Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2000 11:29:47 -0700
Reply-To: Tobin Copley <tobin.copley@UBC.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tobin Copley <tobin.copley@UBC.CA>
Subject: Running Empty 2: outta fuel @ 55 litres???
In-Reply-To: <22.4ac5cb6.262f9a57@aol.com>
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Strange thing happened to me the other day:
I replaced the fuel tank and fuel gauge sender in my 1982 diesel
westy a couple of weeks ago. Filled with diesel then drove around
happily for the next week or so.
Coming home the other night, just after completing a 270 degree
right-hand turn on an exit clover leaf, the bus just quit. Run out
of fuel. I'd gone 370 miles on the tank of fuel so far--which I
figured was pretty good (mix of highway / city driving)--but the fuel
gauge needle was *just* getting into the red at that point and I had
figured I'd just fill up again when I got home to the island where I
live, which was another 15 miles or so from where I "ran out" of fuel.
Two funny things related to this:
1) I had the bus towed directly to a gas station (did not add any
fuel from a jerry can), and the tank took only 55 litres of fuel--and
that was squeezing it in and topping off. For you folks who don't
think in metric, the rated capacity for the Vanagon tank is 60
litres, and like I said, it's a brand-spankin' new tank, so I hadn't
had a chance to dent it off-road yet.
2) About 20 miles driving distance earlier, when Christa was driving
it to pick me up, she had the engine cut out a bit and sputter (but
not die completely) just after completing a 90 degree right-hand turn
highway exit ramp.
3) (I know I said two, but I get a freebie...). Christa had run the
tank *really* low a month or so earlier (pre-tank replacement), and
she had put in 63.5 litres in one fill. (!).
So: what gives?
1) Initially I thought my sender wasn't calibrated correctly, and it
only read "just into the red' when it should have been, like, below
the red.
2) But I only fit 55 litres into the tank on refill, suggesting I
still had *at least* 5 litres, possibly 8 litres or more left in the
tank. (That's 1 - 2 gallons for the metrically-challenged). So
maybe the sender was right after all.
3) My tank is an aftermarket tank from California Imports here in BC,
and perhaps it's just made with a smaller capacity? But the fit into
the bus was so good, and the original and replacement tanks *looked*
very very close--like identical--so I'm not leaning that way. Also,
I called CaliImports and talked to them afterwards and they told me
(of course, I know...) that they've sold a bajillion of the things
and haven't come across a complaint of lower-than-factory capacity
before. So I don't know.
4) Here's my best guess: Inspection of the old (original VW?) tank
and the new (aftermarket) tank reveals that the old tank had baffles
installed inside, I assume to keep fuel from sloshing too much from
side to side. The new tank does not have any baffles visible.
My hypothesis:
I'm guessing that when the tank is getting low, and during pronounced
right-hand corners of more than a few seconds duration, enough fuel
sloshed to the left side of the tank to starve the fuel pick-up line
(located on the right side) of fuel. Earlier in the day, Christa's
90 degree turn had deprived the engine of engine fuel to make it
sputter until it got more fuel. Later, my 270 degree turn was long
enough (and the tank was that much lower by then) that the motor lost
fuel supply completely and just up and quit. I'm betting I still had
5 or 8 litres of fuel in there, but around that corner, my fuel pump
couldn't get to it. Maybe if I'd tried to crank it, it may have
started, but I didn't get a chance to test that. (I was able to
coast to a safe place, we have auto service coverage, I had Christa
and both kids with me, and the middle and rear of the bus was filled
with a half cord of wood, so I didn't want to have to do anything
that might mean I'd have to unload the bus the get to tools and the
engine compartment.)
So the point of this post is:
Has anyone experienced anything like this before? Does the
hypothesis about baffles, sloshing fuel, and "inaccurate" senders
make sense?
I think I'm just gonna live with this, since I don't feel like
pulling the tank again and likely paying even more money for a
baffled tank--if I can even find one.
T.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tobin Copley Bowen Island, BC, Canada tobin.copley@ubc.ca
'82 westy 1.6L NA diesel ("Stinky")
'97 son Russell =============
'99 daughter Margaret /_| |__| |__|:| clatter
1995: 'Round US, Mexico, Canada 15,000 mi O|. .| clatter!
1996: Vancouver to Inuvik, NWT 7,400 km ~-()-==----()-~
Previous buses: '76 westy deluxe (Daisy), '76 westy standard (Mango)
http://www.sfu.ca/~tcopley/vw/
