Great alternative to the poorly made aftermarket fuel senders

[fozworth]

After a complete mechanical/electrical overhaul on my 63/64 crossover bus ,the one thing I was still not happy with was the vague fuel gauge reading . I had a new gauge by WW and and a new loom ,new tank etc ,good grounds everywhere .I purchased a repo sender from BBT which I suspect is a re-packaged Brazilian cheapo . Anyway it gave very hit n miss readings and did not leave you feeling confident on longer runs. I happened to read about someone in Germany who had used a genuine VDO sender (now called Veratron) as they bought VDO out . This sender is for the marine market but works perfectly with a slight tweak . It’s well constructed and has a stainless steel tube and better internal float system. Although it’s 190mm long it works just fine and is a direct fit . It comes with a 2 pin plug which I used but you could snip it off and run the factory style terminals . The model you want is A2C1750030001 (see link ) this is 190mm long and has an ohm resistance of 90ohms empty and 4ohms full . To bring it in line with the VW gauge you need to wire a 450ohm resistor in parallel. This will give you a 75ohm reading at empty .
https://vdo-webshop.nl/en/54mm-fuel-tubular-sensor...26321.html

I’ve found this sender to be a really good alternative and offer good quality and good results .

[Tizian]

Not so new

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=778197&highlight=vdo+fuel+sender
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02/24/2022

The saddest day in recent history. My thoughts are with all those people suffering from the aggression of only one individual.

[fozworth]

I saw your post and the post on the German site . But as I’ve not seen anything else and there are plenty of other bus owners in the same position with sub standard senders I figured it would be good to post it up .
Im yet to let it run low but looking at the original thread / posts I think I’m correct in thinking when it’s on R I would still have a couple gallons left ,?

[Eric&Barb]

[fozworth]

The original is 185mm . However as the new sender comes with two thick rubber mounting gaskets I’ve actually used both and applied some rvt gasket sealer between both just to ensure they perfectly seal ,this has given me at least 5-7mm of gasket thickness when screwed down tight . So it should give me roughly the same as a stock sender when on R I think .
When I hit R I’ll either remove the sender and stick a dip stick in the tank or just refill and see how much it takes to fill knowing that the tank takes 80 litres

[busdaddy]

I guess you weren't aware that RTV swells up and detaches in the presence of gasoline, bummer.
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[fozworth]

Why would it be in the fuel ? The two rubber gaskets sit on top of the tank and the sender sits on them so they are between the top of the tank and the sender sits,there not in any fuel .

[Eric&Barb]

[fozworth]

I think this is drifting off piste a bit . All ive done is used both 3mm rubber gaskets that were included rather than one . Same type as the oem ones . I can easily remove the tiny amount of sealer that was between the two rubber gaskets . I didn’t put any on the top or bottom. But to be sure I’ll remove it anyway and just rely on the compression from the 5 mounting bolts to form a good seal which it’s always done .

[70bus]

As you are in the UK, shipping was likely not an issue like it is for those of us across the Pond. It wasn't clear if they would ship to US when I enquired, and the cost is high. I did have two samba members offer to purchase and ship for me, and if the NOS 1980s one I have doesn't work after install I'll take up their offer.

Still, always good to hear a success story as a data point.
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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater

[fozworth]

Actually I did see a couple places on line that were your side of the pond ,I’ll see if I can find them for you .

[fozworth]

This was one place in the US that sells them so imagine they could order in the correct model being Veratron A2C1750030001 .
https://eastcoastboatsupply.com/products/veratron-...1744190001

https://theyachtrigger.com/products/veratron-deep-pipe-level-sender-190mm-90-to-4-ohm

Just look up Marine shop suppliers as these are actually from VDO/Veratron’s marine range .

[Lind]

[70bus]

thanks for looking some US options up; sadly, most of the US places claiming they carry the veratron unit are out of stock; the ones who claim they have it IN stock seem to be China-based scam operations. I put in an order for one mostly as a laught to see what happens - it never shows, it shows up and is broken, or maybe a copy of the stock photo of the sender is mailed to me. The suspiciously-low price makes me think I get a photo. maybe it will at least be a glossy.
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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater

[fozworth]

Your suspicions are incorrect. The BBT unit was made specifically for BBT, and is not a repackaged unit.
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Apologies for getting my information wrong,however the sender is not very well made and the float has a lot of play on the resistance lines causing variations in the reading . We compared it to a genuine VDO unit which was far more precise. We also compared it to a Brazilian copy and it was near identical,hence I suspected they were the same .

[fozworth]

[fozworth]

It is the same .I tried using your link originally but it did not work. I ended up finding what seems like the only UK supplier of these and it only cost £49 delivered. If you buy the water proof electrical plug kits (there not expensive) you can make up the corresponding end and attach it to you signal/ground wires allowing you to plug straight into the senders plug. So far I’m impressed with the function. I’m using it with a WW gauge.