An issue in our database museum

The first of the commandments of a database development should be: Thou shall not keep an old database version after a desupport notice. We have violated and the pay for this sin is an interoperability issue. Our situation:

• about fifty branch databases connecting into the central one using stored procedures via DB link
• branch database 8.0.5 on WIN NT
• central database 8.1.7 Solaris, should be upgraded to the 9.2.0.4 (probably .5)

Issue:
We can't return VARCHAR2 in out variable. Error is unfamous End Of File on Communication Channel.

Prerequesities:
Procedure must be called via database link from 8.0.5. Procedure must be included in one particular package (in other package procedure returns VARCHARs with no problem). There is no PRAGMA etc. in the problematic package. Target database must be 9i (8.1.7 works).

To be honest I do now understand what's going on. One "bad" package, one simple procedure:

PROCEDURE TEST(cTest out VARCHAR2)
IS
Begin
cTest := 'BOOOM!';
End;

and stupid error, just between 8.0.5 and 9.2. This procedure should not be influenced from its package by any way, but exact opposite is true.
Anyone encountered something like this?

P.S. I can't post the package source, because of its size.

--
Dusan Bolek

Email: spambin_at_seznam.cz
Pls add "Not Guilty" to the subject, otherwise your email is going to
be burnt as a SPAM.