Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all,
Am new to the site and the camping scene (so be patient if questions seem naive )
Anyway am based in ireland and posted this on another form there but was recommended to come to you guys.
Basically we bought a 1990 reg westie van last week and were delighted with the purchase. We were told initially that there was no LPG in the van as when we the commissioned seller (doing it on behalf of a friend) tried to test the cooker etc it wasnt working. He checked the gauge underneath which appeared empty and he informed us of that. When we got back we went to the local garage the the attendant could only get a couple of litres in and he told us it wouldnt take anymore yet we were under impression it was empty.
Anyway today we were getting ready to take it out on the road today when we got a strong smell of gas. We opened the plastic cover underneath and the pressure valve had blown off its red cap. Gas engineer told us the van was probably very overfilled.
This has caused us problems as it appears the lpg gauge is broken as it read as empty when it was already full. Worryingly also is the fact and excuse my ignorance on this but are westies meant to have a mechanism that stops you filling beyond 80% of tank capacity?
To make a long story short im wondering are replacement gauges hard to source and get fitted? (in ireland!) Is it possible to fix the tank so it doesnt let us fill beyond the 80% of capacity and someone also informed me that with some campers once the pressure release valve is activated that too might need to be replaced but he was fairly sure that was for older models and not the 1990 model? Many thanks for any advice!

Well hello there and welcome! (that didn't take you long )

Might be worth claryfing that you are talking about the Westy gas tank for cooking and heating ...the underslung variety.

Many folks here are running their vans on LPG and have separate (and different) tanks for that.

The magnetic/mechanical gauge/mechanism often fails as there is an inherant weakness in the design.

A quick explaination as to how it works: Firstly....the gauge simply operates on magnetic attraction and is no way physically connected to the internal mechanism, it is removed from the tank by simply unscrewing a number of small philips head screws.

'THE BUSINESS END of the mecanisn lyes behind the 4 allen screws and is a simple brass gear shaft and pinion which move a magnet, this is attached to a support arm and alluminium float. As the float rises with the level of liquid gas in the tank it moves the pinion and gear/shaft which alters the position of the magnet in relation to the gauge (the other side of the tank)
Now to the design flaw.....as an engineering type, when I stripped mine I admired the design and construction of this mechanism, it is a thing of beauty! and as such, I was amazed to find that the support arm (a piece of rod) is threaded and screws directly into the alluminium float (the flaw!) The pressurized gas 'over time' leaks past the threads filling the float! how stupid is that!
Now I'm a person who has stripped loads of devices using floats...and they have pretty much always had a bracket/pivot brazed neatly on to them with no chance of interfering with the integrity of the float itself.
Anyway I'm rabbitting on.....the repair.... AFTER YOU HAVE SUCESSFULLY BURNT OFF ALL THE GAS SAFELY, is to remove the gauge, then mechanism, unscrew the float, drain out any residual gas (it should just vapourize away) then refit using 'GAS GRADE' PTFE tape on the threads of the float support arm.
Refit, reseal, refill etc etc...the gauge will then work correctly.

And yes! you can get a heavy gas smell if you overfill (force LPG several times into the tank)
Martin

Thanks a lot Martin for your advice, to be honest im not one of the most mechanically minded people so reckon il get someone else to do the job you described . Thanks for the welcome Peasant, hopefully with your advice and this site il manage to avoid been in any gas explosion related newspaper headlines!