Hello all, I was told to give this forum a go so here I am.
I just bought a 1971 autostick beetle yesterday, my first beetle and my first autostick but long awaited. It starts, sometimes it needs a lil spray of starter fluid but she does start. Runs as if it is flooded all the time but that is a problem for later. What I am working on right now is it won't go into gear, just grinds. I checked the wire that runs into the stick and it runs all the way back to the engine and is connected just fine. I believe it isn't making contact inside the stick. If I give it a jiggle or fool with it long enough sometimes I get lucky and it will work for a while.. It goes into all the gears fine when the car is turned off and won't start in gear. So that much is working. Is there any way to bypass that lil bugger or how do i repair it correctly? If you need pictures let me know, and if you have pictures to help explain that would be wonderful. Im frustrated and confused so i'm sure I left out alot of needed info so if you need to know anything else let me know and ill run out and check. Thank you :)
Hiya pop,
Glad to have you aboard! Welcome.
The points inside the shifter could, indeed, be your problem. Do know that adjusting these points is a "blind" exercise. It's not like setting ignition points and measuring the gap with a feeler gauge. It's more along the lines of tightening and loosening nuts.
Here's a small blurb I wrote about a year ago.........
"I always screw the points housing down by finger touch rather than with a wrench. The spring inside the housing offers some resistance, but this is certainly a do-able job by hand power alone. Further, it allows one to more accurately "feel" the points touch inside the shifter. Then I take the wrench and give it a very gentle tug just to make sure that the points are touching. I screw the lock nut up to meet the housing and mark both the lock nut and the housing at the same spot on either side (180 degreees apart). Then I just back the housing off to the opposite 180 degree mark and tighten up the lock nut."
That should do the job for you.
But do know that you could well have problems elsewhere which would prevent a clean shift. For example, your in-line fuse (found in the general area of the control valve) could be kaput. The solenoid attached to the control valve could have gone south. You may need to do some clutch adjusting. All of this just to let you know that if you don't see an improvement after adjusting the shift lever, you shouldn't get disappointed. Most of these jobs are not that difficult tech-wise. Even if you're not much of a mechanic (or any kind of a mechanic for that matter!) you can handle this. And we're here to help, so get on back to us if the shifter adjust comes up a bit short.
After further looking at it I think it may be the contact that the wire meets, it looks pretty nasty in there and I guess there could be one tiny clean spot that I just happen to find long enough to drive it around the block until it jiggled out of place. Is that likely? and if so is there a trick to cleaning it or easy to replace? Also is it really as simple as the wire just rests up inside there, or is it supose to be saudered in place or even some kind of connector? The entire car needs tinkering and adjusting, especially when it comes to shifting but this just seemed to be the first step to take.
Sorry i'm being so much trouble, I promise i'll start helping dish out ideas and knowledge once i get my feet wet.
Hiya Pop,
Repacing the shifter wire and contact point is not at all difficult. Replacement point/wire units are available. Here's what the beast looks like when ready for installation....
(http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa85/Bookwus1/Bug/113713145A-1.jpg)
Inside the shift lever looks like this.......
(http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa85/Bookwus1/Bug/IMAG0055-1.jpg)
As you can see, the contact point (in the center of the picture) sits in a little insulated cup. In turn that cup sits in the bottom housing. The lock ring is screwed onto the outside of that bottom housing. By the way, in this particular picture the blue wire is missing, apparently it had been separated from the contact point. Thanks to df for the picture.
Does that give a better picture of the innards?
Well I have messed with it for many more hours and still I get nothing but grinding grinding and more grinding.. Could it be anything else?
Hiya Pop,
OK, the following is assuming that your shifter contact is properly gapped and has now been ruled out as a possibility.
1. Open your engine compartment and take a look for the in-line fuse to your control valve solenoid. Check this picture out.....
(http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa85/Bookwus1/Bug/IMG_0784.jpg)
Just above and behind the coil you'll see two in-line fuseholders being held in place with a copper bracket. The in-line fuse for your control valve should be in approximately the same position. Check to make sure the fuse is good and also check to see if the contacts in the fuseholder are also in good shape.
2. If #1 checks out as being good, it's time to take a close look at your control valve solenoid. Another picture.....
(http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa85/Bookwus1/Bug/IMG_0782.jpg)
In this picture of a control valve, the CV solenoid is the cylindrical portion of the control valve. It can be removed from the control valve by undoing the 4 screws that hold it in place. Be careful when you do this because the solenoid is "spring loaded". A large spring lives just behind it. No big deal really, it can easily be managed by hand, but it's a good idea to know it's there before you open things up. Once you have the solenoid out make sure you have the connections hooked up and have an assistant move the shift lever. That should engage the shift lever contact, which, in turn, will send juice through the in-line fuse to activate the solenoid. The plunger on the solenoid should pop out when juice is applied.
If both #1 and #2 prove to be good, then we'll have to do some more head scratching about the condition of the control valve and adjusting the clutch.
Let us know how you make out.
Thank you very much for all your help, I finally got it. The previous owner had decided to give the control valve two power suplies. I took them both off and ran a new one to be sure it was done correctly and hooray it works. Needs much adjustment to get her smoothed out but it does infact go into gear now. Now off to the next fix of many. Thank you once again, gets tricky.
Hiya Pop,
Two power supplies?
That's the first time I've heard of that. Just amazing what some POs have done.
Popesutek,
PO's..where would be without 'em ::). Now that you've righted the first abomination it's time to find the others!
Hopefully not too many ;D.
Have a look at the engine bay pics in this section and compare to what you've got. Naturally, any questions don't hesitate to ask!
Enjoy
Volkenstein
Yeah the last owner clearly had no idea what he was doing but much to my bad fortune had a great degree in redneck engineering. Today i'm starting on an entire re-wire as far as money prohibits, then it's off to the next issue. From suspension/brakes all the way down to the sunroof is silconed shut.. The engine is fairly sound (although it looks nothing like any other bug I have ever seen) and runs somewhat clean. I have to do the full on tune up. It's a true project but a fun one atleast. You'll hear more from me soon enough i'm sure. Once again though, thank you.
OK Pop
good to see you have found the problem...
I completly rewired My 68 beetle years ago...
replaced just about everything on it
so it drives like a new one..
all the vacuum hoses need to be replaced
as if any of those leak it can drive you crazy.... lol
cheers
LEE
Yeah I am glad to have that out of the way, now I can't get the castle nuts off the back to change my rear brakes or to replace my half of a bleeder valve... but it is very nice to check one thing off the list..
Also I was curious I read a few places that if your generator light is not on, or plugged in then your generator is not doing anything for your battery... Is this true? if so then that is yet another problem off the list.
No, I don't think that is true with a generator
its just a telltale indicator lamp
however with an Alternator
the lamp MUST be used to excite the alternator into charging...
On My daughter in Laws car the dash lamp stopped working
so I for many months Her Alternator light was next to the alternator... lol
cheers
LEE