Date:         Thu, 21 Mar 1996 11:32:11 +0000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Harry Yates" <hyates@bcit.bc.ca>
Subject:      Re: 88 Westy Water Tank gauge

Hi Shawn.  I can help you a bit with this one :)  

First off, regarding the gauge.  If it's reading full all the time 
regarding of float positon the only option is a float replacement... 
about $160.  Might want to try Euro-American in the STates as they 
were the oem for this stuff.  If you need numbers, etc, I can post 
them later, or you can retrieve from the archives.  My friend's '88 
did this float thing as well.... a new float fixed the problem.  The 
wires were broken INSIDE the plastic tube.

I wash out my watertank every year with baking soda.  Remove the cap 
and go at 'er!  I can scrub the entire tank by hand, even the top of 
it.  Now, you can't scrub the lines, so go to an RV shop and buy a 4 
litre jug of baking soda wash to rinse through the lines/pump... or 
make up your own.  Baking soda is the best IMHO... it's your drinking 
water, so be careful as to what you use.  I've had excellent results 
with this method.  Our van is parked during the week, and I leave the 
water tank drain cap off when not in use.  This cuts down on the 
"growth"  of things in there.  Naturally, you have to put the cap on 
if you use the van.

Hope this helps.
Harry.

> My water tank gauge always reads full, so I removed the sender last 
> night. The plastic magnet thingy seems to slide fine & moving it with 
> wires attached has no effect on the gauge. Anyone tried to fix one of 
> these before?
> 
> Also, at 322K, the tank is pretty grungy - I was thinking of running 
> bleach through it to clean the tank and lines (some show mildew 
> inside... yuck) then rinse well & do a final rinse with some baking 
> soda. Any problems with this, or better solutions?
> 
> *--------------------------------*
> | Shawn Wright, Network Manager  |
> | St. Michaels University School |
> | 3400 Richmond Rd, Victoria, BC |
> | Canada                 V8P 4P5 |
> | (604) 592-2411 Fax: 592-2812   |
> | swright@smus.bc.ca             |
> *--------------------------------*
> I haven't lost my mind;  I'm sure it's backed up on tape somewhere!
> 
> 
----------------------------------------------------------
Burnaby, British Columbia CANADA
'90 Syncro Westfalia  email: hyates@bcit.bc.ca
'87 Golf Diesel       WWW:   http://www.bcit.bc.ca/~hyates