Date:         Tue, 27 Sep 1994 10:50:11 EDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         cchubb@ida.org (Chris Chubb)
Subject:      Re:fuel guage question

/Here's a quick question. Why does my fuel guage look funny. It doesn't go
/to scale. Or does it?
/
/                |   |            |                              |
/                R               1/2                            1/1
/
/It would seem to me that half way doesn't look half way.

It is not. The wiper arm that rides in the tank is a linear wiper, but
the tank sides are not parallel, causing more gas to be at the bottom half
than in the top half. (half measured by height, not volume)

This is just another example of honesty from VW. Other car manufacturers
put the importance of the evenness of the markings above the accuracy
of the gauge. (SOme expensive cars will use a non-linear resistor,
but these are expensive, and only work with one type of tank.)

1/2 way is 1/2 way. Be glad it is accurate.


--- Chris Chubb (cchubb@ida.org)
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