Ok someone will have to explain to me...

>Oh, and here's another one: what is it with the Vanagon gas indicator? >Why does it move around so much and why does it
>indicate empty when I still have 3 gallons?

Its a VW thing.  Empty is the bottom of the red area.  The top of the red area indicates you are running on reserve.  (Probably somehow related to the early Beetles actually having a reserve tank and a valve to switch over to it)

Bill