Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:40:58 -0600
Reply-To: Tom Buese <tombuese@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tom Buese <tombuese@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Re: Fuel Gauge Behavior Changed
In-Reply-To: <4ADE2B09.6080505@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
Hmmm,
I have an 84 also, but have the tach changed out for the clock. It
seems that my mileage is the same w/ the tach gauge as w/ the old
clock gauge that I ran for years. That said, the assumed 3/4 mark
which in my paradigm is now 4/5's of the tank full, is a leap of faith
now that I look at the gauges shown.
All I know is that I can run in the red forever & have only run out of
gas 6-8 times in this vanagon!
YMMV,
Mr. BZ-running on empty
On Oct 20, 2009, at 3:26 PM, Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
> My gauge looks like Mike S's rightmost example in his just-now-posted
> link. My 84 does this: 90 miles to the first mark -- the chubby mark
> which, due to its relative prominence, appears to the untrained eye
> (mine)
> to be the halfway mark. I get about 240 miles to a tank (ish), so that
> mark refers to a 5/8th's full tank, for me.
>
> Interestingly, the chubby line is at about the 5/8th position. And
> midway
> between the beginning of the red "reserve" area, and the full mark.
> So the
> chubby line means halfway-full. Halfway, that is, between full and the
> start of the reserve range.
>
> And David Beierl said,
>
> >> ... Do
> >> you really think that der Volks at VDO would put significant-
> looking
> >> marks on the gauge for no reason?
>
> I trust no one. I would not put it past them to do something weird.
> Just
> to mess with my head, man.
>
> I'm still trying to suss what the single safety orange dot on the 20
> mph
> tick on the speedometer signifies, what the two safety orange dots
> on the
> 40 mph tick signify, and what the three safety orange dots on the 65
> mph
> tick mean. They can't be shift points? Besides, this is an auto tranny
> version, so the dots are meaningless.
>
> So if they decided to print such puzzling marks on the speedo, I
> would not
> put it past them to place arbitrary marks on a fuel gauge face.
>
> NOTE: change subject line if you feel like following up on the five
> safety
> orange dots on the speedo face thing. We could be in Big Trouble,
> otherwise.
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
> Bend, OR
> KG6RCR
>
>
>
> On 10/20/2009 1:37 PM Mike S wrote:
>
>> At 04:01 PM 10/20/2009, David Beierl wrote...
>>
>>> Half-full is how the gauge has behaved on both my '84 and '89. Do
>>> you really think that der Volks at VDO would put significant-looking
>>> marks on the gauge for no reason? We're more used to them putting
>>> on
>>> tiny insignificant-looking marks that are intensely meaningful
>>
>> My '81 (both sender and gauge were tested/calibrated according to
>> Bentley when I replaced the tank) hits the first mark at about 75-80
>> miles (I get 19-20 MPG), and the second at about double that. Note
>> that
>> all the marks are the same length, _except_ the second one which is
>> shorter. That's all consistent with the smaller mark being 1/2 tank.
>> The gauge is non-linear, it drops much faster near full.
>>
>> Perhaps they changed the sender on later years so it reads more
>> linearly.
>>
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