash for O/D off?

My O/D Off button works (as in, the car clearly shifts in and out of 4th gear when the button is pressed at sufficient cruise speed) - but no light illuminates. I also do not see any light on the dash that sensibly implies O/D Off/On when it's pressed.

Since the button works, I'm guessing burned out bulb (the car's 20 years old..) - where do I start looking? Thanks!

 

[rubydist]

when you turn the car on, before you turn the key to "start" the dash lights all illuminate for a couple of seconds to tell you they are working. if you don't see the "o/d off" light up, then the bulb is bad. it is on the bottom of the cluster toward the right side.

to change it, you get to pull out the instrument cluster, untwist the bulb, twist in the new one, and put the cluster back in.