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stupid fuel pump... (or ghetto fuel pump repair)

P

philip_g

NAXJA Forum User
Location
back in CO
my pump was making noise, a ton of it on occasion so I figured it would be better to swap it now rather than later.

Got the pump out and the replacement in and wired in probabl 20 or 30 minutes, then wrestled with getting it in the tank for about 3 hours before I finally got the locaking ring to hook, but couldn't get it to spin around enough to make me comfortable.... so headed over to a buddy's shop to try and 2 man it in there and finally gave up, did away with the rubber gasket and sealed it up with some permatex. :twak:

Any bets on how long it holds? The lock rings actually holds it pretty darn tight, once the goop sets up I can't imagine it'll leak but I can always go over it again around the outside :D

(on an 89 4.0 BTW)
 
I use grease between the tank and gasket and gasket to the ring.
 
Not sure it would have helped, I think the gasket that came with th crappy pump was just the wrong size, both in diameter and thickness.
 
Good luck. I'm, assuming ths Permatex in question was some kind of RTV silicone? If the bead of sealant is thick and sets well you might get lucky. If I were doing it this way, or if you have to do it again, I'd try turning the ring only part way at first, then let the sealant cure before locking it down tight.

Those things are a bear to get in, but I found that one thing that really helps is to grease it all over. It is also really important to get the O-ring in the right place. If it's off center it won't sit down. Another thing that helps is to file the tangs on the locking ring to a sharper edge (the original bevel is too blunt). It's hard to get all three tangs engaged at once, but once they're in it should lock all the way if it's greased well and the O-ring is in the right place.
 
the pump is held fairly tight against the tank even without the O-ring in place, I'd imagine with a good coat of permatex on both the flange and plate I can get a good seal, I guess we'll know tomorrow.
next time it needs a pump I'll pay someone to do it, not worth my time or frustration and it would be much easier on a lift.

You can also bend those tabs down to dig under the locking lugs, this helped me a little.
 
Last edited:
answers that question, leaks like a sieve. Guess once my buddy gets back from taking it camping we'll be dropping the tank and doing it for the third time.
 
philip_g said:
answers that question, leaks like a sieve. Guess once my buddy gets back from taking it camping we'll be dropping the tank and doing it for the third time.
Click to expand...

If you bent the tangs of the locking ring down, that might contribute to the difficulty getting it locked all the way, because although it will start easier, it will be too tight once you rotate. I recommend filing them sharp without bending if possible.
 
Oh well, have a new locking ring on order from NAPA (dealer wants 65 bucks for a stupid locking ring) and will get a new O-ring. We'll just drop the tank and do it the "easy" way.

I still blame my buddy for not letting the gasket material set up for a full 24 hours as I had wanted, that's why it leaks... right :D
 
philip_g said:
Oh well, have a new locking ring on order from NAPA (dealer wants 65 bucks for a stupid locking ring) and will get a new O-ring. We'll just drop the tank and do it the "easy" way.

I still blame my buddy for not letting the gasket material set up for a full 24 hours as I had wanted, that's why it leaks... right :D
Click to expand...

Wow! My cheap chinese tank came with a new locking ring as well as a new O-ring. At those prices you could almost buy a cheap chinese tank for the contents of the little plastic bag and throw the fricken tank away!
 
Matthew Currie said:
Wow! My cheap chinese tank came with a new locking ring as well as a new O-ring. At those prices you could almost buy a cheap chinese tank for the contents of the little plastic bag and throw the fricken tank away!
Click to expand...
You could!
I didn't ask what NAPA wanted, I'm sure $5 or less but they couldn't get one for a few days.
 
philip_g said:
You could!
I didn't ask what NAPA wanted, I'm sure $5 or less but they couldn't get one for a few days.
Click to expand...

The prices sometimes are unreal, I needed a round headlight retaining ring for one of our wranglers this weekend, my jury rig from a couple months ago broke, dealer wanted $35 for the ring, it has 4 screw holes to keep the headlight in the bucket. Just ordered one from quadratec for $14 and change. Tried a generic help one for $7 and could only get 2 of the tabs to line up, grrrrrr, but it's holding so far..
 
I keep a giant size jar of Vaseline in the shop, stuff is great for many applications. It has never reacted with any rubber, natural or synthetic gasket, "O" ring, plastic, paint or what have you, that I've ever run across. I never install an "O" ring without a coat of Vaseline. It disolves in solvents quick and completely. And is a lot easier to wash off your hands than grease.
 
8Mud said:
I keep a giant size jar of Vaseline in the shop, stuff is great for many applications. It has never reacted with any rubber, natural or synthetic gasket, "O" ring, plastic, paint or what have you, that I've ever run across. I never install an "O" ring without a coat of Vaseline. It disolves in solvents quick and completely. And is a lot easier to wash off your hands than grease.
Click to expand...

While I am a staunch advocate of Vaseline for many applications, including fuel tank o-rings, battery terminals, bulb sockets and other things, I should point out that it is still a petroleum product, and thus itwill rot true natural rubber such as that used in brake parts.
 
I keep K-Y (well, actually, Astroglide) in my toolbox for slipping things together, it works rather well. I dunno how much it would help on that fuel tank lock ring.

Just yesterday my brother and I changed the fuel pump on his S-10. Pretty sure the parts are similar. The inexpensive replacement pump came with a new o'ring for the tank flange but it was, in my opinion, of too hard material, so we cleaned up the old one and it looked good so we re-used it. Sprayed a coat of Zep Twister around the lock ring and it went all the way back into place with some effort. It never would have worked with the replacement o'ring.
 
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