Help!!! I Need Overdrive By Thursday For Indy!

[materialboi]

HEY GUYS, I JUST BOUGHT A 1986 TOYOTA MR2 IN AMAZING CONDITION. I'll GET SOME PICS UP SOON. PROBLEM IS, IT ISN'T GOING INTO 4TH/OVERDRIVE. I HAVE 600 MILES TO DRIVE IN THIRD GEAR AT 75, NOT A GOOD IDEA. IT ISN'T EVEN TRYING TO GET INTO GEAR. I CAN PLAY WITH THE SWITCH ALL I WANT AND IT DOESN'T CHANGE A THING. I'M SURE IT'S AN ELECTRONIC ISSUE BUT I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEA'S. I'M NEW TO TOYOTAS AND I JUST GOT THIS CAR YESTERDAY AND BOUGHT A 1987 PICKUP ABOUT A MONTH AGO (FUTURE MINI TRUCK). IF ANYONE HAS ANY IDEA HOW TO FIX THIS OR HAVE ANYIDEAS PLEASE LET ME KNOW

Ritchie

[AustinTXMR2]

I suppose you are talking about an automatic transmission. The automatics are sensitive to engine temperature. Often I have heard that if you don't drive on the hyghway for several miles the temp never gets high enough. I suspect your problem is the thermostat. John

[materialboi]

so the therostat effects the shift of the engine into overdrive? now when you say thermostat you mean the the one that from which water flows or rather the thing that measures the engine temp. because the temp gage just stopped working near the same time i noticed that the od wasn't working. does anyone know how hard it would be to install a manual trans. i would perfer a manual trans and a turbo. difficult?

[materialboi]

bump

[w_widat]

I have only just realised my 91 MR2 does exactly the same last week. After a lot of reading and searching the net, i found it was the water temp thermo that allows the OD to kick in when it gets to roughly 2 clicks over the cold mark. I need to drive it in slow traffic to allow it to warm up first before I hit any serious speed. Unfortunately, when your goind fast the water temp drops down again and if your goind fast, be prepared to drop down to 3rd gear when your temperature gets below the 2 click mark.

I have just purchased a replacement thermostat. Im hoping this may slow the flow of water it bit to keep he temp above the 2 click mark. This may help with the probablem so Ill keep you updated. PS the downside may be that it runs hotter in slow traffic......

[w_widat]

UPDATE, put thermostat in last night and motor brings tempurature up to 1/4 within 10 minutes idle. OD kicks in great now and went for a blast this morning and temp stays consistant now. My OD issues are all gone for now...... Yeeeee haaaaaa