Fuel Gauge fault after fitting night-heater

JDTech

Member
So over the weekend I dropped the tank to fit a dip tube/standpipe for my diesel heater. Put it all in no issues, bolted the tank back up.

Started up the van several times and noticed that i had 100 extra miles of range.

Thought my dip tube must be fouling the float arm so pulled it back to bits changed the set up from solid tube to plastic pipe and made sure it wouldnt touch it.

Thought happy days job done. Start it up to still no change on the range. (Showing 200 miles when i knew i started the job with 100). Stripped it down again checked the float arm track for damage, checked all the connectors in tank side, cleaned the plug and terminals outside. Still no joy range is saying 30 miles now.

Anyone have any advice ??
 
Can’t say for sure but does it need to recalibrate after it’s been disturbed or unplugged?

Although the range is +100 miles (bonus!) is the needle approximately in the same position as before?
 
Its currently at 30 miles range in the red so id say its about an 1/8 down, ill have a look on vcds if it can be cal'd
 
May be long shot here but have you went a drive yet to see if enything changes ? ,I have dropped my tank before but I honestly didn't notice a change in fuel level but It wasn't really on my mind at the time that it would be an issue
 
DId you get the tank sender back in the right place there normally an arrow to align
 
Pretty sure I've got it in the right spot but going to check tomorrow. Had it on vcds, checked the cluster thans fine, tank contents is reading 13L for 50 miles range at present, I've been to work and back today but didnt seem to change it
 
Check the following nose up, and nose down
Address 17: Instruments
IDE00312 Fuel level from sensor 1
You should see a significant difference in readings. Less fuel nose down, more fuel nose up.
 
Was 90 degrees out from the arrows so must have been fouling. Showing what looks about right now, was showing 13L before

View attachment 88723

Resurrecting this, I've a similar fault but gauge stuck on full. MFD range staying at 550, having driven a couple of hundred miles since last fill. The van's in the garage soon for tyres and I'll ask them to stick the VCDS onto it and have a look - what are the indicators or readings that might tell me what's wrong? I suspect the floaty thing has stuck so it may not show up electrically? It has happened before and started working normally after a refill.
 
Hink this has been a problem for a few owners and sometimes it corrects itself , I found a post were dellmasive posts how to reset your the gremlins in the transporter just incase it is a electric glitch and Al post it under this post , also saw a post were someone posted to give the tank a a few bangs and see if it changes just incase it is a sticky fuel sender , am not sure if it would register a fault if there is no light on but it is worth a shot to have it checked when it's in , ano my car had a sticky sender a while back and I used a fuel cleaner and it did fix my issue but ad definitely try the reset procedure that dellmasive has posted and also give the tank a few hits underneath as they don't cost a thing
 
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£203 later and a new fuel sender/sensor installed along with wiring loom. As the fault had changed to indicating empty I'm now seeing a full tank after filling up before getting the work done. The garage assures me that during the install/fuel tank drop they removed fuel and saw the gauge at half refilled and now gauge showing full.
My final proof of the pudding will be on a longer drive next week.
 
Our 2017 T28 is no longer registering the fuel gauge since we dropped the fuel tank to fit a diesel heater.

We don't think that it is the sender unit float arm broken as if it was a mechanical fault it would surely show full or empty or stay at a fixed level. Whereas, since it is not showing any level and not reading we suspect it is an electrical issue.

Under the passenger seat we don't seem to have a red block with the brown/white, purple/black and purple wires for the fuel gauge to dash wiring to check the readings. Does anyone know where this is located in our T6? Similarly where are the fuses for the fuel gauge that we can test.

We have tried filling the tank up to full in case this was a calibration issue but this didn't help.
We did also have the passenger and driver seats out to feed wiring under from the drivers seat so there is a chance maybe the underfloor wiring got damaged in the process, but didn't notice anything at the time, just wondering the best way to diagnose.
 



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fuel2 shows the schematic.

the fuel sender unit has 3 wires.

br/ws - brown/white - chassis earth
vi/sw - purple/black - signal to dash panel J285
vi - purple - 5v refernce

you can see that there is a join in the cable under the front seats (T6b - 6pin red connector)

you should be able to test the sender and wire from that point.


the sensor has a ground and 2 wires that run back direct to the front dash clocks via the red connector block under the front seat.

VCDS should give you a fault code relating to a wire short/open etc or a level sensor - out of range etc?

or just test at the red block for the signal and reference voltage . . . . . or shorts/opens.


there is no fuse as such for the sender unit as its fred directly from the dash clocks (which will have a separate fuse)

the fuel lift pump and relay are fused seperately - but thats a different issue, not yours

.

Attachments
 



*****************



fuel2 shows the schematic.

the fuel sender unit has 3 wires.

br/ws - brown/white - chassis earth
vi/sw - purple/black - signal to dash panel J285
vi - purple - 5v refernce

you can see that there is a join in the cable under the front seats (T6b - 6pin red connector)

you should be able to test the sender and wire from that point.


the sensor has a ground and 2 wires that run back direct to the front dash clocks via the red connector block under the front seat.

VCDS should give you a fault code relating to a wire short/open etc or a level sensor - out of range etc?

or just test at the red block for the signal and reference voltage . . . . . or shorts/opens.


there is no fuse as such for the sender unit as its fred directly from the dash clocks (which will have a separate fuse)

the fuel lift pump and relay are fused seperately - but thats a different issue, not yours

.

Attachments
Thanks, but I've seen this diagram before and unfortunately can't locate the cables as under the front passenger seats there is no red block containing the Cables. You can see from the attached that it's not there. Any ideas where it would be?

IMG-20210411-WA0015.jpg

IMG-20210411-WA0014.jpg
 
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