Take a good look at the bottom of the tank. It is common for the bottom to be pushed up by folks using the tank or straps to lift the van. They miss-take those straps as frame members. Also, I have seen a defective vapor control system cause the tank to go under vacuum and be sucked in. This happens real easy on the aftermarket replacements. Dennis
-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Steve Williams Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2009 11:29 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Fuel Gauge Behavior Changed I ran my '84 Westy out of gas today, thank goodness within walking distance of a gas station. I knew the fuel was low, but the gauge was still well above the red band, and I've driven more miles on a tank. I was running errands and decided to complete just one more task before filling up. I put 16.1 gallons into the 16-gallon tank. The van got 19.0 mpg on this tank, so that's pretty normal. The question is: Why didn't the gauge dip into the red, as it always has before? A clue: The gauge didn't budge when I poured a 2-gallon gas can into the tank. When the engine died, I was sure it was because I had depleted the battery. I'm the guy that keeps posting to the list about the low voltage from my alternator. But that wasn't the problem this time. |
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