Great information here! I am planning on adding a GV OD to my car in the next year. Looking for advice from you guys. Thanks!
Just an update, I called Gear Vendors, great customer service, no wait, someone answers your call immediately. The control box has an LED window that should display a series of dots. Some of them display numbers, mine has dots. The tech told me to drive the car and watch the display. There should be 3 dots displayed when all parameters are met and the unit shifts. I am currently getting only 2 dots. Based on that, they believe I am losing the signal generator (driven by the speedo cable). I have a new one on order. The only other thing it could be is the box. Rob Chilenski installed my GV back in July of 2006, and he is a dealer for them. He has a brand new box that he will bring to the NE Spring meet on April 7th. If the new signal generator doesn't fix the problem, I'll try the new box. Stay tuned.
we had issue with that on ours when new hince why I mentioned it earlier, if it doesn't know speed correctly it cant do its thing at the right time
.. just from an error analysis standpoint, the odds of - both bulbs blowing at the same time and it simply being just a bulb issue - are about the same as Jason voting for Hillary in 2020
Ahh, yeah, thanks Alan, initially one bulb was out, it is possible that I shorted the other out when testing them. In any case, both lights work now. Any other helpful comments?
Well, I received the signal generator and replacement was very easy. It hooks up with 2 bullet connectors and goes inline with the speedometer cable. Five or six tie wraps cut and replaced and it was done. I unhooked the speedometer cable and chucked it into my cordless drill. I was able to run the speedometer up with the ignition on in the garage, and the lights work correctly. Got under the car and spun it up and I could hear the solenoid click each time. Can't test it yet because it is raining here in NY. Sometime this week, I hope that was it.
I had my fingers crossed as well, but that wasn't it. Rob Chilenski has a new control box. We will try that at the Spring meet.
OK, update. Still no overdrive. Gear Vendors customer support is great. No waiting on hold at all. After the call connects, you have two options, existing owners, and perspective customers. Pick an option, and you talk to a human being immediately. I have been talking to a guy named Mike. I can dial his extension and get him every time, very convenient. My electronics have checked out just fine. All the lights are doing what they should. Mike told me to remove the bolt for the high pressure port. Then with the car in the air, run it in Drive. Fluid should run out at a steady stream which it did. BTW, they no longer recommend the GM manual transmission gear oil, they now recommend Dexron 3. Easy enough, I have 4 qts of that in the garage. I drained the oil, and refilled with Dex 3. Mike told me to get the car at a steady 45 MPH and turn the GV on and off repeatedly. I did that a couple of dozen times to no avail, no shift. Very frustrating because the car is running so awesome with this new Tri shield 9.5" converter. Mike suggested I remove the unit and send it to GV. I was thinking replace the solenoid. It does click when I apply 12 volts. Mike says if it clicks, it's good. I think I'll remove it and power it just to make sure the stem is moving. Seems like a good idea before I pull the unit. Shouldn't be too bad. All I need to do is remove 8 small nuts from the unit to the adapter collar. Looks like I can do that easily without even messing with the cross member.
Ok all you did was R&R the transmission and GV to install a TC. Before the R&R GV worked fine. Now not. For the heck of it put a ground on the GV it can’t hurt. One thing I learned about anything with voltage is check the grounds first and the more the merrier The noyd May click but not quite right
I can certainly do that when I check the solenoid. Ground at the box is solid. Engine block is grounded to the firewall with a ground strap. I'd like to actually watch the solenoid when I apply power to see what it does.
OK, As a last ditch effort to figure this out, I removed the GV solenoid so I could power it up and watch the action. It doesn't appear to be moving very much at all, but not knowing what is normal, I am not sure. Managed to take a video of it and I have it on youtube. I called my GV contact (Mike), but he wasn't in, so I left a message. I'll wait to hear from him and link or send the video to him. What do you guys think?
OK, heard back from Mike. 1/16" movement is normal. He suggested I hot wire the unit and feed it 12 volts, on-off, on-off. He seems to think it may just be stuck from sitting. I'll give it a shot and see what happens.
Well, tried hot wiring the GV. Spent an hour on the highway on and off the gas activating it repeatedly. No go. Today, I removed the GV unit and I will ship it to them tomorrow. Will be interesting to see what went wrong. It is 13 years old, so I guess I can't really complain to much.
Sent my GV to California on Thursday morning. It should arrive by Wednesday this week. It will be interesting to see what they find. Again, I can't say enough good things about Gear Vendors customer service. No waiting on hold, I got to talk to the same guy (Mike McCarthy) easily every time with no delay. Mike told me that if the shipping costs were excessive to call him. The quotes I got were 100.00+ one way without insurance. Mike ended up sending me a UPS tag. I am paying 35.00 each way, very reasonable. I believe this is Mike at the 2018 SEMA show.
