Take a good look at the bottom of the tank. It is common for the bottom to
be pushed up by folks using the tank or straps to lift the van. They
miss-take those straps as frame members. Also, I have seen a defective vapor
control system cause the tank to go under vacuum and be sucked in. This
happens real easy on the aftermarket replacements.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Steve Williams
Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2009 11:29 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Fuel Gauge Behavior Changed

I ran my '84 Westy out of gas today, thank goodness within walking
distance of a gas station.

I knew the fuel was low, but the gauge was still well above the red
band, and I've driven more miles on a tank.  I was running errands
and decided to complete just one more task before filling up.

I put 16.1 gallons into the 16-gallon tank.  The van got 19.0 mpg on
this tank, so that's pretty normal.

The question is: Why didn't the gauge dip into the red, as it always
has before?

A clue: The gauge didn't budge when I poured a 2-gallon gas can into the
tank.

When the engine died, I was sure it was because I had depleted the
battery.  I'm the guy that keeps posting to the list about the low
voltage from my alternator.  But that wasn't the problem this time.