As a follow-up to this, I did find a "sprung" spring in my spring connector
to the instrument cluster, and now the temp gauge is behaving in a
believeable way.  The fuel guage is still wandering a bit, but I will try to
clean up the ground point for it.  In the process of doing all this, I
checked the resistance from one of the crown lugs below the dash, to the end
of my (disconnected) ground strap, and got about 7 ohms.  Also 7 ohms from
the crown lug to a good bolt/screw at the rear of the westy.  Is this 7 ohms
about as expected, seems hight to me.  a single piece of wire that I used as
a jumper for all that was 2.7 ohms, for which I've already accounted in the
two 7 ohm readings.

Alan

On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 10:01 PM, Alan Felder <dieseldoofus@gmail.com>wrote:

> On my 82 diesel, as of late the fuel gauge and temp gauge are of one mind,
> but a sick mind nevertheless.  they seem to work in unison, but are
> incorrect on the low side.  just sitting at idle, the fuel guage might
> wander about 1/8 tank, while it is rare that the temp gauge ever gets out of
> the "cold" position.  The temp warning light always flashes for a few
> seconds at startup, as normal, and has never come on.  when the temp gauge
> goes up, the fuel gauge does to, and the same back down.  I am suspecting my
> voltage stabilizer.  Mine doesn't seem to match any photos in the bentley
> but poking around I was able to find about 6 ohms from the ground point to
> the underdash ground crown.  Any insight into this?
>
> Two other questions someone might know the answer to:
>
> Is there a radio shack replacement for the voltage stabilizer and if so,
> what number?  Mine is wired different from the bentley because the center
> connection is not connected to anything and I don't think there's any place
> for it to connect with.  again, this is an 82 diesel westy.
>
> The bentley suggests testing the guages with the VW 1301.  I gather this is
> a big variable resistor.  if so, what are the equivalent settings in ohms
> for testing the fuel and temp gauges?  settings from bentley are 55, 560
> (fuel) and since the only coolant temp gauge mentioned is for water cooled
> from 85, these settings seem to be 50 and 510 on the VW 1301.
>
> Any help would be appreciated, as I can't really troubleshoot my cooling
> system very well without trusting my guage.
>
> Alan
>
> --
> Not all those who wander are lost
>

--
Not all those who wander are lost