Type 1 shifting from 1-2 causes engine to die, N to R works also

[ElSlabo]

Long story but had to pull/reinstall the motor on my 68 type one due to a suicidal accel pump downtube. The "tranny" mounts were melted to nothing. So replaced those before putting the motor back in. Also put new boots on the axels, drained/filled the transaxel fluid, which was about 1/2 full. As well as freshening up the engine.
Now when I try to shift out of 1st into 2nd the engine bogs/dies. Starting in N and shifting into 1st works, the 1-2 shift causes it to bog/die immediately. Neutral to R also works. Don't hear any grinding. It feels like it gates into all the gears with the motor off. Limped it home and decided to look into it deeper.

I don't think the clutch cable freeplay changed much since the pedal felt the same before/after. I tried going tighter/looser with the nut and the pedal response changed accordingly.

Now as far as it running properly before the swap I'm not sure. I know it shifted through all the gears while driving. I'm in the process of resurrecting it. So the previous tests were with the transaxle almost empty, the firing order out and only running on 2 cyl, timing set static with a testlight, carb had a rubber plug instead of an air meter, 4 flat spotted tires that rode like they were square shaped.... Fixing the crimes as I come across them. Now that it's all back together and working "properly" I'm not sure what's wrong. I made the cardinal mistake of changing more than one thing at a time. But since it was all apart and accessible I took advantage.

I live in a suburban area and my neighbor's aren't too hot on me taking test rippers up and down the street all day tuning,esp with the new exhaust. So I'm hoping to get some insight as to where to look next.
My thinking is the engine runs, so it has to be between the flywheel and the tranny. The pressure plate/throw out/flywheel/clutch all looked in good shape, and since it ran ok before I didnt see the need to replace OE german stuff with potentially inferior replacements.

The rear main leaked into the bellhousing so there was a good amount of sludge in there. Maybe it was slipping before and after cleaning it grabs harder/faster now? The clutch was springless, so I know those are supposed to be a little more aggresive on takeoff. I just didn't want to rev it up higher and dump the clutch just to hear a crack. Am I just being overly cautious and should go back out and give it some RPMS from the 1-2? The N to 1 engagement/disengagement is buttery smooth, then I get to 2nd gear speed and go to shift, it falls on it's face.

Could I be missing 2nd and hitting reverse? It's a kit car so taking the shifter plate off to inspect the bushing would require cutting into the 40+ y/o carpet that the PO glued on. So I'm trying to avoid that until it's absolutely needed.

Should I try starting in N to 2nd and seeing what happens?

I've been wrenching for decades, so I'm pretty mechanically inclined, but I've come to learn these old VW's are a special breed. Trying not to make a simple mistake because of my ego.

[Jason37]

Kinda sounds like it might be going into fourth from first.

[nextgen]

Sounds like what Jason said. Try this if you an get up to speed, like if you can get it up on top of a hill . Start in 1st and see how it is in 3 and 4th. Also see if it will start in 2 nd.

That will narrow it down to 2 nd and possibly , what we are not talking about, a 2 nd gear internal tranny problem
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[EVfun]

If you are sitting in the driveway with the clutch pedal held down does it still die when you shift into 2nd and reverse? If so you most likely have a problem with the reverse light wiring and a problem with the shifter adjustment (if not in good shape and adjusted right it can hit reverse when you go for second.)
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[busdaddy]

You'll know it if it's hitting reverse while rolling, the grinding will be deafening. You should be able to start out in second from a standstill easily with some careful clutching, but starting out in 4th is almost impossible, if your's acts like that it's time to adjust the shifter.
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[nextgen]

Evfun may have it with the wiring the reverse wire goes to the coil.. If there is an issue with it, a short may occur ?


Simple to try, just remove the wire that goes to the reverse lights from the coil.

Then try to go into 2nd. I is a long shot. These cars are old and I have had to go around to check all my grounds and wires after smoke came out of my dash.

A wire with the Stakon connector got loose and grounded out. The wire acted like a fuse and melted.

If I did not open the hood fast enough I would not have seen the smoke and still be searching for the cause.
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[ElSlabo]

Thanks for all the suggestions!


The first thing I did was go through all the contacts/terminals/grounds/fuses and clean them, even deoxit'ed the switches. It's a fiberglass kit car, with no reverse lights, so unfortunately that couldn't be it either.

I live in Florida, the only hills we have are the trash dumps. lol So that test is out as well.

I put it on stands and ran through the gears. I can shift N-1-2-3-4, back into N and into R. It seems there's a shake in second. In each gear I gave it around 2,000RPMs and in 2nd there was a noticeable shake. But it seemed to be only in 2nd. The shifts all felt smooth, no grinding. I marked the flywheel when I took it off, but then cleaned the dang mark off removing my fingerprints before installation. Would an imbalanced flywheel only show in one gear though?

Tires are BRAND new, put on 2 days ago. Mounted/balanced on a machine. They didn't mention any issues when I picked them up.

I figured the 1-R would be a money shift and much more violent.

Am I hunting down a 2nd gear vibration now, or could that just be the mass of the tires on the hanging suspension? With no load on the trans is my test useless, or did I rule out internal issues like synchros/gears? Could I just be overly cautious and I'm just not giving it enough gas to get into gear?


Is there a way to see what gear the trans is in from the outside? Like the lever on a TH350. To confirm my shifter is true and not hitting 1-4?