AirSpeed VW Community Forums

Technical => Electronics & Car Audio Forum => Topic started by: buddy boy on November 12, 2010, 07:38:26 PM

Title: fuel gauge problem
Post by: buddy boy on November 12, 2010, 07:38:26 PM
is there a way to find out wich one the culprit is? (sender,vibrator,fuel guage)

when ignition is on the fuel needle will move a millimeter if that and stay there .

i did replace my speedo and used the fuel gauge that came with it, but used my old vibrator and the sender... i did keep my old guage so i could swap out , but just want to know if theres something i can do to test each one?
Title: Re: fuel gauge problem
Post by: buddy boy on November 12, 2010, 07:40:57 PM
and yes i did check if there is gas ,.. full tank.
Title: Re: fuel gauge problem
Post by: Chris on November 12, 2010, 08:15:37 PM
does it work with the og guage?

mismatched sender....
Title: Re: fuel gauge problem
Post by: buddy boy on November 12, 2010, 11:57:40 PM
the new speedo is out of a '74 , and mine was a '75,..so it should be ok ?.... i'm gonna put my old guage back in and go from there,.

i'm wondering if there is a way to "test" the sender/vibrator/guage to single out wich one it is.
Title: Re: fuel gauge problem
Post by: Bruce on November 13, 2010, 12:00:41 AM
Pull the sender out and connect it up to an ohm meter.  Then lift the arm through it's travel very slowly.  The resistance should not jump around.

If you don't have an ohm meter, you can eyeball the windings for breaks.  Sometimes a magnifying glass is needed to see inside.  If there's a break, it's junk.

If you buy a new one, spend the extra $10 from CIP to get the good VDO one.  I waited almost a year while they were out of stock, so I gave up and bought the mystery brand part.  It was utter garbage.  The first problem was that the float had a hole in it, so it immediately sank.  I put the float from a German sender in it, then it worked.  But only for a handfull of months, then it burned out.
Title: Re: fuel gauge problem
Post by: 70's Looker on November 13, 2010, 11:14:17 PM
but used my old vibrator

ahh? totally not what i thought i would read on a upstanding vw site
Title: Re: fuel gauge problem
Post by: buddy boy on November 14, 2010, 04:19:54 AM
but used my old vibrator

ahh? totally not what i thought i would read on a upstanding vw site
:wub:
Title: Re: fuel gauge problem
Post by: buddy boy on November 17, 2010, 11:12:51 AM
the float in my old mexi one was full of gas !!,.. causing it not to rise

got the good vdo one from cip1 and everything is good !