How to remove waste sensor

CaliforniaDAN · Oct 26, 2012

Hi

Can anyone advise me as to the method of removing the waste sensor on my 2010 Cali.

Mine never shows any reading even when i have flushed water from the fresh tank through the pump and into the waste tank.

I have located the sensor under the sink behind the cutlery tray and unclipped the wiring. The sensor is black in colour surrounded by a white plastic collar, but for the life of me i cannot work out how to extract it without causing damage.

Any tips will be greatly appreciated.

sebking · Oct 26, 2012

it only shows full, not anything in between, so probably is working fine.

If you do want to take it out it unscrews from the top.

CaliforniaDAN · Oct 26, 2012

SEBKING
Thanks for the response, my sensor has never shown anything even when it overflowed. I don't have a spanner large enough to get round it to unscrew, so I will list this as a warranty problem when my Cali goes in for its service next month. :thanks

philcod · Apr 17, 2013

I guess if its overflowing and nothing shows something is definitely wrong. Ours has also never showed anything on the control panel so with another couple of issues I put the van in for warranty work. I expected the control panel to show "bars" as the tank filled - so did the garage but when they checked it out they could find no electrical fault.

They checked with VW and the news is that on later models no bars appear. Apparently, when the tank is around half full the control panel goes straight to showing the tank as being full - so its a binary warning rather than progressive. They've checked it out and thats how ours works. News to them and us! I guess we never filled it past halfway - which is probably right.

CaliforniaDAN · Apr 17, 2013

I took mine if for a look under warranty and they checked the sensor showing no fault. I later filled the waste tank to full with a bit overflowing (the waste system lets it flow out) with the sensor not showing anything. I have given up with this fault and now treat as one of the California's little foibles!

philcod · Apr 17, 2013

Yes - I came to the same conclusion - if it comes back still not working.

2into1 · Apr 17, 2013

Ah, something a modern Cali shares with my 16 year old example!

DM · Apr 8, 2016

Has anyone investigated their waste water sensors on the T6? Mine has not shown any indication as yet. However reading above I see that it may only be a binary sensor - I was expecting bars. Is that the same o the T6?

I'm pretty sure I have had the waste tank more than half full though. I will fill it to overflowing tonight and report back.

GrannyJen · Apr 8, 2016

I was told that on my T5 that it has two indicators, Full or Empty.

I have actually filled it up to check and still nothing moved on the indicator.

I'm not bothered about it as it's one of those things that is so routinely emptied it is never likely to ever be full but I suppose I should really complain.

DM · Apr 9, 2016

DM said:
Has anyone investigated their waste water sensors on the T6? Mine has not shown any indication as yet. However reading above I see that it may only be a binary sensor - I was expecting bars. Is that the same o the T6?

I'm pretty sure I have had the waste tank more than half full though. I will fill it to overflowing tonight and report back.

No - the sensor on the waste tank definitely isn't working. I filled the tank to overflowing and got no change to the indication.

Can any T6 owners confirm that theirs does work?

monster-mash · Apr 14, 2016

I'm currently fitting a Cali kitchen at the moment and when checking the wiring I had both fresh and waste sensors removed and manually worked them whilst observing the display. They both employ hall effect sensors vertically mounted on their respective tubes meaning resistance value changes as the magnet moves further up or down the tube. The fresh water is three different values and static the waste is either full or empty, so assuming that the magnet fitted to floating material is buoyant all should work.
If you remove it SEBKING plug it in and move it gently bottom to top and see if you get a reading, when you see the sensor (waste) you will realize why the tank has to be be virtually full to get any readings on the Camper control.
Hope this helps

DM · Apr 14, 2016

DM said:
No - the sensor on the waste tank definitely isn't working. I filled the tank to overflowing and got no change to the indication.

Can any T6 owners confirm that theirs does work?

Dealer claims to have fixed this today. I'll test again at the weekend and let you know.

Does anyone know the relative positions of the sensor and overflow on the waste tank. It's just occurred to me that I park it in quite a slope so of the sensor is near the front and the overflow at the back it may well not register. I'll make sure it's on the flat when I read-test.

WelshGas · Apr 14, 2016

DM said:
Dealer claims to have fixed this today. I'll test again at the weekend and let you know.

Does anyone know the relative positions of the sensor and overflow on the waste tank. It's just occurred to me that I park it in quite a slope so of the sensor is near the front and the overflow at the back it may well not register. I'll make sure it's on the flat when I read-test.

Unless they have changed the design, and I doubt that, the Sensor is in the centre of the tank and the overflow at the rear.

http://www.partsbase.org/vw/campmob-typ2-transp-lt-camp-eu-2013-06835-waste-water-tank/

monster-mash · Apr 14, 2016

DM you are correct parking on a slope may well affect its opperation given that it only really opperates in the the final 15% (educated guess) of tank full, don't think there is a overflow certainly not on mine anyway the waste water will eventually back up that much that the sink simply won't drain as that will become the waters upper level. The senson is situated in the middle of the tank approx 150mm to the left of the circuler tank access just under your sink.

monster-mash · Apr 14, 2016

Ah yes just realised overflow is what I was thinking is the breather (doh)

DM · Apr 14, 2016

monster-mash said:
DM you are correct parking on a slope may well affect its opperation given that it only really opperates in the the final 15% (educated guess) of tank full, don't think there is a overflow certainly not on mine anyway the waste water will eventually back up that much that the sink simply won't drain as that will become the waters upper level. The senson is situated in the middle of the tank approx 150mm to the left of the circuler tank access just under your sink.

Definitely got an overflow. When I kept drawing water down the sink I eventually got water coming out near the drain pipe even though the stopcock was closed.

WelshGas · Apr 14, 2016

monster-mash said:
Ah yes just realised overflow is what I was thinking is the breather (doh)

Yes, the Air Vent acts as an Overflow. If your sink will not drain when the Waste Tank is full then that would indicate a problem with the Air Vent, unless of course you park on a steep slope, nose down. In this case the sink drain could be at the same level or lower than the Air Vent.

Hannick · Feb 25, 2017

I removed my waste sensor today whilst sterilising both tanks to see how it worked. It unscrews without difficulty and disconnecting it from the wiring before doing so is simple. I had the ignition turned off and the control module also off.

As mentioned above it is a simple device with a black float that rises when the water lifts it and (on our 2010 California) only changes the indicator on the display when the tank is full. There are no segments showing a part fill as with the fresh water tank.

The photos show the small level of movement of the float. It is either off or on.