P38A A third way of changing the fuel pump

I was very upset to find out there was no access to the fuel pump from inside the car, like on a D2 for example, as I don't have a lift and did not want to cut a hole in the floor.

What I ended up doing was lifting the car on wading height, removing the battery after which I supported the chassis all around with jacks and jackstands (I just don't trust them air suspensions!). The original plan was to maybe lift the car high enough to drag the tank out once I'd dropped it (on my chest, with what at the time I thought was less then a quarter of a tank but after fitting the new pump turned out to be over a third!). Alas I soon realised it was too dangerous to lift the vehicle high enough for that and I settled for just jacking it high enough to be able to take the pump out under the car and fit the new one.

I had to reuse the old olives - is that what they are called? - as I couldn't find them anywhere for sale and was unaware of the type of fittings on this model.

I would say the hardest part was of course lifting the whole thing halfway up and fitting all the hoses and hose clamps back on.

Does anyone else change them fuel pumps this way? I am not looking forward to doing it again!

Maat said:

I was very upset to find out there was no access to the fuel pump from inside the car, like on a D2 for example, as I don't have a lift and did not want to cut a hole in the floor.

What I ended up doing was lifting the car on wading height, removing the battery after which I supported the chassis all around with jacks and jackstands (I just don't trust them air suspensions!). The original plan was to maybe lift the car high enough to drag the tank out once I'd dropped it (on my chest, with what at the time I thought was less then a quarter of a tank but after fitting the new pump turned out to be over a third!). Alas I soon realised it was too dangerous to lift the vehicle high enough for that and I settled for just jacking it high enough to be able to take the pump out under the car and fit the new one.

I had to reuse the old olives - is that what they are called? - as I couldn't find them anywhere for sale and was unaware of the type of fittings on this model.

I would say the hardest part was of course lifting the whole thing halfway up and fitting all the hoses and hose clamps back on.

Does anyone else change them fuel pumps this way? I am not looking forward to doing it again!

Click to expand...

Dropped the tank last time I did it. Hardest part was getting the fuel out first. I just cut the rubber fill-neck hose and replaced it on refitting as it is usually pretty cheap and perishes. Think I managed to reach it through the wheel arch somehow.

I got some olives from somewhere but the new pump came with them so I now have spares. Old diesel lift pump had an NRV built in but the new ones don't (newer models pump while cranking but my older one doesn't) so I fitted an NRV in the engine bay.

Always better to drop the tank so you can clean any crud out. If the old pump is working at all, then that can be used to drain the fuel. Just connect a length of hose to the feed pipe in engine bay & bypass the relay so it runs.

Olives are standard off the shelf size from any plumbers shop and probably the DIY sheds. 10mm iirc?.

Maat said:

I was very upset to find out there was no access to the fuel pump from inside the car, like on a D2 for example, as I don't have a lift and did not want to cut a hole in the floor.

What I ended up doing was lifting the car on wading height, removing the battery after which I supported the chassis all around with jacks and jackstands (I just don't trust them air suspensions!). The original plan was to maybe lift the car high enough to drag the tank out once I'd dropped it (on my chest, with what at the time I thought was less then a quarter of a tank but after fitting the new pump turned out to be over a third!). Alas I soon realised it was too dangerous to lift the vehicle high enough for that and I settled for just jacking it high enough to be able to take the pump out under the car and fit the new one.

I had to reuse the old olives - is that what they are called? - as I couldn't find them anywhere for sale and was unaware of the type of fittings on this model.

I would say the hardest part was of course lifting the whole thing halfway up and fitting all the hoses and hose clamps back on.

Does anyone else change them fuel pumps this way? I am not looking forward to doing it again!

Click to expand...

Pretty much what I did, when I replaced one in 09.

Did the same thing a while back, on the ground using jack stands. I removed it from under the car to be able to clean it around the pump.