Club 80-90 Forums

hello all
I am the proud owner of my first camper - a 1979 t25 westfalia joker.
its brilliant and we love it.

there are a few little issues

the fuel gauge does not seem to work - the needle is not even visible - I put £30 of petrol in and the needle went backwards and forwards but has now gone again.??????? any ideas.

the other thing is that the clock (that tells the time) on the dash does not work - I have set it twice but it never stays the correct time???????? any ideas

the clock ( mileage clock ) doesn't work - the mileage just doesn't go up. yet the speedo seems to be fine.

any help would be very appreciated as we are a young family who want to enjoy the van but don't fancy running out of fuel with two kiddies with me

cheers in advance

Hi and welcome to club 80-90, where you can find all you need to know and lots you don't

Using a big font there

Re Fuel gauge, firstly does the temp gauge work ok, (as in sits in the middle of the gauge once fully warmed up) ? If it does then it is not the common fault of the dash voltage regulator failing. It could be a bad connection on the dash PCB (Printed Circuit Board) **see last paragraph below** or it could be a duff sender in the tank, or it could be a bad connection between the tank and gauge etc etc = A test meter and knowing how to use it is your friend here However, there is another common fault, there is a multi pin connector under the dash, up above you right knee (assuming RHD) (E D I T = I just noticed yours is a Westy, so LHD, but I am sure you can work it out) and this is known to give various bad connections. It is best accessed by removing the instrument cowl cover and looking down at the right hand side. Unplug it, carefully clean up the contacts, a nylon pan scourer used gently does it well, a smear of Vaseline, re-assemble and test.

Re the time clock, many of them don't work now (30 years old). Someone did post on here a while back about how to strip them and replace a couple of capacitors (delicate soldering job) but I cannot find it now (note to admin, if it got put in the wiki, and it should have been, I can't find it). Note to Bennetj = "wiki" is our knowledge base, accessed by clicking the wiki link at the top left of every page on here. Like the fuel gauge, it could just be a bad connection on the dash PCB, and again a test meter set to read volts would help locate that, as in is 12V going into the clock, and is the earth (-ve) connection for the clock at 0 Volts.

Re the mileometer, this too is a common fault. It is caused by a little tiny cog inside the speedo that starts slipping on it's shaft. It is a delicate job to strip the dash and the speedo, then to get at the cog. I used the tiniest drip of Loctite, dripped off a darning needle, on mine about 6 months ago and it is still working. I have a pic somewhere if I can find it.

All 3 of your issues involve exposing / removing the thin blue plastic "printed circuit board" that runs all over the instrument cluster. These are delicate and easily damaged by anything but the most careful handling when removing, so take care !