I've recently bought a 1500 Beetle because I was going through DAKDAK withdrawals and I got bored with my 'relatively' modern daily driver.

On take off and into second and third gear the clutch judders. It takes great care with the clutch pedal to stop this. Why? What can I do to prevent this?

When the engine is turned off after a few miles of driving it runs on a bit. Why? It must be a timing problem. I've timed it according to the Idiot's Manual. Is it too far advanced or retarded?

It jumps out of top gear on run on. I've set up an occy strap to hold it in gear. Is this good for the gearbox? I've heard that doing that will finish the gearbox off in a short time. Will I be able to get a few months more out of the gearbox?

sounds to me like a broken front and/or rear gearbox mounts: there is one mount under the nose of teh gearbox and two more little ones under the bellhousing of the gearbox. Borken, they cause shudder.

The engine run-on is a diffeent matter

Firstly...
The engine cannot run on if the electromagnetic fuel cutoff valve if working...
its located on the carburetor... sticks out and has a wire connected to it... SOLEX - BROCAR - carbies..
it switches off with the ignition cutting off the fuel...

unscrew it and see if the needle valve has been cut off..
if they stop working electrically, people cut the needle off so fuel runs all the time... it just needs replacing..

the engine/gearbox mounts are usually the problem...
there are some crappy ones about that last about a year..
but even original ones soon split when covered with engine oil..

the engine needs to be taken out to replace those...

I've been trying to invent a system that no longer needs the engine to be taken out to replace those..
as replacing those two inexpensive parts takes a lot of time to do with a semi auto beetle...

cheers

LEE

Glenns on the money, check the front tranny mount
well check them all but front one is likely suspect

Lee, if the timings to far advanced they will run on regardless of the shutoff solenoid working

and ill bet john muirs instructions on setting the timing arent brilliant

shaihulud is it still running a stock vac advance or a 009?

have a look at the pre bend in the bowden cable,this causes most clutch shudders,then engine mountings,oil on the clutch plate. Eliminate one at a time.The run on is most likely a high idle speed,air leak or low octane fuel.

and lets not forget timing

Im with grumble, probably be insufficent bend in bowden tube should be about 20deg, will cause dramatic shudder!!.

I adjusted the clutch cable and I've come close to eliminating the judder problem. There is a good bend in the clutch cable Bowden cable tube, so I don't think that's the problem there. That seems to be now sort of fixed.

The gear box mounts look OK. I'll check the engine mounts.

I think the run on was that most of the valves were without any clearance at all. I adjusted the valves and the problem has gone. I think I had very hot exhaust valves which were in the process of burning out, that caused run on ignition.

I'll check the fuel cut off valve in the morning.

I have a vacuum advance type distributor.

I've replaced all of the rubber fuel lines. Most were about to fail. The one under the tank was fabric covered, so it was probably orignal. When I clamped it with a vice grip it disintegrated.

Today I drove the car at good speeds to York and back (about 150km) and it ran well.

Maybe I've fixed most of the problems. Thanks for your feed back. It was very helpful.

thanks for the update as most people don't let people know how it turns out,there would be a libary of know knowhow on this forum