Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:06:18 -0700
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Fuel Gauge Behavior Changed
In-Reply-To: <26431460.2364.1256079726099.JavaMail.mcneely4@127.0.0.1>
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Lemme clear that up for you, Mr Dave..
My gauge in the 84 is in it's analog clock face. I have a tach to install
that has a totally different style gas gauge which is down on the bottom of
the tach with the water gauge...Different set of markings (more lines) on
that fuel gauge and I won't talk about that anymore since I haven't tried it
in the van.
The one in my 84 has just 3 white lines on the gas gauge. A chubby one
right under the "F"..then about halfway across the sweep (the white lines
are all connected, underneath, with a slim white line 'arc' that follows
the sweep of the indicator needle) of the needle there is the second chubby
white line...then another skinny white line and beyond that is the red
'swatch'.
So I was thinking , wrongly (is that a word?) it turns out, that "Full is
obviously the fat line under the "F" mark at one end of the needle's sweep.
About half way to the red is the second... fat ..line, that must be "1/2
tank". And halfway from there to the start of the red is another skinnier
line, that must mean "1/4 tank". and the start of the red, that must mean
"Reserve" The lower end of red, end of fuel..." but someone told me to
read it properly I should consider the beginning of the red as 1/4 tank to
go.
Now, as confirmed by my known average fuel consumption of 23 (+/-) mpg it
works out exactly right if I read the gauge as I was told it should be
read..."first line from full is 1/4 gone or 3/4 full. That is the chubby
line) Next line, in line, as the needle sweeps past, is the last white
line, a skinny one and that signifies 1/2 tank..full/empty..The next marking
is the start of the red and that notes 1/4 tank remaining.. or about 75
miles of fuel left, with a healthy amount extra for reserve...
If indeed the tank holds 16.1 gals and I was to get my all time high MPG
of 27.1 mpg I'd be leaving myself 135 miles of range on the Red reserve (if
that red zone were actually "reserve" which I no longer think of it as.. )
..at my nominal 23mpg I am still leaving 70 extra miles in case of weird
headwinds, a soft tire, one spark plug missing or if I leave my stupid
ineffective hand brake on and drive through a full tank of fuel before I
spot the hidden red light over behind my steering wheel or smell burning
brakes...
I figure "100 miles to go, but really and maybe literally pushing it" as
a bottom line when I hit the red zone on my gauge..
And Neil, I'll soon have two extra analog vanagon dash clocks with temp
and fuel gauges..You can have a clock...works like crap with cold temps and
ticks too loud on very quite remote camp nights...
Don Hanson
On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 4:02 PM, Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote:
> Guess I should have looked at my gauge. I did now. There are only
> full, what I would have called 1/2, 1/4, and perhaps 1/8. But now I
> think these must mean 3/5, 2/5, and 1/5 as someone else said earlier.
> Oh, well. On mine, the tank is empty when the second mark down is
> reached (the one I now think means 2/5), but that is because the tank is
> bent. Dave Mc
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 4:07 PM, Dave Mcneely wrote:
>
> Well, one thing I don't understanding about the " 'splainin' ," is
>> that
>> 3/4 gone and 1/4 left should be exactly the same thing. Now why, why,
>> why would there be a mark for 3/4 gone and a diferent one for 1/4
>> left?
>> Just wonderin'.
>>
>> Dave Mc
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 3:01 PM, David Beierl wrote:
>>
>> At 02:58 PM 10/20/2009, Don Hanson wrote:
>>>
>>>> The way it was 'splained to me, and this works for my 84...the first
>>>> mark is 1/4 tank gone, the second is 1/2 The third is 3/4 and the
>>>> top of the red zone is 1/4 tank left. It's not "Reserve" but it's
>>>> what is considered to be the end of the 'safe' fuel capacity zone
>>>> from a German Engineer's point of veiw.
>>>>
>>>
>>> The owner's manual is clear that "top of the red" means about 10
>>> liters (2.64 US Gal, 2.2 Imp Gal) remain. If your isn't doing that
>>> then either gauge is misadjusted or sender (or tank) is bad.
>>>
>>> The spacing on the gauge face and the relative size of the lines has
>>>> nothing to do with anything that I can see..At first, since the
>>>> first line is about halfway across the dial and is twice as big as
>>>> the other white marks, I just thought automatically it was
>>>> 'half-full'.
>>>>
>>>
>>> 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
>>>
>>> And I thought the last white line was quarter full, leaving the
>>>> Red to mean "reserve"...but someone set me straight...
>>>>
>>>
>>> If you consider that "quarter-full" *includes* the reserve, should
>>> come out somewhere near right.
>>>
>>> I think your source is confused, likely by a bad gauge/sender
>>> combination.
>>>
>>> Yrs,
>>> David
>>>
>>
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