Is it true that a VDO fuel guage hooks straight up to a beetle sender in the tank??
& if so, where do I get one from?
regards
Jak


[Edited on 4-1-2003 by jakriz]

Just spoke to the local Autobahn guy & he said that they have 2 types of VDO fuel guage in stock, I have to find out what my OHMS reading is when the tank is empty & full??????
Any ideas??
Jak

Firstly Jak, You will need a fuel sender installed in Your tank to get the OHMs reading... with a Multimeter...
and You can purchase resistors [in OHMS] for a few cents each at any DSE or Jaycar store, to adjust the gauge-sender difference... or even use a Variable Resistor -potentiometer... to adjust the difference in OHMs.... etc... Shouldn't be a BIG problem Jak... but You should start with VDO sender in Your tank... what Model are We talking about here??? Why not just add standard VW components??
I presume You are talking about a Round standard size VDO Fuel Gauge....

Yes, I have the standard VDO vw sender in the tank, & I have a multimeter, never used it before as I shy away from electrics big time! & yes I'm talking about the small round VDO fuel guage. Do u have one hooked up to your beetle??
regards
Jak

I used the VDO round gauge in my rally car, along with the VDO sender. it was bought fromj manly instruments way back when. it was a bit of a bugger with the VDO generic sender actually, the needle used to bounce around with fuel slosh, making it hard to read (particuarly in a rally car bouncing down goat tracks at 160kph at 10pm :P).

if you can use it with the standard VDO tank sender then I would do so. one way to find out, and if it doesnt match the sender, you'll have to replace it anyway

Yes, the aftermarket 52mm VDO fuel gauges will work with stock VW tank senders. I used to use that setup in my Beetle.

The sender has a float inside a long cylinder, riding on two stiff wires. As the fuel level rises and falls, the float goes up and down on the wires. The electrical resistance varies accordingly, depending on where the float is on the wires, and the gauge converts that into a reading.

The gauge can be calibrated to the sender, where they measure the resistance at top and bottom and then adjust the gauge according to that. The instrument shop can do that for you if you unbolt the sender and gauge and take them both in.

It will still work uncalibrated, but the gauge may read a little strangely. For example, mine used to drop in a non-linear fashion - it went three-quarters empty very quickly but the last quarter took ages. Full and empty were accurate enough but when the tank was half full the gauge read only a quarter full. I just got used to it.