TheSamba.com :: View topic - HOW TO: Revive your fuel gauge sender for $1 FAQ

Thu Jan 05, 2012 4:55 pm

First time ever on this site. Congratulations to Daverham I have found it very interesting . I could not find the correct wire but instead
i cut a a new board and drilled holes to fit 10 x 27 ohm resistors in series and added some epoxy leveled it off with sand paper will send pictures later

Wed Jan 18, 2012 1:29 pm

this doesn't seem that bad

Fri Jun 22, 2012 9:33 am

Just checking in on an old thread.... Update: 3 years later of daily driving and my fuel gauge/sender has been working famously the whole time. Myth: CONFIRMED! This repair works.

That's all. Carry on. 8)

Fri Jun 22, 2012 9:48 am

Definitelygoodto know this worked!

Fri Jun 22, 2012 2:00 pm

Top advice, thanks M8 :D

Fri Jun 22, 2012 3:34 pm

Nice job, it's a lot like winding guitar pickups. 8)

Fri Jun 22, 2012 3:54 pm

Worked good for me. Although my sender likes to bounce around like it's too sensitive. Maybe too many wraps, or not enough, but anyhow it gives me an idea of my fuel level, and that's good enough for me :D

Wed Aug 01, 2012 8:58 pm

Wow! Thank You Very Much.

I will update some pics of the sender, and some other of my "real-world" test.

Today, i just bought the NiChrome wire (36 gauge, 16 feet for $3, i couldn't find 32 gauge)

I had to take everything out in the engine bay because my 1974 Bus has a 1600cc engine and i didn't want to drop it.

Greetings From México City! :D

Thu Aug 02, 2012 7:07 am

Does any one know if this repair works on early bays? 69 deluxe has no needle movement at all.

Tyler

Fri Aug 03, 2012 1:29 am

tkolbo wrote: Does any one know if this repair works on early bays? 69 deluxe has no needle movement at all.

Tyler No, sorry, a 69 Bay has a Tube Style Sender.

Fri Aug 03, 2012 9:24 am

Right.... but what's inside the tube? I don't know what's in there, but it might operate on the same principles. I would guess that it might. Does anyone know?

Fri Aug 03, 2012 9:43 am

There's just 1 looong wire that is gounded to the top at one end, goes all the way to the bottom and comes back up the other side where it attaches to the gauge terminal, the float moves a contact that bridges the wire and changes the resistance. Here's type 3 one, different length but same principle:

Fri Aug 03, 2012 7:02 pm

I am running the Karman Ghia sender and its a little shorter as mentioned. But it makes a larger reserve. Its doable.

Sun Aug 05, 2012 1:30 pm

Finally, my fuel sender works! Thank You Daverham, love you man!!!

I get progressive readings all the way across the movement in increments of 1-2 ohms, of which 3.4 ohms is full, 67.8 ohms is empty, so it's perfect, no dead spots!

I will post some pics later.

Fri Dec 28, 2012 5:26 pm

The early ones are easy to fix too.

My gas sender wasn't working (1971 sunroof bus). Repaired it as per this post from another website:

http://www.hallvw.clara.net/fuelsend.htm

Now it works just fine. The thin resistance wires were intact but corrosion between the copper strip and zinc flange prevented current from flowing.
Rather than drilling a hole through the flange and grounding the copper strip externally as illustrated in the article, I wrapped a bare copper wire around the very top of the metal rod that the float slides on, and attached the other end to the copper strip. That did the trick and saved me eighty to ninety bucks.

Fri Mar 22, 2013 6:45 pm

Just finished rebuilding mine. It went ok. Wrapping the wire around was a bit tricky. I was trying to get it tight and smooth out the kinks and I broke the wire. So instead of measuring out 70 ohms and cutting the wore off the spool, I just wrapped the wire straight on to the sender without measuring. It was a bit easier to follow the old wire's grooves on the sender that way. And I came out around 70 ohms.
THen I hooked up the sender to the bus and moved the float noting how it effected the gas gauge on the dash. I (slightly) bent the tabs on the bottom of the sender that stop the float in each direction to compensate for being a little off in either direction until it went from full to empty. I think this should work. It is better than the gauge showing half a tank and then sinking down to empty in the next mile, anyway.
thanks for the fix-it idea. I was a click away from spending money on a new sender.

Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:27 pm

Thanks for the tip on fixing fuel sending units. My gauge stopped working a while back. It isn't that a new one is that expensive, mine is the original 1963 and it is great to be able keep it on the car.
You made it so simple to fix mine with your photos. It works like new, thank you very much!!!

Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:30 pm

Thanks for the tip on fixing fuel sending units. My gauge stopped working a while back. It isn't that a new one is that expensive, mine is the original 1963 and it is great to be able keep it on the car.
You made it so simple to fix mine with your photos. It works like new, thank you very much!!!

Mon May 13, 2013 9:08 am

1973 bus, with a replaced German VDO sender. Unkown age, but was replaced with hole hacked through the cargo area within the last seven or so years. Sender looks in very nice condition, with windings showing some wear from the sweeper, but nice copper/white color. No apparent corrosion.

Dash gage reads 3/4 full when sender float is at highest level. Read 3.2 Ohms at this level, and 73.5 Ohms with float at lowest level. Gage is slow to respond, but consistant and not erratic, to change in float level.

Could the problem lie with the dashboard gage, and not the sender?

Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:17 pm

I just cleaned my 70 Bay with CLR and checked it out of the tank: full is like 7/8 on the gage,, half is about 3/8 so I'll can/will live with it :lol:Madmike