Date:         Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:44:12 +0000
Reply-To:     J Stewart <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         J Stewart <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Fuel/Temp Gauge Problem

Hey Folks,
      I've had this issue ever since I got my '84 running again, almost two years ago now. The temp gauge stays right at the top of the "warm up" section of the gauge. It will go higher if a sit in traffic, but it has never gone above the LED. When it gets close to the LED the fan will kick on. The fuel gauge is also erratic, it will register full right after a fill up, then usually within 20-25 miles will start moving around, sinking as low as 1/4 tank, then swing back up to full. On occasion, the temp gauge will just go "dead" dropping all the way down, and when it does the fuel gauge does the same. Early on in trying to troubleshoot this, I swapped out the voltage stabilizer with two different used ones then a new one-same symptoms with all three. I then cleaned up the ground cluster under the dash-still no luck. I then dicovered a diode on the instrument cluster foil that was rusted and corroded. Found a used instrument cluster and changed out the foil and the gauge/clock porti
on-still the same damn problem. Most recently, just for "S&G's", I changed the temp sending unit, didn't do anything. The fact that both just go "dead" tells me an electrical connection somehwere is going open. The connector to the back of the instrument cluster is clean and in good shape. Since I bought this Westy with a seized engine, I don't know if the problem existed before I bought it. Any ideas?      Thanks,  Jeff