1991 VW Golf 1.8 liter gas (not diesel)...starting issues...

[PatrickSkinnider]

Hello,
I have done something not too smart. I was driving my vehicle and was in third gear and accelerated hard, then switched to what I thought was fourth, but was in fact second. The car revved extremely high and then quit. I coasted for a couple blocks all the while having the car in neutral turning the key...it would turn over, but not fire up. It almost sounds like it wants to run, but can't. I don't know if I offset the timing, or damaged a sensor, or even if I blew a fuse. What should I look for, the car always ran beautifully before, and was always very very dependable. I am so mad at myself for damaging this great car. Please help as I like my VW.

Patrick

[PatrickSkinnider]

So I must have done something within the tranny, made some neutral switch behave funny. Here is how i solved the problem. I put the golf into first gear. I turned the key, forcing the golf to jump forward. Then I put the car in neutral, turned the key, and it fired right up.

So does anyone know what I did that I had to fix it this way? Does anyone know if there is some neutral safety switch or anything like that that prevented the motor to run until I advanced it? Still curious as to how I managed to do this? Any replies would be greatly appreciated.

Patrick