Sportomatic gears sticking

[911james]

I have a 1976 Sportomatic which has a problem when cold.
The car starts and goes into gear fine but won't goout of gear to go into neutral, if I turn the engine off and put the car into neutral then I can restart the car and put it into another gear.
This only happens when it is cold, if I leave the car running for 5 minutes or so it will be fine. I have changed the trans oil and the reverse switch.

[72_sporto]

This usually happens when the clutch isn't being pulled in fully. Probably being caused by a small tear in the servo diaphragm but it may also be the gear stick switch, possibly a lack of signal to your control valve solenoid or even bad adjustment of the clutch clevis. Have you checked the vacuum pressure?

[911james]

I haven't checked the vacuum pressure as I don't have a gauge. I have changed the micro switch on the gearstick. I as thinking it might be the solenoid. Is there anyone who can service the control valve and the servo in the UK?

[93nav]

Originally Posted by 911james

I haven't checked the vacuum pressure as I don't have a gauge. I have changed the micro switch on the gearstick. I as thinking it might be the solenoid. Is there anyone who can service the control valve and the servo in the UK?

If you need to replace the diaphragm, members arqueteck and 72_sporto have sold new ones they make or had made.

arqueteck2117 on youtube has several interesting videos.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[Schulisco]

Guess it's a vacuum leak or a misconfigured control valve. In the german PFF forum (https://www.pff.de/thread/2764442-sportomatic-probleme/#) we used to have a similar issue: The clutch wont engage any more after dring a few miles.
The 911 sportomatic is quite similar to the half automatic transmission of VW Beetles. VW provides in the meantime the workshop manuals online for free:
https://www.volkswagen-classic-parts.com/de_de/service/reparaturleitfaeden/rlf-volkswagen-kaefer-cabrio-1985.html

Don't know if the page is also available in English with your browser settings. I get a list of PDFs, also one for the automatic transmission. Pdfs can easily translated with Google Translator.

Also find here more info about the Sportomatic: Das Sportomatic-Register /// Sportomatic.net - Die Sportomatic

At least - the Haynes (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1850106983 ) contains a separate chapter including an issue table for the Sportomatic.

Thomas