Help with Reverse and First!

Here are pictures of what is on my car. As you can see.. This is original. I have not restored this area yet

Michael, There is an half circle clip or bracket on the left lower aspect of the firewall of 32410S into which the round shifting harness connector fits. Good luck with your travails in sorting out this wonderful Cord. Former owner of Geneva Blue, Jack Richards.

Quick update. I have still done nothing other than "fiddle" with the outside of the plug that first time and it continues to work. Out of sight out of mind. I'll move on to other things.

And for what its worth, I learned long ago to disconnect the battery whenever I work on nearly any car. I was given a surprise once when working on a late model car with a ratchet in the engine compartment. While removing a small bolt, the handle of the ratchet contacted the metal fan motor housing, and surprisingly completed the battery circuit. 4th of July right there in my garage. The car had two identical fans. One housing was grounded internally. Apparently the other fan housing wasn't and was sitting at +12V just waiting for me and my ratchet. Both fans ran fine. I ended up wrapping the offending fan motor housing with a silicon tape so I wouldn't accidentally bridge it to ground again.

So now, I disconnect the battery. And it's very to do on Geneva - there is a disconnect switch right at the battery to stop the 1 Amp draw I seem to have when everything is off. Still haven't figured that one out. I did check the voltage regulator to see if any of the points had welded together on the breaker portion, but all was fine with the regulator - in fact it looked brand new on the inside!

-Michael

Congratulations on Geneva shifting into 1st and reverse today. My thoughts are you still may have issues in this plug area but please DO NOT work on it with the battery power connected. I'm really not versed in the shifting electrical from the steering column down to the transmission.Am not sure is turning off the engine ignition switch kills all power to this.
The plug you slid the top half clear of in supposed to be fastened to the floor board firewall by a clip. The clip "may" be available thru Henry Portz. Sadly he has recently passed on but I think his daughter Cathy is handling the business now. I have not talked to her since the West Coast Meet a few months ago. I viewed his web site and saw some under dash wire harness will be available sometime in Sept...

Ok, quick update.

First of all, I've done almost nothing to help figure out the problem. Last evening I did look for the wiring harness connector near the master cylinder and found it easily. I also found that the large connector just hangs in the breeze - is that normal or is it usually attached to something? And while I did not unplug the connector, I did notice that the upper shell of the connector can be really easily slid up the wires, and inside the shell of the connector housing it is extremely greasy. Is the grease in the connector body normal? Anyway, after sliding the connector housing up and getting my fingers all greasy I slid it back down and decided I would tackle it another day.

And this morning, just for fun, I started up Geneva and she shifted into reverse and first with no problem. So maybe I successfully jiggled something. Guess I'll look this weekend.

Thanks for all your help - I'll keep you posted.

-Michael

Your correct Jim. My suggestion was going in hard and not checking conductivity first. But in the end my guess is the cover and bumper are coming off. My search for a good picture of the solenoid pack and shift wiring color codes came up poorly. I may still have a good picture showing clearly the connections and colors. I have even seen trouble codes for ways to fix the shifting issues such as this but no idea where that is now. I will post it when I find it for others to copy and have on file. True a Cord sitting and also in a damp setting will open up issues in the electrical area fast.

Hi Michael,
The main problem is you neglected Geneva for too long, Cords do not tolerate that.
First don't do what Gary suggested, you are apt to create more problems then you will find.
You need to see what the shifting is doing or not doing. Open the hood, have someone start the car, depress the clutch and move the selector switch into 1st gear. Then use a volt meter and check the second wire from the rear (black wire) on the solenoid bank(located in front of the radiator on the right side). You should have 6 volts there. If there is no voltage your problem is probably up in the shift switch.
If you have 6 volts you need to pull the front bumper and transmission cover and see what is happening. First question the cross shift moving to the left side. If the cross shift moves to the left check the the third or fourth wire from the front (blue wires) on the solenoids and see if you have 6 volts. If you don't have 6 volts the cross shift switch may not be making and may need adjustment.
Try these and let us know how you make out.
Jim

It sounds like no power is reaching the first reverse circuit. Might try opening the large 10 wire plug under the firewall near the brake clutch peddles. Its on the engine side. Geneva may not have the upgraded wire harness made by Henry Portz. It would have been best if you tested all the other gears just to see if they work. Next location to check for a loose connection is the shift solenoid on the passenger side of the transmission. You have to remove the front bumper. Then the trans cover to reach the wire harness on the solenoid block.

Hello friends!

This morning, after 7 straight days of rain, I woke to blue skies. Figured it was a good day to drive Geneva (812 S/C Beverly) to work. Her last drive was about 40 miles 10 days ago.

So I hopped in, started the engine, selected Reverse so I could back out of the garage, depressed the clutch, and ...... nothing. She didn't shift into reverse. No sound, no noticeable anything. I tried several times to no avail, during which I was slowly rolling backwards out of my garage. When it became obvious that Reverse had no intention of working, I decided to put her back into the garage. I selected First, depressed the clutch, and .... you guessed it .... Nothing. No sound, no noticeable anything. Again, tried a few times without success. So I tried Second, and that worked flawlessly. Eased Geneva back into the garage, tried Reverse and First one more time with no luck, Second worked again, so I put Geneva back in her spot and figured I would work on the problem later.

So of course, the first thing I did when I got to work is write this note, hoping to get insights on what to check first, ideally easy things to check first. Can anyone help?

Thanks!

-Michael