If you have the early type sender unit then no . I believe you can with the later one , but it is horribly awkward easier to cut hole neatly or take engine out ...if you have the space to take your engine out ...and know how , i wouldn't dream of doing it any other way . Having said that i did cut ahole to access mine . There was a thread on here where some body made a real neat job of a replacement cover for the hole . What year is the bus , i think the change over for the later type sender was 72 73 i think .
Yes you can - its tricky. I had to remove the airbox and carbs, then remove the firewall over the top of the engine (dont forget the two screws hidden underneath) you can then unscrew the sender and work it out of the tank. Refit is the reverse but is even harder to get the firewall in.
Is it equally tricky for a type 1 engine, or worse? A couple of weeks back I got the fuel lines around the tank replaced and the fuel filter moved. Since then my previously accurate fuel gauge has been way off. Stuck £30 in last week which caused the petrol pump to cut out, but the fuel gauge only read 1/3 full. I thought it may be a tetchy petrol pump, but on going back today, I managed 14 litres before brimming the tank (not really what I like to do).... the gauge in the van is still reading under 1/2 full. As I say, previously quite accurate. New fuel lines and moved fuel filter. Really inaccurate. 73/74 van, type 1 engine, no inspection hatch. Am I looking at engine out?
From personal experience when the sender goes, it reads ok on a full tank but then drops off to nothing at some point. Reading low when you know the tank is full is more likely to be the gauge end faulty. Make sure you check that first as it's definitely going to be engine out to fix the sender on a type 1 (unless you cut a hatch in the floor).
I last did this maybe 18 years ago. Yesterday I did this again on a different vehicle. I got the panel off OK but the sender unit is really hard to manipulate, mainly because there seems so little space to get your hands in. It's like my wrists have swollen by an inch. There's also no logical way to get the sender in and out, just fiddle until it finds a way. I discovered that it was easier to come out via the tin lid, though I don't think I did it that way before. Both times it's been on a '79 so there shouldn't be any difference. Before I put it back has anybody any insight on this.
Here's another thing. I decided to take some measurements off the old and new senders. On the bench I fitted up a crude scale and plotted the resistance from the senders at various levels. The old one of course is knackered, but gives readings in the top half of the float movement, and these are about half those on the new sender. I fear I am going to get much lower fuel readings as a result of this. I've contacted JK who supplied the part but doubt if I'll get an answer over Easter. Anybody else had this?
sorry - this was all that was posted - i believe it was from a vw workshop manual however, I've just found this :http://www.speedyjim.net/htm/fuel_ga.htm speedyjim seems to be the oracle as far as I can see for vw electrics hope this helps
Let us know when you crack it, mine reads off the scale when brimmed and is empty when it reads just under 1/4.
That Speedy Jim article is dead handy. If you look at the curve on the charts it shows that, because the arm moves in an arc, from horizontal to nearer vertical, you get a non-linear range on the gauge, meaning that the needle moves more for less fuel use in the first part of the gauge than it does as it empties. Hope that makes sense? Testing on the bench it won't be obvious. I plotted a chart and drew level lines for Full, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 and Empty and the lines get closer - meaning less needle movement - as the float drops through the range. I then used appropriate resistance values programmed into my gauge matcher to try to get a more linear movement across my non-standard fuel gauge. Not really because I'm finickety about these things but since I had to enter values on the 'gauge wizard' I made them closer for accuracy. I'll probably run out of fuel at the 1/4 full mark now!
I have replaced sender, voltage regulator ( at the gauge ) ringed out the wiring , still all over the place . I will just keep using the pad to note mileage and fill up after 150 miles . Never run out yet !!!
And another one.....changed the sender on mine (can't remember where it came from), and now if I fill up till the nozzle stops pumping, the gauge reads slightly over half full, then slowly descends...it would appear that bottom of the red is pretty close to empty, it just doesn't read full!
Ohms are to high .U need to put a another resistor in parellel ( one end to ground, the other end to the sender wire ) this will reduce the reading while keeping scale . Too make it swing from more or less ,from high to low its in series . I believe ...
Mine is similar to this...tanked up it reads a little over half full, but then drops fairly quickly to the 1/4 mark and progressively more slowly from there down...I've yet to run it dry, but it took about 40l when it was half way through the red zone, the other day. I'm assuming it is reading correctly, just displaced by a half a tank, or so.... I'm sure it will one day get to the top of my list of things to address.. P.
