Dodgy fuel gauge....

Pootle's Owner

Pootle's Owner

Active Member
I must confess that the only 'breakdown' we have had in Pootle was running out of fuel - and yes, it was my fault Dear! :) Since fitting Tim's super new ali tank however the fuel gauge has been erratic - works sometimes but sometimes not. This morning I checked the cct. Disconnected the sender wire and feed from the gauge was correct at 10v but the sender was open-circuit (should be less than 300 ohms). OK so, drain the tank and remove it (again!).....At that point I should have checked sender again but I didn't so just took it out for a look-see. Opened it up and it's a modern copy of the old type - shocking design really but I improved the wiper arm and stretched the springs so it was 'better' but there was nothing much wrong to be honest..... OK refit and test then? When starting to fit it I realised what the problem was. The sender flange is isolated from the tank by a cork gasket and the self tapping mounting screws have fibre washers so the earthing of the sender was intermittant. Rather than just fitting an earthing strap I drilled out the mounting holes in the tank to 6mm and fitted M4 rivet-bushes then reassembled with M4 stainles screws. Jobs a gud-un and tested with a couple of gallons of E10 - need to get new mortgage for a full tank! Whilst on-the-job I replaced the fuel filter and last bits of old fuel line but noticed that the 45mm fuel filler pipe I fitted last year was all cracking from the E10 so have ordered a couple of Gates 90 degree pipes to replace that - fingers crossed!
 
Good job there. Yer need to be careful with those fuel necks, lot of crap ones about and had a few crack before e10. Think the trouble on a Commer is that fuel can sit in them for a long time due to the tank and filler location and can quickly rot cheap ones out
 
I thought I’d be clever and replaced them with lovely silicone hoses. Terrible idea and had to promptly replace them with proper pipes. Bit of an expensive mistake.
 
Yes, some claim silicone hoses are ok for E10 but in my experience the're not. I have bought a couple of 90 degree elbows from Gates which were pricey at £25 each but if I can't trust Gates to do the job I'm lost and will have to braze up a suitable dogleg from stainless..... Looks like this Commer project is set to run and run - spent this morning removing the cobweb of leaking gaspipes and 3 regulators!!!! Will revert to 1 regulator and 1 pipe to the cooker....
 
normal silicone hoses are no good for any fuel. The vapours leak through silicone and it will melt over time. You can get special silicone fuel hose which is lined inside. Have you got a gas fridge? I took mine out as has no external exhaust vents. You can get a electric gizmo to replace gas but I couldn’t be bothered as fridge is so small anyway.
 
Yes small camping fridges are not very good generally as thrrmodynamics really requires a lot of energy to do the job. I have removed the fridge today - it's a 12V/240V/gas job but not very efficient and, as you say, not really safe without a chimney. Plan is to fit a modern 12V compressor fridge and probably a 100W solar panel on the roof.....
 
I rebuilt all the furniture and allowed space for the cool box. Unfortunately didn’t allow for the ledge on door hole so it won’t quite fit into cupboard, whoops :mad:
 
It was ok initially but slight movement gave erratic earth. I could have added an earth strap but put in rivet nuts because it was simple and I had suitable ali bits handy. Tank is excellent...
 
Finally got around to replacing the gas pipework with simple single regulator and pipe to the cooker. No leaks and much safer than the old mess which even had an old style gas tap style outlet that you could just push a rubber pipe on. Looked very scary these days but back in the 60s they were common in houses and shool science labs. Wonder if such things are legal now? I also replaced the fuel tank filler with Gates 'rubber' elbows and 45mm stainless pipe. The elbows are rated for petrol/ethanol and are very robust multi-layered construction so I hope the fuel arrangements are all 'fit and forget' for a good few years now. Next task is rewiring the mains and fitting a new fridge....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top