Crooky Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 Hi All. I recently bought a Elddis Autoquest 130 & have been having problems with the water gauge. It never seems to give me a true reading, I've had it looked at 3 times but is still not working correctly. Has anybody else had this problem & how did you sort it? Regards Crooky :-> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyreman Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 Hi Crooky,i`ve got a 115 and mine is a bit hit and miss,i think its only supposed to be a guestimate anyway,shame the tanks are so small.apart from that i`m well pleased Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crooky Posted October 1, 2009 Author Share Posted October 1, 2009 I also think its a cracking motor. Really chuffed with it, just can't understand why it supposed to hold 45 litres of water but shows full on the water gauge when I've only put about 4 litres in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJH Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 When we bought our two year old Autoquest 100 in June 2006 the water gauge didn't work during handover. The saleswoman we dealt with was surprised and booked in in for a fix. We (supposedly) had it fixed and it has still never worked. It was some time later that we found that a non-working gauge is a "feature" of the Autoquest range :-) We soon got used to how much water we use though, so easy enough to keep the tank topped up as necessary. Also, it's easy to lift the seat cushion and spin the cap off to look at how full the tank is. Hope you enjoy your van as much as we enjoy ours. Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mondo Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 We had an Autoquest 140 on an 07 plate and the gauge never worked properly on it.......but just like a previous poster put a few litres in and it reads full. *-) Welcome happy trails mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosbotham Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 2008 140 for us. Ditto on the water guage...when it moves off full, it means you've got about a sink full left in there. My advice is accept it as a decoration for the wall, and learn to guage your usual usage without reference to the meter. A brimmed tank normally lasts us 1.5 days. V. good value motorhomes, but the one failing of them is the miniscule water tank (although at least the 12V socket to pump water in is useful). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 In over 35 years I've NEVER had any van with an accurate or reliable water tank gauge, so now I just ignore it and never look at it! I know from experience how many litres of water we use on average per day and on that basis if the tank holds enough for four days we will simply refill it every three days - no worries. We also carry a couple of 2L recycled milk containers full of fresh water just in case of a run out - or pump failure - although we have never yet needed to use them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Surely if the gauge is that inaccurate in the Autoqest's it's 'Not fit for purpose' and should be replaced FOC with one that works. The gauge in my van is reasonable accurate but let down by only having sensors at 0, 25, 50, & 100% so once the level is a few litres below a sensor the gauge reads the next level down e.g. tank just below ½ full it will read 25%, not ideal but it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJH Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 It's not that important Lenny. Just a minor point, soon compensated for, in what is otherwise a brilliant van :-) Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly58 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 We had a 115 for 2 1/5 years and our gauge was never right and another thing if full before driving off you will lose a lot of water when going along and around corners from the overflow outlet I fixed a piece of hose to the outlet and a 15mm service valve on the end open the valve until tank is full then close the valve then water cannot escape I still have the pipe if anyone wants some pics of it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopesy Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 We've got a 115 and realised that the water guage is next to useless so we just judge how much we've used. As the tank is small it's quite easy to keep a guestimate. Other than that well pleased with the van after 2 years of using it. I've never looked at the workings but i would think it's a float on a rheostat type arrangement and that is never good in or close to water. It's become a bit of a sad little game of us versus the guage to see who's more accurate :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Most tanks have an overflow that loses lots of water on the move and some don't even allow you to fill the tank in the first place! My cure is to extend and reroute the overflow in a loop that takes it higher than the top of the tank and it always seems to work. This can easily gain you a days worth of water which helps a lot when in non site nomadic mode. Just make sure that all the joints and tank lids are secure and not leaking before heading off into the sunset! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johngee Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 The water gauge in our 115 seems OK ish, but I never expect it to any more accurate than say, a car fuel gauge. If it stopped working completely I would get it looked at, but otherwise a reading of 'you've probably got 1/2 a tank left, but I'm not really sure' is up to my expectations. Ours has the Whale autofill system, so it's easy to keep topped up - or at least it will be when it's fixed. Why do warranty claims take so long to get approved? (Rhetorical question - I don't want to start any rants) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Rosbotham - 2009-10-01 8:45 PM V. good value motorhomes, but the one failing of them is the miniscule water tank (although at least the 12V socket to pump water in is useful). johngee - 2009-10-02 10:53 AM Ours has the Whale autofill system, so it's easy to keep topped up - or at least it will be when it's fixed. I hate these things ... they are more akin to a caravan set-up than a motorhome. If you like them that's great but to me, apart from being one more bit of kit to go wrong, they're totally useless when you're on an aire in France etc and have paid for water at a bourne which often have a limit of time and/or amount of water you get for your money - how you get round this with a pump system I don't know as I don't think you can use a standard hosepipe instead. So what do you do? Fill a bucket and then pump it in from there???8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Collings Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Most water tank gauges have a about four metal buttons down the inside of the tank with a different resistance wired through the wall of the tank to each them . The water inside acts as a conductor and the gauge reads the difference in current flow as the water completes the circuit. Poor connections due to gunge on the buttons or bad joints in the rest of the circuit upset the readings. Thirst is a reliable indication that the tank is empty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johngee Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 I hate these things ... they are more akin to a caravan set-up than a motorhome. If you like them that's great but to me, apart from being one more bit of kit to go wrong, they're totally useless when you're on an aire in France etc and have paid for water at a bourne which often have a limit of time and/or amount of water you get for your money - how you get round this with a pump system I don't know as I don't think you can use a standard hosepipe instead. So what do you do? Fill a bucket and then pump it in from there???8-) Valid point as it has gone wrong! The sensor that detects when the tank is full & then shuts off the supply was fine when the van was collected, but subsequently the wires from the sensor shorted out against a chassis member as the sensor was positioned flush up against the chassis - vibration/movement presumably rubbing through the insulation. The dealers are going to drop the tank & reposition the sensor under warranty, and in the meantime have bypassed it so that I can switch the supply on & off manually. The disadvantage of the system is that if it breaks, I can't fill the tank unless the sensor in the tank is bypassed. The advantage is that I can keep my small 45 litre tank topped up automatically from an external source, either from a tap if I have a dedicated one or, more usually, from a container with the supplied 12v pump submersed in it. As for the 'standard hosepipe' question, the socket on the van accepts a special connector attached to the hose (supplied with the van), so filling is no problem - turn on tap, connect hose to van & wait until it cuts off the supply when the tank is full. Thereafter, if a supply of some description is still connected, then it will keep replenishing the tank. Personally I wouldn't have slashed my wrists if the van had come without the system, but since it did I want it to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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