Will not engage overdrive clutch

No relay found in the location your image shows. Your answer does help if I can track down the location of the relay for the overdrive solenoid.

Thanks

Joe,

I have the Full-Service Manual (FSM) from mitsubishilinks. Com. Their sketches show the relay somewhere in that vicinity. However, I even studied the wiring diagrams and noted the wire colors and striping. It shows that there should be five wires going to the relay and the colors etc. I took out the passenger seat and glove box so I had visibility into that area. I just don't find a part matching that description in that location. I also looked at the driver's side, There is always the chance that the wiring diagram is wrong. I did find one relay with some wires matching those colors but with a green wire where to diagram shows red. So I'm stumped.

Thanks,
Tom

Joe,

I'm going to provide some pictures of what I see in the location suggested. The fourth picture was taken from under the dash looking up into the corner at the finder inside panel.

The car has only had two owners. The original owner had all maintenance done by Pros. On the other hand, have owned the truck for the last ten years and have made minimal mods. The only electrical mod I have made is to run a hot wire directly to the starter solenoid from the battery through a push button switch. This was done because randomly the factory starting circuit does not provide sufficient current to activate the starter solenoid (i.E. A work-around to get sufficient power to the starter solenoid), It has gotten me going many times when the weak standard circuit fails.

Thanks for you help,
Tom

According to my research using the P/N MD723747, the black box is a Free Wheel Hub Indicator.

I finally found the bugger after removing the computer and dropping the heater fan and plenum. Says Overdrive Relay right on the part (black box way in the back side wall). I don't give up easily. :'-) My windshield leaked in this corner, so I'm not surprised that the electronics got impacted.

Thanks for your help.

I'd like to check it. The fastener holding it in place is frozen, so I may have to drill out the head. I admit that I'm only used to checking relays with 4 terminals, not 5. This relay is no longer in production BTW. So if it is the culprit, I may be out of luck, unless I can wrangle a used one.

Do you guys know if the overdrive solenoid is energized continuously to hold the transmission overdrive clutch engaged or does it just take a short burst of 12 volts to engage with the solenoid? I may want to install a switch to engage the overdrive until I find the issue and solution.

I guess a better way to ask the above question is "does the the magnetic coil within the relay stay energized keeping the 12 volts output to the solenoid power energized the whole time the transmission is to be in overdrive"?

Thanks for your help! Just as a follow-up I provide the following:

I studied the wiring and tried a jumper from the hot 12 volts source to the output wire on the connector at the relay to the solenoid. I could not get the power down to the solenoid that way. However, I ran a new wire from the 12 volts source at the relay and I got the overdrive working, yeah! The only issue I noticed is that the overdrive "off" switch on the shifter no longer works. Effectively I by-passed the need for the relay. It works for now. If I can ever find a source for the relay, I can put it back to factory configuration.

My trial attempt using the jumper without success makes me suspicious though. The issue may be in the original wire harness between the relay and the solenoid.

Tom