Date:         Mon, 24 Jun 2002 23:24:22 -0700
Reply-To:     Tobin Copley <tobin.copley@UBC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Tobin Copley <tobin.copley@UBC.CA>
Subject:      Wiring/testing of VDO oil pressure gauge (dual sender)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

Hi all,

I've installed a VDO oil pressure gauge set-up in my 1982 diesel
Westy.  It doesn't seem to work and I'm a bit confused.  Any
help would be appreciated.

I have a 0-80 lb VDO gauge and a matching sender.  Both bought
new.  The sender is the dual-terminal variety which allows me to
keep the idiot light functional.  The sender is installed in
place of the stock sender, which in the diesel is at the forward
end of the cylinder head.  The idiot light wire is attached to
the terminal labeled "WK" and the gauge wire is attached to the
terminal labeled "G".  The sender is torqued in securely, and no
teflon tape or anything was used on the threads of the sender.

I am using 14 ga. copper stranded wire for the wire leading from
the sender to the gauge.  The wire is routed under the bus to
the dash, following the main wiring loom.  It is securely
zap-strapped along its entire length.

The gauge will be installed on top of the instrument cluster.
Power for the gauge is supplied from behind fuse 10 on the back
of the fuse box, which is hot only when the ignition is on.  The
gauge is grounded at the ground point supplied on the body of
the bus just forward of the fuse box.

With power off, the needle of the gauge rests on the peg at the
extreme left of the gauge, just below "0".  Which the ignition
on and the sender wire attached (but the engine off), the needle
rises to exactly "0".  With the ignition on and the sender wire
removed the needle remains at "0"--the installation instructions
I downloaded from VDOs web site indicated that the needle should
move to the extreme *right* of the gauge with the sender wire
removed.

Firing up the engine (it runs! yay!) the idiot light goes off
within a second or so of starting, but the gauge does not move
from the "0" position.

This can't be right.  What gives?  The instructions seemed
pretty simple, but have I screwed something up?  Do I have a bad
sender? Bad gauge?  Where do I go from here?  I want my gauges
to work!

T.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tobin Copley        Bowen Island, BC, Canada      49deg 23'N-123deg 19'W

'82 Westfalia 1.6L NA diesel ("Stinky")
'97 son Russell                                   =============
'99 daughter Margaret                            /_| |_L| |__|:| clatter
                             SPEED KILLS!        {.            .|
clatter!
                         Drive a Vanagon diesel   ~-()-==----()-~