I bought a 74 Ghia vert autostick yesterday (picture has been sent). She is in great shape and I feel like I robbed the guy getting it for 4k. I do have a problem with it though. Everything appears to be hooked up right according to my Official Service Manual and my Haynes manual, but everytime I stop I have to turn the motor off and restart so I can put her back in gear. Any ideas? I am losing style points and my thumb and index finger is getting sore from turning the key so often. Thanks in advance. Nulli
Nulli:
Congratulations on the purchase of your Ghia. I have a '70 AS Ghia 'vert. I would think an AS Ghia 'vert is a very rare item. Last year of Ghia production and close to the end of AS production. They didn't make many Ghia 'verts to begin with that year.
It sounds to me like your contact switch may be dirty. Its at the base of the shifter. For some reason, it would seem that when you stop, it is not recognizing the movement of the shifter until you shut the car off. I am assuming you cannot put it in neutral?
When you first start the car, are you able to shift through the gears before you start out?
When I start the car I can put it in gear. While driving I can shift. When I stop moving and am in neutral I can not put back into to gear without turning the engine off wait about 5 seconds and start motor, now at tht point I can shift into gear and drive till the next time I stop. Then the process begins again. Other then that everything is great.
If you downshift into first before coming to a stop and don't put it in neutral, are you Ok?
For it to only happen when you stop and put the car in neutral is bizarre. It almost sounds like something is crossed between the brake light circuit and the shift circuit. Not sure how that could happen but POs do some weird things to wiring in these cars after 30+ years.
How does your wiring look? Does it appear to have been hacked up?
Wiring looks great. This Ghia has really beeen well maintained. Stopping in 1st the motor dies but I just adjusted the valves and points, and tossed a new fuel filter on. I am going to see how see runs now. Thanks for the input so far.
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Tune up worked! My Ghia and I have found peace. I look forward to being a part of the forums and for the moment a proud VW autostick owner.
That's great. I didn't realize it was dying when you stopped. I though you were turning the car off to get it in gear.
When I bought my car - July 2005 it was horribly out of tune. One plug was installed improperly - the electrode was mushed all the way down. It also needed points, etc. A totally different car after the tune up.
Your car looks nice and a steal for $4k - particularly if it doesn't have any major rust issues. Its tough finding rust-free Ghias.
This is the best site on the net for AS info!
Good Luck with your car.