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Removing fuel pump question


bikemikey

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About two months ago I changed out my gas tank and fuel pump. Everything worked fine until I overfilled the tank, the gas pump did not shut off. I noticed I might have a leak on the rubber hose that feeds to the gas tank, now I think my sending unit is stuck on full, don't know yet. I plan to make a homemade evap smoke tester and check for the leak later on.

When we installed the tank my friend who is a mechanic suggested we jack the car up off the ground on all four wheels. I showed him the journal, please correct me if I'm wrong , but doesn't it say you only have to jack up the rear of the car, or did I read it wrong? I might have to redo the sending unit myself , I personally feel safer with the front tires on the ground and chocked, or is my thinking wrong.

Thanks, Mike

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It is a bit easier to drain and drop the tank with the car level. Suppose you could just raise the rear but with four good jack stands you can raise the whole car. Only "extra" is to swing the rear sway bar down for clearance.

I only used to use genuine AC Delco fuel pumps but do not know if they still exist. Is too time consuming a job to go cheap.

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I won't know if I have to drop the tank until I do that smoke test. I hope it's not the o ring pinched on the sending unit, but it's probably just a hose. I'm pretty sure the tank is still full of gas. I only put about 45 miles on the car since I overfilled the tank, so I'm hoping the sending unit is still okay, just doesn't yet need to drop, I hope. Thanks for your reply.

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There is a short rubber hose connection from the top of the pump to the hard line that goes out of the tank. Some replacement pumps include a new piece of hose. Since your pump is not turning off, it could be a failure at that point and the pump is not building pressure...... and not turning off

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Barney,

That short piece of hose was used to replace the old damper, the mechanic claimed that was the purpose of it? I must have put over two hundred miles on the car since changing the pump, no problems, still drives great. I also filled the tank up to the full mark on the gauge, no problem until this recent overflow, I just kept pumping the gas thinking it would shut off. The reason I think I have a cracked hose or worse yet the metal part where it attaches, is because I noticed it dripped gas from behind the upper rear wheel. I also can smell some light fumes from the inner upper tire area where the big hose attaches to the metal part. My thinking is that the crack was releasing the back pressure allowing it to overflow, a smoke test will reveal this. Of course it will be a while before I can build the homemade smoke tester. I've decided to go with a glow plug tester, still looking for an aluminum can for that purpose.

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Guest Corvanti

do you have a 5 gallon gas can? or better yet a few gallon cans? the "easy" way to drain some fuel is the fuel rail or can do it underneath ( using 4 jack stands) at the connection near the drivers side rear wheel or the tank side of the fuel filter (if it's easy to get to on a 90).

the reason i say this is i've had several late 80/90's GM vehicles that the gauge would stay on full for quite awhile if i filled the tank to the top.

also, could the gas dripping out be from the gas filler area with a overflow hose? i don't have my Reatta or the FSM to check that.

anyway, removing some of the fuel is a heck of a lot easier than dropping the tank.:)

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do you have a 5 gallon gas can? or better yet a few gallon cans? the "easy" way to drain some fuel is the fuel rail or can do it underneath ( using 4 jack stands) at the connection near the drivers side rear wheel or the tank side of the fuel filter (if it's easy to get to on a 90).

the reason i say this is i've had several late 80/90's GM vehicles that the gauge would stay on full for quite awhile if i filled the tank to the top.

also, could the gas dripping out be from the gas filler area with a overflow hose? i don't have my Reatta or the FSM to check that.

anyway, removing some of the fuel is a heck of a lot easier than dropping the tank.:)

I might be okay on the sending unit, maybe. Today I took the car out around the block a few times to burn some gas off. When I backed out the driveway which has a steep incline, while driving off I noticed the gas went to 7/8 of a tank and stayed there a little bit but then went back to full. When I pulled back in the garage I noticed it bounced to the 7/8 th mark then back to full. I'm thinking I just need to burn off some more gas and the gauge will be okay, I hope. There is no leakage now, just mild fumes from the filler area which I will check out with a tester when I get it built. I still might have to drain some gas like you suggest if that gauge won't come down. Thanks for your input.

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