Date:         Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:26:33 -0700
Reply-To:     Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Fuel Gauge Behavior Changed
In-Reply-To:  <20091020203845.15AE51165C2@hamburg.alientech.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

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.
>