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Wed Apr 16, 2014 8:46 pm

Hopped in the van this morning forgetting all about being low on gas.Should have gotten gas on the way home yesterday but figured I would put a couple gallons in from a gas can in the morning.Forgot all about it.Doesnt help that I put my wallet in front of the gas gauge .Its a Costanza thing.I realized halfway to town.I had to make a side trip to a friends to pick up something for work. As I slowed from highway speed to turn on his road I could hear what I'm guessing is the fuel pump cavitating.I've heard it before and it means Im walikng soon. I still had to drive up to my friends get the part back the highway.I was still seeing a wee bit of movement from the needle when changing grades and going around corners.Ok do that and back on the highway, easing into the pedal to get to speed,leaning forward as if it helps. Within a quarter mile the highway drops down a pretty steep grade crosses a creek and has a mile long hillclimb that would be a third gear climb for a stock vanagon.Heading down towards said creekbottom the van started lurching and pretty much died . Looking for the best place to pull over as I hit the bottom it started to pull again! I gave it some gas and it pulled, I figure no way I'm making it to the top but I'll take all I can get.3/4 of the way up the hill lurching lead to downshifting to third. Come on baby!Just as I crested the hill it died doing about 40.Could'nt believe I made it this far. Salvation is now 1/3 of a mile away. Gas station. Half that distance was downhill but not steep enough to gain speed then leveling off to flat. I'm now on the shoulder with my blinker on when I hit the flat section I might have been doing 25. I can't believe how far I've made it but I'm still moving, holy crap batman we might make it! I rolled into the gas station having to turn to the right to avoid an exiting car and the a hard hairpin left towards the pumps. Rolled to the pump with exactly enough momentum to line up the filler with the pump! I was grinning from ear to ear.

Wed Apr 16, 2014 9:10 pm

Wow, Newton's First Law won out against the VW laws of motion (When a Vanagon is in motion it does not necessarily mean that it will stay in motion) and Murphy's Law for a change!
My first bus ('57) had no gas gauge, just a higher and lower draw tube in the gas tank and a knob to change over between them. You'd want to keep track of your mileage since the last fillup so you could predict this, but when your engine started stumbling from starvation you'd pull the knob out and have access to the last gallon of gas in the bottom of the tank and you'd have about 20 miles to look for a gas station (some motorcycles work this way, too). This worked OK if you remembered to push that knob back in when you filled up...

Wed Apr 16, 2014 10:54 pm

comments like this are why I love this site... made me smile!

Wed Apr 16, 2014 11:54 pm

"Its a Costanza thing"
Awesome! Do you have hard candy in there?

Thu Apr 17, 2014 5:25 am

Kramer lives! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Thu Apr 17, 2014 7:33 am

I forgot that cramer episode! I got every bit of excitement of almost runnining out of gas without the big let down of walking, pushing or hitchhiking. I wish my wallet was too fat from money . Mostly too many business cards ,reciepts and a bony butt. I forgot too mention the syncro took 17.65 gallons of 18 to fillit up. So .35 gallons won't get you far.

Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:04 am

That would be Loki messing with you. It's just the kind of thing he does. :-)

Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:40 am

I wasn't so lucky. My needle was in the orange all the way over and I went by one exit thinking I could make it to the next (I was picky about what kind of gas I wanted--dumb!) and I ran out going up a hill. It's only happened to me that once... I really didn't understand what the orange ment in the gauge. Does it mean you have 1/4 tank when you first get in the orange? :roll:

Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:40 am

I wasn't so lucky. My needle was in the orange all the way over and I went by one exit thinking I could make it to the next (I was picky about what kind of gas I wanted--dumb!) and I ran out going up a hill. It's only happened to me that once... I really didn't understand what the orange ment in the gauge. Does it mean you have 1/4 tank when you first get in the orange? :roll:

Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:30 pm

Yeah it took a few times to figure out where in the orange zone mine runs out . Seems like its an eighth of a tank to me. I was wondering if the noise I hear is the pump cavitating . Do all vanagons do this or is this something related to the suby engine? Also is there a way to calibrate the gauge to line up with the empty line exactly?

Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:34 am

Careful running that low. The fuel pump can be damaged cavitating and die itself, requiring more than a borrowed fuel tank and some walking.

Fri Apr 18, 2014 3:33 am

My first real trip with my vanagon was a camping trip to Wisconsin but I decided to stop and see my son who worked near Wriggly Field on the near Northside of Chicago on the way.

So I am cruising up Lake Shore Drive (LSD) during rush hour thinking the fuel gauge was like a modern gauge and that empty doesn't really mean empty. I got schooled that morning when in a place where the traffic narrows to two lanes I ran out of gas!!!! You probably couldn't have picked a worse place to run out of fuel because there was NO where to pull over.

Fortunately, I had five gallons on the roof. So there I was in rush hour traffic with the patient Chicago drivers irritated at me pulling my gas can off the roof and trying to pour gas in my tank. A nice traffic control/rescue SUV pulled up behind me after a short time (they are cruising to help idiots like me) and asked if I could get it started. I told him "no problem" though I really had no idea what was going to happen.

I got enough gas in it to start and pulled ahead into a parking lot by a lakeside park and noticed the van was bucking and starving out. I was then introduced to the vanagon syndrome and it freaked me out the rest of the trip. In retrospect I wonder if I actually pulled tank rust into my little square plastic fuel filter and was just getting poor fuel flow. Anyway, I will NEVER forget that trip and it just makes me love my Westy even more because in spite of the challenges... I made it camping and back home!

Fri Apr 18, 2014 7:31 am

onemat wrote: Does it mean you have 1/4 tank when you first get in the orange? :roll:
My van has about 2 gallons when I hit the orange, so I have about 40 miles to go.
Yeah - I've "checked" it a few times... :lol: :roll: :oops:

Two gallons is a pretty standard "reserve" for modern tanks/gauges, but newer
cars indicate "E" with 2 gallons left in the tank...there's the difference.

Still laughing about your real-life Kramer episode!

Fri Apr 18, 2014 11:31 am

What an awesome story. Thanks for sharing!

Fri Apr 18, 2014 11:36 am

Captjon1959 wrote: In retrospect I wonder if I actually pulled tank rust into my little square plastic fuel filter and was just getting poor fuel flow. Anyway, I will NEVER forget that trip and it just makes me love my Westy even more because in spite of the challenges... I made it camping and back home!

most likely, when you run out of gas you should probably replace your fuel filter, especially if you are still driving with the stock gas tank

Sun Apr 20, 2014 2:22 pm

Just last week I was in Vegas on errands and the mileage show 230+ and knew I should get gas. On the freeway, WAS gonna go to a station I knew about but I thought "I have enough to get to the next one". Wrong. Literally past the exit and the van started the losing power thing and going up a slight incline. Pulled over to the shoulder and started nursing the gas pedal. The next exit was 1 mile away, going uphill. It finally died on the exit. Momentum carried me up to the light and since I had plenty of time (going really slow now) to look around, I see a gas station to my right. Made the right at the light, didn't have to stop, wouldn't have anyway, and was enough down hill to glide into the station. Luckily it started right up and I was on my way.

I just did the fuel tank seals and fuel sending unit, but my gauge does not work = not even close. I have to rely on mileage to know when to gas up. That's why I found this post, searching for what might be wrong with my fuel gauge.

Gary

Sun Apr 20, 2014 5:24 pm

Can I throw in my magic gas tank story? We were traveling from Yellowstone to Phoenix (2 days), been filling up at about 1/4 tank as we went along. Filled north of Overton, NV, headed to Boulder Dam, had a dinner at the casino there, then east and south on Rt 93. Getting just above 1/4 as we went through Wikieup, I bypassed the gas station, there was no room at pumps and the price was a bit high. This should have been a clue. Went on past, and figured I would just fill at the next one.

Well, as we dropped into orange and the sun started setting, on a road with nothing. Been on this road? Nothing! Lights, hoouses, businesses. Started worrying about being a Twilight Zone episode. Started doing the math, as I figure 86 has a 16 gal tank, so, at 1/4 there are 4 gallons. Into the the orange, 2 gallons, Best bet at 18 about 36 miles. Had about 36 miles to go. Hilly country, so while I used some gas going up, I would coast it down in neutral, use momentum to climb the next.

Getting dang dark out, not much of a shoulder. Used my Gas Buddy app, it tells me of a place, but I realize it is parallel to me with no road between. Just keep nursing it, and hoping, with a prayer or two tossed in.

Wickenburg is our target, but Congress would show up first, we made it into a nice well lit station and filled up. 15.2 gallons. So near as I figured, we could have gone all the way to Wickenburg. When I told my wife that, she smacked me.

Lesson learned.

Mon Apr 21, 2014 7:42 am

nevadaesh wrote: Just last week I was in Vegas on errands and the mileage show 230+ and knew I should get gas. On the freeway, WAS gonna go to a station I knew about but I thought "I have enough to get to the next one". Wrong. Literally past the exit and the van started the losing power thing and going up a slight incline. Pulled over to the shoulder and started nursing the gas pedal. The next exit was 1 mile away, going uphill. It finally died on the exit. Momentum carried me up to the light and since I had plenty of time (going really slow now) to look around, I see a gas station to my right. Made the right at the light, didn't have to stop, wouldn't have anyway, and was enough down hill to glide into the station. Luckily it started right up and I was on my way.

I just did the fuel tank seals and fuel sending unit, but my gauge does not work = not even close. I have to rely on mileage to know when to gas up. That's why I found this post, searching for what might be wrong with my fuel gauge.

Gary

Dont know if you have 2wd or syncro. Sounds like the gauge might not be grounded. Or installed in wrong orientation?