I am a new corvette owner and not very mechanically inclined so please forgive any obvious ignorance on my part. 3 years ago I bought a low mileage coupe (37000 miles) in original condition, and after a couple of summers or 2000 miles driving, the overdrive started kicking on automatically when I was in 3rd gear driving about 40 mph. The push button on the gear shift worked fine, and would start or stop the OD when I pushed it. Now, a few hundred miles later, I cannot turn the OD on or off when I push the button, as well. I had a qualified general mechanic take a look at it, and he took the gear shift apart, and concluded that the button, rod, and switch below were working fine. He thought it might be a relay, or sensor of some kind, sending a signal to the computer as the OD light would go on in the dash, but wasn't sure where to go from there, short of tearing everything apart. So in order to not have the OD kicking in and out all the time, he disconnected a wire underneath the car (green connector I think he said), and now I drive like a regular 4 speed with no overdrive at all. This is fine until I want to cruise at highway speeds where I miss the OD. However, I notice that the OD light on the dash still comes on intermittently as it did before when the OD would activate of its own accord.

I am wondering if anyone can tell from these symptoms what the likely problem is, and where I can suggest to the mechanic he try searching next. He has not worked on many corvettes and has never encountered this problem before, although he is a very competent and knowledgeable man.

Thanks for any suggestions or help with this.

Bob Kipp, kippsbd@telus.net

I will suggest to you get your mechanic a copy of the helm service manual for your year. www.helminc.com or check ebay.