Friday afternoon I filled up my tank and when I came out from the cashier there was a puddle of gas (about the size of a Frisbee) underneath the Jeep. I looked under the Jeep and it was leaking from around the fuel pump housing. I got home, drained and pulled the tank. When I took out the fuel pump assembly the intake pre-filter had once again fallen off. I say once again because at TDS the pre-filter had caused some fuel delivery problems. It was pretty easy to change but I just wanted to point out a few things that I came across when doing the procedure.
1) Like I said the tank was full and I had to drain it. I couldn’t snake a siphon hose down into the tank to drain it that way. But when I undid the fuel return line the gas kept pouring out. I was able to siphon the whole tank (except for about 1-2 gallons) from the return line.
2) I pulled the tank because I knew there was an “extra” pre-filter screen in the tank. A little background on this. At TDS back in March the Jeep died on me coming bank from a run. We pulled the fuel pump and there was no pre-filter and there was a little rubber plug stuck on the inlet to the fuel filter. A little about tank construction so all this makes sense. In the bottom of the fuel tank there is a reserve tray that the fuel pump sits in. The tray has a rubber grommet in it that the tube from the return line slips into. The little rubber plug that I found in the inlet of the fuel pump fits into a hole on the pre-filter and when the fuel pump assembly is in the tank it serves as a ‘foot’ that rests against the bottom of the reserve tray to help hold the pre-filter in place. There’s a catch though. If the pump assembly isn’t assembled into the tank so that the fuel return line isn’t slipped into the rubber grommet, the pre-filter can slip off the inlet side of the pump.Fast forward to Friday night. I pulled the pump assembly and once again the pre-filter and rubber plug were loose in the tank. Make sure that when you replace the fuel pump that it is seated correctly in the rubber grommet in the reserve tray so that the pre-filter does not come off.
3) The fit of the pre-filter and inlet of the fuel pump is pretty loose. There is a two-pronged tab on the fuel pump housing that aligns the pre-filter. I had to bend this tab a little to keep the pre-filter from falling off the pump.
The procedure was pretty easy but there are just a couple of things you have to pay attention to, to avoid potential problems in the future.
1) Like I said the tank was full and I had to drain it. I couldn’t snake a siphon hose down into the tank to drain it that way. But when I undid the fuel return line the gas kept pouring out. I was able to siphon the whole tank (except for about 1-2 gallons) from the return line.
2) I pulled the tank because I knew there was an “extra” pre-filter screen in the tank. A little background on this. At TDS back in March the Jeep died on me coming bank from a run. We pulled the fuel pump and there was no pre-filter and there was a little rubber plug stuck on the inlet to the fuel filter. A little about tank construction so all this makes sense. In the bottom of the fuel tank there is a reserve tray that the fuel pump sits in. The tray has a rubber grommet in it that the tube from the return line slips into. The little rubber plug that I found in the inlet of the fuel pump fits into a hole on the pre-filter and when the fuel pump assembly is in the tank it serves as a ‘foot’ that rests against the bottom of the reserve tray to help hold the pre-filter in place. There’s a catch though. If the pump assembly isn’t assembled into the tank so that the fuel return line isn’t slipped into the rubber grommet, the pre-filter can slip off the inlet side of the pump.Fast forward to Friday night. I pulled the pump assembly and once again the pre-filter and rubber plug were loose in the tank. Make sure that when you replace the fuel pump that it is seated correctly in the rubber grommet in the reserve tray so that the pre-filter does not come off.
3) The fit of the pre-filter and inlet of the fuel pump is pretty loose. There is a two-pronged tab on the fuel pump housing that aligns the pre-filter. I had to bend this tab a little to keep the pre-filter from falling off the pump.
The procedure was pretty easy but there are just a couple of things you have to pay attention to, to avoid potential problems in the future.
