I've never heard of a vanagon gas gauge "going out" but I guess it
could. You might have a bad ground somewhere (of course you DO, but
where?) and you might have a clogged fuel filter or tank outlet, where
the car acts like it runs out of gas and, in case of the former,
clears up in the absence of fuel pressure (so it seems like the new
fuel you walked to did the trick) and the latter, where adding gas
helps wash off whatever flakes of rust and crud are covering your
outlet.

Just guessing.

Jim

On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 8:34 AM, Steve Williams <sbw@sbw.org> wrote:
> At 06:13 AM 10/19/2009, mcneely4@cox.net wrote:
>>
>> Don't know about your particular vanagon, but in general, the gas
>> gauge is only an indicator, not a precise measure, of the volume of
>> fuel in the tank. �That the gauge needle did not indicate fuel
>> content with 2 gallons in the tank is no surprise, and that the
>> needle indicated some fuel content when empty would also be no
>> surprise for many vehicles. �I would expect consistency, however. �I
>> have learned (the hard way) that when the gauge on my camper
>> indicates a quarter tank, the tank is right at empty. �If mine were
>> inconsistent, however, I would expect an electrical glitch. �Dave Mc
>
> Yeah, consistency is what I didn't get last night. �Ugh.
>
> As for an electrical glitch, the battery was quite depleted due to my
> alternator issues, but I doubt that's the kind of glitch you mean.
>
> In the plane, I ignore the gauges and instead carefully track the
> time. �I guess in my Westy I'll stop looking at the gauge and
> carefully track the miles. �Sure, it'll generally go 300 miles on a
> tank, and up to 350 miles at a constant 65 mph above 5,000 feet
> elevation, but from now on I'm filling the tank at 270 miles!
>