Hello fellow VW junkies!
My name is Yucel Kuday and I am a new member of your quite extra ordinary club. It's great to find a resource like this on the web for such a unique ride. :D
My question is the same as my subject. After I start and warm up my 1971 Super Beetle and I shift the gear into first (with my foot on the brake pedal) the bug jerks. The same happens when I shift into reverse. Any ideas what may be causing this jerking? I tried adjusting the control valve with no luck.
Thanks again for such a great resource!!!
YUC
Hiya Yucel,
You were correct with your first assumption - namely that the control valve needed adjusting.
However, there are a couple of problems in adjusting the control valve for smoother shifting. Number one is the process itself........basically you have to turn the adjusting screw and then go out and drive around to see if it made any difference. And sometimes after many attempts(as has happened to me) you start to wonder, "is this better than last time? Or worse?" It helps to have someone with you. Their opinion can help keep you sane.
The other problem is that the control valve may not respond very well to adjusting. Basically what you are doing is adjusting the tension on the diaphragm. And that can actually be done two ways - from the top adjusting screw or the the bottom diaphragm nut. In either case since the diaphragm moves, it's a tricky business.
My best advice would be to carefully take apart your control valve and clean it out. Make sure you have your Bentley open to figure 5-1 in the Automatic Stick Shift section. After 30 years the seals should be in remakably good condition and after cleaning all you'll need to do is to reassemble. At this point it would be a good idea to set your diaphragm screw adjustment (see Bentley 5-2 in the Automatic Stick Shift section)
Hi Mike,
thanks also for that information. I have pulled the clutch and gearbox apart during My restoration of My 1968 Auto Bug but apart from painting everything all different colors, I haven't pulled the control valve apart. I have bought 7 books on VW Beetles to gain as much information on the Autostick transmission as I can. As far as I can See, the clutch should last for a long long time, ao long as it is adjusted correctly. I hope to have My car on the road by the end of July... I pulled it apart and reassembled the transmission and engine and had the engine running... but that was 6 years ago, and because of health reasons I couldn't work on it until the past few months. I have renewed just about everything even though they didn't need replacing but after 35 years things do need to be renewed. I hope to have the engine going again in a week or two, I am still working on the body as My Son will be painting it very soon so as I can complete the interior. Its great to have this forum.. Most stickshifts were sold in Australia in 1968 and most have been made into manuals...