Overland
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- The Chihuahuan Desert
My 96 two door came to me with three inches of varnish in the fuel tank, and naturally, a non responsive fuel pump. So I clipped the pigtail, wired it to one from a 90, and dropped the whole assembly in. 90 model had the regulator on the rail, and also a different fuel level sending unit. Well, it ran. I was able to work a lot of the bugs out, but still had hot starting issues, and it was running quite hot at highway speed, loaded. Sometimes hot, at idle, it would start dropping cylinders, then die unless I gave it some throttle.
Tired of carrying three gallons of insurance in the back seat, I ordered a pump and started working on the original sending unit. These things are too expensive to replace without at least trying to fix. So I popped the arm out, which relieves the sweeping contacts. Cleaned the PCB with steel wool and polished the contacts with fine emery cloth. Meter showed a reading, up and down.
When the pump came in, I went right out to put it together, but getting it in is a bit tricky on factory springs without a jack. Fuel gauge didn't work. Must be the infamous bump, I thought. How could something run so many trails? My four door got quartered years ago by a full size at 55, yet the gauge still works. I'd call that a bump and a half. How could cramming it into the tank between the axle and the exhaust cause a problem?
I feel real sorry for those guys who bumped their sending units, lost their reading, and replaced it at over $200 over what was probably a dirty ground. Mine was just a dirty ground, directly from the PCB to the bracket, next to the pump ground. My gauge works like a champ now, and my gas can stays at home.
The new pump is whisper quiet, half the time I don't hear it. Before, I had to warm up for about a minute, and still had poor throttle response for the first take off or two. Now, throttle response is crisp right from start up. I've noticed a significant increase in power, as well. Also, while it still runs hot at highway speed, loaded, it doesn't overheat, and highway performance is greatly increased. (four cylinder still ain't much) The hot starting and idling problems are gone entirely.
For what it's worth, I got a whole month out of a piece of 30R7 hose in the tank, but it was ready to go when it came back out. Already split at one end.
So these are my observations of driving a 96 XJ for one month with a different pump and no fuel pressure regulator. It got me by, took the boat to the lake, but was far from perfect. I pulled three hundred miles from the first tank of fuel, all loaded, mostly on the highway. Pretty sad for a four cylinder, I thought. Hopefully it improves, will update after this tank is gone.
Tired of carrying three gallons of insurance in the back seat, I ordered a pump and started working on the original sending unit. These things are too expensive to replace without at least trying to fix. So I popped the arm out, which relieves the sweeping contacts. Cleaned the PCB with steel wool and polished the contacts with fine emery cloth. Meter showed a reading, up and down.
When the pump came in, I went right out to put it together, but getting it in is a bit tricky on factory springs without a jack. Fuel gauge didn't work. Must be the infamous bump, I thought. How could something run so many trails? My four door got quartered years ago by a full size at 55, yet the gauge still works. I'd call that a bump and a half. How could cramming it into the tank between the axle and the exhaust cause a problem?
I feel real sorry for those guys who bumped their sending units, lost their reading, and replaced it at over $200 over what was probably a dirty ground. Mine was just a dirty ground, directly from the PCB to the bracket, next to the pump ground. My gauge works like a champ now, and my gas can stays at home.
The new pump is whisper quiet, half the time I don't hear it. Before, I had to warm up for about a minute, and still had poor throttle response for the first take off or two. Now, throttle response is crisp right from start up. I've noticed a significant increase in power, as well. Also, while it still runs hot at highway speed, loaded, it doesn't overheat, and highway performance is greatly increased. (four cylinder still ain't much) The hot starting and idling problems are gone entirely.
For what it's worth, I got a whole month out of a piece of 30R7 hose in the tank, but it was ready to go when it came back out. Already split at one end.
So these are my observations of driving a 96 XJ for one month with a different pump and no fuel pressure regulator. It got me by, took the boat to the lake, but was far from perfect. I pulled three hundred miles from the first tank of fuel, all loaded, mostly on the highway. Pretty sad for a four cylinder, I thought. Hopefully it improves, will update after this tank is gone.
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