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gblair
Samba Member
Joined: September 07, 2013
Posts: 159
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 Posted: Tue May 19, 2015 10:52 am Post subject: One more Gas Gauge Question |
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Hi All
I have a question and have tried to find something on this but have not seen it. My gauge works somewhat but not accurately. I have checked the sending unit and it appears to be working fine 9.4 ohms – 78 ohms. I connected a potentiometer to where it plugs into the sending unit and the gauge reads empty at 60 ohms (reserve empty) ½ in the reserve area at 40 ohms it is on empty (top of the red scale) 20 ohms just under ¼ 9.4 ohms is ½ and 3.3 is 3/4. It never goes to full. Would that be the vibrator or could the gauge need calibrated? I have seen in some of the post there is a way to adjust both ends of the scale but do not want to do that is it is not what needs done.
Thank you |
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gblair
Samba Member
Joined: September 07, 2013
Posts: 159
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| Posted: Fri May 22, 2015 6:51 pm Post subject: Solved: One more Gas Gauge Question |
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Solved:
I tore into it today and here is what I found.
1. The Vibrator ground/mounting screw was loose.
2. The female terminal on the vibrator was sprung.
3. The nut holding the male terminal to the gas gauge was loose.
The fix was
Removed vibrator, tightened the nut on the gauge, bend the terminal on vibrator to fit snugly, reinstall and tighten the ground/mounting screw. Button everything up and retest with the potentiometer and it seems to work. I went and filled it up and the gauge went to full for the first time since I bought the vehicle. Seems to be working fine now. It will be nice to know how much fuel is in the tank. |
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imtb
Samba Member
Joined: October 27, 2013
Posts: 363
Location: st.l
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| Posted: Tue May 26, 2015 6:47 am Post subject: |
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| Thanks for positng this, I need to dig into mine and figure out whats going on. |
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Thing_Man73
Samba Member
Joined: October 11, 2014
Posts: 70
Location: San Diego
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| Posted: Tue May 26, 2015 2:32 pm Post subject: |
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I agree --- thanks for posting this, my gauge has been doing the same type of things. I have to remove the Speed-o unit to fix my odometer so I will check all of the other electrical connection.  |
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imtb
Samba Member
Joined: October 27, 2013
Posts: 363
Location: st.l
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| Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 5:45 am Post subject: |
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| I did a little more investagating on mine and an old time told me to grount the wire from the sending unit and see if guage or sender. Well low and behold the gauge shot right up to full. Time for a new sending unit.! |
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vwwestyman
Samba Member
Joined: April 24, 2004
Posts: 5688
Location: Manhattan, Kansas, USA
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| Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2015 6:13 am Post subject: |
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After reading about the low quality of currently-available sending units in the Bus world, I've fixed two nasty rusty crusty ones (including my Thing's) by disassembling them a little. The two halves of the sender are held together by little bent tabs so it's pretty easy to open them up and remove the crud and clean the contact points.
On the Thing's, the strip where the resistive wire is wound was bowed away from the wiper. So I gently heated it with a heat gun and was able to bend it back to straight with a little pressure from a screwdriver.
On my Bus' sender, I had to solder a piece of wire in to fix a bit that had broken.
Reassemble and the sender is fixed for free!
_________________
Dave Cook
President, Wild Westerner Club
1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing |
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