Cant shift out of reverse

[68autobug]

If You undo the top locking nut You should be able to turn the top of the gear shifter... 
You cannot turn the complete gear shifter around as at the bottom there is a round pin that located the gear shifter so the points ONLY work when the gear shifter is moved backwards or forwards...  and doesn't do anything when moved sideways... like if You knock the gear shifter with Your knee... lol
You May NEED to adjust the clutch... there is a clutch adjuster on the LHS of the gearbox connected to the clutch arm...
Undo the lock nut, and turn the center piece [adjuster] inwards 1/2 a turn, and check if everything works... if it all works OK.. tighten the locknut on the adjuster...
If You still have problems selecting gears [making sure the contact points are clean & working correctly] then turn the adjuster center piece another 1/2 a turn and tighten the locknut....
I hope that helps..


Lee in Australia

[sb001]

If You undo the top locking nut You should be able to turn the top of the gear shifter... 
You cannot turn the complete gear shifter around as at the bottom there is a round pin that located the gear shifter so the points ONLY work when the gear shifter is moved backwards or forwards...  and doesn't do anything when moved sideways... like if You knock the gear shifter with Your knee... lol

Interesting as I don't seem to have that locating pin nor do I see it on the diagram I posted... could it have been added in later years?
I also don't have a top locknut (above the adjuster sleeve)-- only one underneath as that diagram shows. If you look at the diagram posted:



the top portion of the shift lever (#2) simply goes through a hole in the adjuster sleeve (#6), it doesn't "lock" to it in any way. It goes through the adjuster sleeve and then the bottom end of it (i.e. the upper contact) rides on top of the contact housing spring (#7.) So when you slide the adjuster sleeve down over the bottom portion of the gear shifter (#11) and secure it with that locknut on the bottom (#10) you are just compressing that spring which holds the upper gear shift part in place height-wise (i.e. in relation to the lower contact), but there is nothing preventing you from swiveling that top portion of the gear stick all the way around. If I am missing something here then please let me know!

[68autobug]

Hi,
at the bottom of the gear lever there should be a pin pointing towards the front... this is needed to have the gears in their correct position.
moving the lever forwards and backwards activates the clutch via the gear shifter points...the points will need cleaning and adjusting every few years..
not very often....   if the pin is missing from the bottom of the gear shifter lever, the gear shifter can move in all directions... something it cannot do, mainly because there is a wire coming out the lower side of it.... also, the long shaft that goes back to the gearbox has a spring located under the oval plate under the rear seat,,, this pulls the shaft to one side... So, the gear shifter knob is always on the RHS , so You just move forward to drive 1 and backwards to drive 2... and You need to pull the gear shifter over to the LHS to find LOW gear and reverse gear.... but if there wasn't any locating pin in the bottom, then none of this would work correctly....     also check the wire coming from the bottom of the gear lever, it usually needs replacing. I found it easy to solder a new wire to the original points.. and clean them up....


The main reason You cannot get out of reverse is : the control valve is NOT getting the electrical signal from the gear shifter electrical points...
so, it cannot activate the CLUTCH so You can move the gears......

LEE in Australia

[bhartwell59]

I seem to be having some trouble with shifting OUT of reverse too... as the OP said, after my car has been running a while.

Put in new contact points, adjusted by hand tightening the threaded collar and then backing off a half turn.

Still gets hung up when I want to shift out of R

Thoughts?

[68autobug]

Hi,
You need to adjust the adjuster located on the LH side of the gearbox....  You need to undo the thread...of the locking nut then tighten the adjuster 1/2 a turn or more... that will fix the problem of selecting Reverse which is the first gear to play up when the clutch isn't engaging fast enough....  Just turn the center piece of the adjuster 1/2 a turn tighter...... I need to do this on My Beetle too....
cheers
Lee  in Australia..

[bhartwell59]

I have a '74 w/the Park feature... and Reverse is forward/left... no down.

Is that adjuster common to all autosticks?

BTW-you're not referring to adjusting the servo?

Thanks Lee!

[68autobug]

Yes, I was meaning the servo adjuster.....
I wasn't sure which one You were talking about....
The gear shifter doesn't need to be be adjusted often... once it is operating OK.... then it should be OK for a long time....
So, the clutch servo adjuster.... 1/4 to 1/2 a turn tighter on the adjuster....


LEE

[bhartwell59]

Instead of the suggested 1/2 turn for adjusting the shifter contact points, I tried 1/3  turn instead.

Initially, I still had trouble getting out of R... but it hasn't been an issue in several weeks. Keeping an eye on it though.

[68autobug]

Hi,
Yes a 1/3rd adjusting is fine or even 1/2 a turn.... so You can carefully select Reverse with out crunching....
I used to always crunch when going into reverse but My Wife never ever crunches?
Once You fix the selecting of reverse , all the other gears will be OK....

Lee in Australia..

[bhartwell59]

Sorry for getting back so late...all other gears are fine. Even going INTO reverse.

After adjusting the back off (of a 1/3 turn) getting OUT of reverse is no longer a problem. Finicky beasts these are!

[68autobug]

tHAT IS ALL IT TAKES.... A BIT OF FINE ADJUSTMENT.....