2002 Protege Overdrive Light

[Coastie John]

Greetings All,

A couple of days ago we had a cold front come thru and it was in the single digits outside. I noticed the O/D Light was on. Pressing the button wouldn't turn it off. After I got to my destination, let it sit for 2 hours and got back in, the light was off. Now the O/D doesn't work as advertised. Pressing the button does not take off the O/D like it should. No light at all. I starting the troubleshooting phase now. So....does the O/D light come on when starting as part of the momentary test like all the other engine lights? I checked the daughter's 07 Cellica, the 2000 Windstar, the 2003 F-150 and those O/D lights don't come on when starting either. I'll assume the bulb is good. My other thought is a sticky or bad O/D switch on the shifter. Thoughts??

[Coastie John]

Update.....here's the deal should someone else have to do this. It's pretty easy with the basic tools.

I found the 2 wires to the back of the OD switch broke off. I pulled the handle off, resoldered and heatshrinked two new 4" wires back on and fed it thru the handle and the switch hole. Make sure you use similar size, flexible wire. I used multistrand wire. Reinstall the handle but don't screw it in just yet (You will need to push the handle shifter button in, then slide the handle down). Cut off the excess wire and leave approx 1" to 1-1/4" of wire exposed from the switch hole. Put some solder on the wire ends and switch terminals. Go easy on the switch with the heat. Once done, now solder the switch back on remembering to....be easy with the heat! Ops check the switch to make sure that was indeed the problem and the OD light goes on/off. Once soldered back on, GENTLY pull the handle back off until the wire starts to pull the switch back into the hole....help feed it in and go SLOW. Once there, the switch will easily seat back into the hole. Gently push the handle back on. Ops check the switch one more time. If good, screw the handle in.....put the tools up and go get a cool one.

[Mx5guy]

Originally Posted by Coastie John

Update.....here's the deal should someone else have to do this. It's pretty easy with the basic tools.

I found the 2 wires to the back of the OD switch broke off. I pulled the handle off, resoldered and heatshrinked two new 4" wires back on and fed it thru the handle and the switch hole. Make sure you use similar size, flexible wire. I used multistrand wire. Reinstall the handle but don't screw it in just yet (You will need to push the handle shifter button in, then slide the handle down). Cut off the excess wire and leave approx 1" to 1-1/4" of wire exposed from the switch hole. Put some solder on the wire ends and switch terminals. Go easy on the switch with the heat. Once done, now solder the switch back on remembering to....be easy with the heat! Ops check the switch to make sure that was indeed the problem and the OD light goes on/off. Once soldered back on, GENTLY pull the handle back off until the wire starts to pull the switch back into the hole....help feed it in and go SLOW. Once there, the switch will easily seat back into the hole. Gently push the handle back on. Ops check the switch one more time. If good, screw the handle in.....put the tools up and go get a cool one.

Glad to know u got it all figured out, hoping that you isolated the connections well to avoid shorts and accidental grounding, the last step should have been test drive to ensure proper operation then a cold one.