Gauge upgrades, when?

[Schuylersister]

Help me think this through please:
I'm having the coolant flushed and the thermostat and thermostat housing upgraded to the aluminum style by a professional Vanagon shop, H2O Vanagon in Sacramento. Nothing wrong with the engine just time for a flush and it seems important to do the system upgrades then. Thinking I should monitor the temp guage with my existing guage after I do this to see if things are different or the same with my temp readings. I think the same readings would be good.

So next step is electrical upgrades. The fuel guage is not accurate and the others may be wonky too. My fuel tank, pump, and lines were upgraded in 2018. No fuel leaks. Would replacing my dash cluster guages make sense as a first step in correcting this problem?

1990 2.1 WBX 146K

[Chris-a]

[?Waldo?]

[E1]

[SCM]

I’m with Waldo - elaborate on “wonky” because what you’re experiencing may just be “normal” Vanagon stuff.

Also, with your new aluminum t-stat housing you might experience a small difference in where your temp gage needle points even though the coolant temp is the same*. Probably best to get an infrared thermometer and take some base line measurements at different places (radiator, coolant hoses) before the work is done so you can have actual numbers to compare to afterwards.

* it has something to do with the difference in electrical resistance between the old plastic housing and the new aluminum one. GoWesty used to supply a little gizmo to adjust for that. I’m not sure if that’s still the case though.
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'91 Westfalia GL Automatic (GTA "Turbo" Rebuild w/Peloquin) and 2.3L GoWesty Engine

[4Gears4Tires]

Did you replace the fuel level sender in 2018 when you did your tank upgrades?

Because I did when I redid my fuel tank and now my fuel gauge doesn't read accurately. I don't know if this is also a problem with 2wd vans, but the fuel level sender is definitely an issue with 4wd vans. Is 2/3s completely full?
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'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[zerotofifty]

Having driven a VW that never had a gas gage most of my life, a wonky gas gage is of little concern, and the nice thing about the Van is that the speedometer includes a trip meter. My Bug had neither a gas gage nor a trip meter.

I use the trip meter in me Van to determine time to fill up. sure me gas gage works in the Van, but I just be used to using the trip meter.
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Sorry About That Chief.

Give Peace a Chance.

Words to live by.

[Schuylersister]

Hey thank you all so far great info herein!
E1-that link will be very useful
Waldo-the wonky is like I fill up the tank, registers full then after about twenty miles on OD it's dropped to like 3/4 or 2/3 full.
4Gears4Tires- not sure if the sender was replaced with the tank but I'm going assume yes.

I've been keeping mpg on trips and around town. Basically getting between
15-18 mpg. Using the trip OD so never go much more than 200 miles between fueling up. But, gosh I'd like to push that further. What trip mileage do you all use for fill ups? I mostly (95%) use 91 octane gas and mostly fill up at Chevron with Techron in USA but when in Baja I use 89 or 92 octane.

[SCM]

I also start looking for a gas station at 200 miles but, driving my automatic at 75 mph, 14 mpg is my normal fuel economy so that range is about what I can expect.
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'91 Westfalia GL Automatic (GTA "Turbo" Rebuild w/Peloquin) and 2.3L GoWesty Engine

[dabaron]

[DanHoug]

the fuel and coolant temp gauges are adequate when properly working. clean or install a new ground for the gas gauge, verify coolant temp gauge operation with an independent thermometer. if BOTH gauges are acting 'wonky', you may have a dash voltage regulator issue and you can measure voltage to verify its operation.

then, with that many miles on a 2.1, i'd install an oil pressure gauge to watch the trend of oil pressure during hot engine operation and as more miles accumulate. it will be your canary in the proverbial coal mine.
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-dan
60% of what you find on the internet is wrong, including this post.

'87 Westy & '89 Westy both 2.1 4spd

Past projects can be found at--
www.thefixitworkshop.com

[nosliwmit]

[Wildthings]

[riceye]

A few years back I was doing something to the back of the gauge cluster (Replacing bulbs? I don't recall) and I decided to loosen and retighten the brass nuts that secure the dash foil. The fuel gauge responded by behaving in a more rational fashion. Before, after a fill, the needle never quite made it to the top of the range, after it did. It now seems to read more accurately but still wanders with the crown of the road or the direction of the last curve. And upgrade or down to a lesser degree.
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'87 Westy Weekender - daily driver on salt-free roads

There's gonna be some changes made.

“I find that things usually go well right up until the moment they don't.” - Ahwahnee

"Quality isn't method. It's the goal toward which the method is aimed." - Socrates, later quoted by R.M. Pirsig

[SoquelDude]

Sorry, no suggestions for gauge/no-gauge usage, but here's a shout-out to H2O Vanagon. Whatever you decide to do, I'm sure that Stephan's got your back!
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'90 Vanagon Westy GL, AT, EJ22E conversion (1993 2.2L Legacy Engine)

[SCM]