I was able to remvoe the SS vanity panel without removing the door. But there is a bit of a trick. If you look on the right side, ( toward the rear of the coach ) there is enough room for one to pull the panel out a little and then slide it to the right into kind of a slot that is there. Once moved all the way to the right, then the left side of the panel can be pulled out. Once the left is out, then slide the panel to the left and the right side will come out.
Attahced is a picture with the panel removed and the door still in place.
Russ White
2016 Winnebago Vista LX 30T
#530 ( Sold )
1999 45' Double Slide - Factory upgrade 2004
Russ, you are right again. I slid it as far to the right as it would go, but still lacked about 1/4". A simple solution was to remove the left side door jam and the bolt holding the arm and, low and behold, it came out. Photos attached. Tomorrow, I will first verify that the red wire is the same color as the wire in the front fuse panel going to the fuel gauge. If the same color, I will ground the wire at the tank to verify that the gauge shows full, and if not, then the wire must be broken somewhere - problem solved. If the gauge responds and both of the ground wired have a good ground, then the sending unit has to be replaced. I have downloaded your photos and text from your prior post re sending unit replacement. I also have the square plate that the sender bolts to, so I should be able to do what you did. Again, thanks ever so much for you help.
2001 Newell #579
tow a Honda Odyssey
fun car: 1935 Mercedes 500K replica
Way to go. I would not want to tackle taking a door off by myself, although it would make changing the sender ( if you have to ) much easier.
Just a couple things to remeber for your testing and down the road. There will be two wires to the sender. One under a nut near the center, the other under a screw near an edge. These both run to the gauge. The sender is isolated from ground. Notice the little rubber washers under all the screws. Do not use coach ground at all for your testing and make sure the sender is isolated from coach ground. To test, just get a jumper betwen the two wires and the gauge should go to full. Or if no jumper handy, lift the wire under the nut and touch it to the wire that is under the screw - gauge should peg. I hope it doesn't, as anything beside the sender would be easier to deal with. Keep us in the loop. Russ
Russ White
2016 Winnebago Vista LX 30T
#530 ( Sold )
1999 45' Double Slide - Factory upgrade 2004
Russ, I'm back again. Attached is a photo of my sending unit, and you will notice that there are 3 wires, not just two. The two black ones are grounded to the sidewall in the tank bay, and the red with white stripe goes to the dash fuel gauge. The red wire has no break in it and the grounds are good. Looks like I need a sending unit. Except for the two black wires, mine looks similar to yours. Before I order the VDO 224-270, which of the black should I connect to the red to verify the sender is bad? You will see several other numbers on my sender: B2/5/11, 1099 and 21/23. I wonder if they have any meaning. Once again, I appreciate that you have paved the way for me to change out this unit.
2001 Newell #579
tow a Honda Odyssey
fun car: 1935 Mercedes 500K replica
I like your enthusiasm, but don't get too excited - this could be very difficult to impossible without moving the tank.
Steve Bare used to always say - "No two Newells are alike" and ours were made side by side.
Do you think you have a low fuel light? That may be why you have the extra wire I was not expecting. I do not have the wire that is connected to the tab. My negative is just under one of the screws.
To test, turn on the igntion and jump between the red/white and the wire going to the screw ( not the tab ). What did the gauge do when it was jumped?
Russ White
2016 Winnebago Vista LX 30T
#530 ( Sold )
1999 45' Double Slide - Factory upgrade 2004
(This post was last modified: 10-16-2012, 01:57 PM by RussWhite.)
Well Chester looks like your gauge is okay all the way to the sender. Your first task, should you decided to try the sender replacement on your own, is to remove the sender that is in there now. In doing that you should get a very good idea of just how hard it will be to put another back in. If you have to bend it to get it out, that's not good. Remember, if worst comes to worst, you can have a cover plate made to seal off the sender location and have it replaced by the pros at some point down the road. Just use your ProDriver to keep a fuel estimate and fill up more often than you might otherwise.
The sender I ordered and received did not have the tab terminal which I am still assuming is for a low fuel light. Did you have time to determine if you actually have a low fuel light?
I'm not sure what more to say at this time.
Russ White
2016 Winnebago Vista LX 30T
#530 ( Sold )
1999 45' Double Slide - Factory upgrade 2004
I had my sending unit changed at Newell 2 years ago. The tank has to be emptied and it must be slid out to allow the sending unit to be changed. The sending unit is about 24" high. You can't get it out without sliding the tank out far enough to remove it.
The entire job is very time consuming, but it is doable!
My fuel gauge reads about 1/4 low, so when I'm on empty still have 1/4 tank left.
I've been tempted to pull it out and either adjust the float or replace it.
Is it a swing arm type?
How difficult was it to remove and replace Russ?
