wschwab

Hello all,

You will hopefully recall my 96 150 4.9L 2wd with the gas leak and suspected cross-filling. The basic sequence was that it started to leak gas (make that POURED gas) from the vapor canister, I found the rear tank over-filled, drained a bunch of gas off of it, after which it ran rough, stalled, etc. Some driving helped, but somebody suggested a tune up. It was certainly at least due, and I learned a lot from it as I knew would be the case.

Now the truck is running nicely. It took a while, partly because I do not drive it very much, but it finally moved almost a quarter tank into the rear when running off the front tank. That does it; I'm convinced of what happened, and the rear pump is on the replace list.

With the test behind me, I was filling a tank that I should be trying to empty, so I switched over to it. The new Harbor Freight opened on queue, and I now have the low-profile tranny jack I might have mentioned. With some wood on the "tray," it should be perfect for lowering the tank w/o losing control of it.

I have a fairly good idea of what to do (and will read over it all carefully before attempting it), but am confused over what sounded like great advice: use air to blow dry the tank. Ok, clearly I siphon out what I can. Is there a way to get "the last drop" to prevent waste? When it comes time to blow air, my compressor will do the job, but is that before or after dropping the thank? Before sounds great, but how? It seems easy, and still worth doing, to blow it dry once the tank is down and the fuel pump is removed, but that's a lot of time handling a tank with gas vapors in it. Any special precautions for not getting a face full of gas in the process?

To get ahead a little, I will support the tank, remove the straps, lower it some and then disconnect lines. How far is that first drop? I assume the real answer is "as little as possible to disconnect everything," but, is there a ballpark guess that is reasonable?

Thanks,

Bill

DixieDarkhorse

i just removed both tanks from my truck and you can lower it 3-4 inches at least to get everything unhooked. From experience, i would throw a couple 1'' ratchet straps around it so you do lose it and dent it.

aliens8mycow

Your idea sounds about as close as anything I've ever heard.

Someone might prove me wrong, but I don't know that you can really blow anything out until the tank is loose.

You've got a little bit of slack in the lines and harness to drop the tank a bit, but I'd expect this to be a little different from one truck to another. You'll see when you're running out of slack, and that's where to stop - push it too far, and you'll risk tipping the tank off the jack. The ratchet strap (or bungee cord) idea is a great bit of insurance!

I'm sure you've figured this part out, but this is not a good job to do with a cigarette dangling from your mouth!

DixieDarkhorse

yeah just be careful not to bend/kink the hard lines on top of the fuel pump

Fast Hampster

There will be less than a gallon in the tank after syphoning the gas, my expirience shows that it's not nesessery to dry it before taking off. That "first drop" in my case was lowering the rear end of the tank almost to the ground, while front end of the tank was hanging on the fuel lines. I did it that way because i had no fuel lines disconnecting tool while i was removing the tank, so i had to remove the pump from the tank without disconnecting it - it is also possible.

Good old Bill

Been away for a coulple of days doing other stuff. First off why should I offer advice, your brother Charles is really taking me to the cleaners. Just couldn't resist.
Back to business, that low tranny jack is the way to go. Your knowledge of doing this procedure is right on spot. Believe you have this handled.

wschwab

Hey!!! Stick with the program - he's my long-lost uncle. He might start to believe it if somebody other than me is saying it...

Thanks to all for the replies.

Bill

wschwab

Hello all,

I am pretty close to leaping into the replacement; in fact, I tried to buy the pump earlier this week. One chain store had it across town, offered to transfer it, and failed to do so twice in a row. IMHO, the other store is figuring I'll drive over there and buy it from them. Well, they can take an impact wrench to that idea

Another chain I buy from offered a range of pumps (including one made by Bosch), and it started to confuse the daylights out of me because some of them sounded less complete than others. My problem is in the check valve, not the pump itself. Truthfully, I have my suspicions about the pump too, but the last thing I want to do is replace everything but what is broken.

I usually like to get the parts before starting to remove anything, though it might be smart to pull the pump for comparison. I have some idea of what it looks like, but the diagrams vary.

Do any of you know what I am trying (and failing) to describe? Do I need to ask for anything specific besides "the whole thing"?

Bill

Just call me Sean

iTrader: (1)

You need the whole fuel pump assembly. If they give you just the fuel pump that won't fix your problem. Just the fuel pump will be a small metal canister looking thing with 2 electrical connectors and a spot for the hose. The whole assembly will be the pump but in a larger plastic cylinder looking thing. I'm not sure if the whole assembly comes with the fuel gauge sending unit, but it might.

DixieDarkhorse

most of the time they do come with senders