Faulty Fuel Gauge... and just BACK from the garage!

[Helga]

My lovely 2 litre 82 air cooled van has been in the garage for three weeks getting various odds and bobs done, finally picked her up today and now the fuel gauge isn't working... wouldn't mind but the speedo doesn't actually clock up miles, so can't judge when she will need re-filling!

Where do I start fault finding? Does the sender have a fuse I can check? I did take the instrument panel off... but everything looks ok... got a little confused over wires...

Should I take it in to the garage again? Or should I get a tom-tom and just keep an eye on miles driven?

Thanks!

[kevtherev]

Where do I start fault finding? Does the sender have a fuse I can check? I did take the instrument panel off... but everything looks ok... got a little confused over wires...



Thanks!

clean up the conection at the tank
and re-check

bad earth.. take a look at the front crossmember the sender earths there

[Helga]

Can you get to the sender without removing the petrol tank? The cross member... is that the 'beam' across the bottom of the vehicle between the tank and the fron wheels?

Thanks!!

[kevtherev]

Can you get to the sender without removing the petrol tank? The cross member... is that the 'beam' across the bottom of the vehicle between the tank and the fron wheels?

Thanks!!

Have you got a haynes?

yes it's the beam across the van... at the front, by the tank
follow the wire from the sender to the earth point

[Helga]

Yes, I have got the Haynes manual - but it says you need to drop the tank, as it says the sender is on the top out of reach!


I find the Haynes manual a little 'off' with some of its descriptions.

[kevtherev]

OK
The tank may have to be dropped enough to get your hands in, I'm not sure.

On the guage itself, the lilac and black wire goes from the guage, to the sender.
if you earth the guage it should read full. then you can eliminate that

[Helga]

Just looked at that and that also says the tank needs to be lowered to get at the sender unit... or is that only to 'remove' it?

I wish is was still light...

[VWCamperfan]

Check connection behind dashboard. Take off cover and the connection is a long thin plug on the right hand side running vertical behind the fuel guage and or clock etc.
Make sure it is pushed fully home ie. towards the rear of the van.
Having a wiggle with it when the ignition is on may help as well as you can see if it springs (or crawls!) into life.

[VWCamperfan]

You will have to lower the tank to get to the sender. I put my tank back on and forgot to connect the sender wires... Down it all came again!

[kevtherev]

Check connection behind dashboard. Take off cover and the connection is a long thin plug on the right hand side running vertical behind the fuel guage and or clock etc.
Make sure it is pushed fully home ie. towards the rear of the van.
Having a wiggle with it when the ignition is on may help as well as you can see if it springs (or crawls!) into life.

yes, pin No 7 of 14 lilac/black

[Helga]

Ok, so pin no 7...

Lilac... and black

I'll check that now...

I don't know how to earth it to check though? I'll go and have a fiddle about...

[Helga]

Typical... my 7th wire appears to be a red one... so I tried that... the cluster lights don't work now... ha ha... at least I know what that one is for anyway!! There is a lilac and black one next to it... but the conection seems fine, think I'll leave it till tomorrow now before anymore messing - and then Ill crawl under and check out that earth wire.

[Helga]

Well, checked lilac wire - seems ok... had a general fiddle about checked all the areas I was given advice for, and, for a micro second, the needle flickered up... then down... God. I wonder, she had nearly run down on petrol and then I filled her completely up, I wonder if the sensor / float is stuck?

I'm going to leave it now I think until it goes into the garage for something else.

Anybody recomend a good sat nav to keep track of how far I have driven? I'll have to work out the petrol that way.