1970 vw beetle auto stick problem

[1971 vw van]

i have a 1970 vw auto stick, the problem is it will not shift properly. it will sometimes shift into gear one time, you take it out of this gear and it will not shift into another one, almost like the clutch quit working? i replaced the wire from the shifter, all the vacume lines the controle valve all brand new. has anyone had this problem? Any ideas how to fix this or what i could check? Any help would be great. Thank you.

[Marc]

If it's not an electrical problem or vacuum hose leak, it could be that the servo is faulty.

99% of control-circuit problems are due to a damaged wire at the shifter or contacts in need of dressing & adjustment, but an intermittent condition anywhere in the control wiring or in the power TO the solenoid might cause the same symptom...as might a faulty solenoid, but they're a pretty low-failure-rate item (and you've replaced that already).

You could rig a secondary control wire from the inline connection in the back seat area up to where you can ground it from the driver's seat - next time the clutch fails to disengage when you try to move the shifter, ground the wire to see if that does it. If so, you've isolated the problem to the front part of the circuit.

Another test you could do would be to let the car idle in gear against the handbrake/wheel chocks (even better, have a helper in the driver's seat with their foot on the brake and hand on the key)...touch a grounded wire to the control terminal of the solenoid; each time you make and break contact the clutch servo should respond, evidenced by the change in idle speed as load is released/applied to the engine. If it only releases once or twice, vacuum's being used up from the reservoir faster than the engine can restore it - time to check again for leaks (including the tank and servo).

There's a paragraph or two in the Bentley manual covering the shifter contacts. It doesn't go into any detail about how to clean them; if you're lucky it'll just be a sandpaper job, but I'd expect to need to reshape them with a file in the vise. If you take the shifter apart for service, be sure to clock it on reassembly so that the motion of the lever is fore-and-aft after the contacts are adjusted. The wire is of special extra-flexible construction (more/finer conductors than normal primary wire). Regular wire won't last long in this application, fortunately they give you several feet of it per car - just extend it at the rear if you come up short. Splices at the front are a no-no, better to take the contacts apart and solder pristine wire into the bottom one.

[1971 vw van]

Thank You For The Info I Will Start Working on The Car My Next Day Off, The New Wire I Ordered In Was Too Short So I spliced In Some Regular Wire, Could This Be The Problem? The Wire Was Like 4 Inches Too Short. Thanks Agin For The Help

[Marc]

Ideally you should use the original extra-flexible (gray insulation) wire for at least the first 6" or so from the lower contact in the shifter, with enough slack in it to allow it to flex freely when the shifter is moved...secure it to the base of the shifter with a wrap of electrical tape (like the factory did) so the "loop" can't get accidentally tugged out.
"Regular" primary wire will work for a while, but it's more likely to eventually break with use than the genuine stuff. No problem with using it for the rest of the run where it doesn't get flexed constantly.

[1971 vw van]

Thank you so much for your help so far. It took a while but It was the clutch servo, it had a mabe 1/4 inch rip in the rubber. Now the next problem I am having is when the car worms up the rear main seal leeks, i replaced the seal and it still leeks, Can the problem be the flex plate?

[1971 vw van]

I forgot to mention, when the bug is warmed up you can see it dripping. in 5 minutes you get the size of a 50 cent piece. when the car is cold no leaks?

[Marc]

Did you also renew the O-ring inside the nose of the flexplate? If it leaks, oil can escape along the dowel pins and come out the front side of the plate.

What did the crankshaft endplay measure? It's typically set to <.004" at the factory; if over ~.006" there's a good chance that the thrust bearing is loose in the case. That's not common with an AutoStick since it doesn't have to deal with the thrust loads imposed by stepping on the clutch in a 4-speed, but it's still a concern - if the bearing moves excessively the seal can't work well. You can measure this with the engine in place at the pulley end.

`70 engine case should be a B6. These aren't cast from an alloy quite as good as used in the `71-up cases, and they predate the "sunken-stud" mod on the LH upper head stud...this makes them more susceptible to cracking at the base of #3 cylinder, and leakage there can look just like a front seal problem.

If the case is a `68/`69 H5 or B5, those have the worst alloy ever used and are infamous for these problems (as well as pulled studs) but if yours is the "correct" B6 - or something newer - there's still hope that the problem is correctible without major surgery.

When you had the flexplate off, did you happen to notice if the steel cam plug was installed with its concave side out? That's correct for an AutoStick; on 4-speed engines it's installed with the flat side out. Reason is that the flexplate rides much closer to the plug than does a flywheel, so it takes only a small increase in crankshaft endplay before the flexplate can start wearing a groove through the plug if it's installed the wrong way.

[Marc]

... It took a while but It was the clutch servo, it had a maybe 1/4 inch rip in the rubber...

Were you able to source a new diaphragm? They're still available under P/N 113 142 055 (or 055RK).

Here's a sticky at the VW Automatic Register site which lists some parts sources: http://vwar.org/forum/index.php?topic=709.0

[1971 vw van]

thanks for the info, i was able to get the new diaphragm to replace the old one. now if i can just fix the oil leak the car will be back on the road. that will be a good thing. i will probably pull the motor tomorrow and replace the rear main seal again it didn't seem like i saw an o-ring in the flex plate, in fact i know it didn't have one i looked, didn't look like it took one either . no grove for one?

[Marc]

It's in there - all cranks & flywheels/flexplates since mid`66 have an O-ring rather than the metal or paper gasket used on earlier engines. With time & heat they harden & flatten out on the I.D., making them harder to see.

P/N is 311 105 295A; the "good" ones are graphite-impregnated to aid in sliding over the nose of the crank without tearing...if all you can find is a plain-rubber one, dress its surface with some lock cylinder graphite.

Inspect it for casting flash, particularly on the I.D. (a little on the O.D. is relatively benign but I'd still use a razor blade to trim off any excess).

[1971 vw van]

Thanks Again I Will Really Look tomorrow and try to Find it. I looked the last time but didn't know it would flatten out. the bentley manual didn't show it taking one so i stopped looking last time, that sounds like that is going to be my problem. this really helps me out a lot, thanks for your reply"s so quickly.

[1971 vw van]

Well i pulled the motor and replaced the o-ring, I think it must have ben petrified, it just came out in pices.
That did fix the problem. now the car is back on the road.
Thank you so much for your help.