I just bought a 90 740 GLE wagon and now two days later the OD is acting up. On the highway it will engage for a second or two, which is really fun on the highway. During in town driving it never engages. I have read up on this in the FAQs and wanted to run my thoughts by you guys. First I checked the fuse and its fine. Next I pulled the relay and went over it, also reinstalled it without the dash put back together and the cover off that relay and drove around the block. The button on the selector will turn the dash light on and off and I could hear the relay clicking. So I'm thinking that the solenoid is the problem. Does this sound reasonable? I'm also thinking that I should go ahead and resolder the relay but I've lost my soldering iron, so I'm going to buy one tomorrow and resolder it.

I too vote for the fluid flush. Sounds like maybe some ick is stuck in there....


But first, check your kickdown cable. Easiest way it to find a very quiet street and completely disconnect the cable. It'll shift at like 1700 every time.
If the relay is clicking, it should be fine. Never hurts to resolder though. How's the fluid looking?

-Will
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1990 740 Turbo, on its way to stock specs, maybe beyond

Maybe a fluid flush wouldn't be bad idea if you don't know for sure when it was last done. Beings as the problem seems to be speed related, it kind of sounds more like a fluid pressure issue or solenoid problem more than the relay.

I resoldered the relay and the problem is fixed however the shifts are a little hard so I will flush the trans next weekend. Thanks for the ideas.

Was it difficult to remove the relay board and resolder it?

I didn't remove the board. I just pulled the relay, removed the cover, and inspected and resolder the major connection that are prone to cracking. Not hard at all.

I found the instructions in the FAQs.