Hello and welcome to Just answer.com, Super mechanic here. About your vehicle.
The book does say to remove the tank completely. However, I'm like you if you can support the weight of the tank with the amount of fuel that's in it, you can lower it enough to get in there and replace the sensor.
You just want to be careful with the filler neck. You may want to remove the rubber hose at it.
And the lines are pretty easy to disconnect.
Ooh...I really would rather not disconnect any of the hoses (less mess). But if the hoses don't have enough slack in them to allow me to drop the tank a few inches, I guess I have no choice but to disconnect them and do a partial draining of the fuel system where the hoses are attached (probably only have to disconnect the ones that are in the front...hopefully).
Where is the fuel pump located in reference to the actual tank itself? Dead center of the tank? More towards the front? I was thinking that I could just take off the front strap and maybe the middle one to have it drop just a few inches, then I could reach in and do the work.
That sounds like a plan. The fuel module is almost exactly in the middle of the tank, somewhat toward the outboard sied though. You might even want to use a mirror if the tank won't come down far enough, (to see the sensor)
Hmm, the diagram makes it look like the hose doesn't have too much give, so it does look like I'll have to disconnect the lines in the front of the tank. I'll need to get a larger (and clean) pan to catch the fuel from the lines.
From the position of the fuel pump, the Fuel Tank Pressure Sensor looks like it can be accessed from the driver's side after disconnecting the front and maybe the middle straps (I think I can leave the rear strap alone as long as I have something below to support the weight of the tank)
I'll drive my car for the rest of the week to get the tank lighter (I stupidly gave myself a full tank this past weekend for my work commute) and give this a whack on the weekend when I can spend some time in getting dirty. I'll provide an update on this after the repair and accept the answer then.
Yes. The lines are designed to come off from the front before you take the tank out or down. If it is running, then I would by all means run a bunch of the gas out to make the tank alot lighter.
You can come back at any time, however, you might get a reminder about it after the 24 hours have gone by. Thanks
ASE MASTER
ASE Master tech. 30+ years mechanic, shop forman, service manager
Thanks for your patience on this.
Here's what went down today when I did the work:
I borrowed my father-in-law's ramps to jack up the front of the car. I left the back alone. (Note: I didn't bother disconnecting the battery before beginning. I know, bad thing to do but I was pretty sure I wouldn't blow up or I just like playing with danger...anyway). After taking off the gas cap to help with de-pressurizing, I disconnected the hoses to the purge tank, the fuel filter, and the other fuel line and collected about a third-cup of fuel from the lines that drained. After I drained what I could, I unbolted the front strap. The tank slowly dropped, but only by 1-2 inches. It wasn't very low. The middle strap was a bit more of a challenge to get to, but not impossible. This is where the tank started to lower greatly. I had a jack underneath to gently lower the tank while it was only attached with one strap at this point. I could see the fuel pump top and one of the electrical connections. However, my hand was too big to fit in the space and I would have to get to the opposite side of the fuel pump (the side I couldn't see). This required me to have the last strap removed. After finding a second jack to prop the other side, I removed the rear strap (that was a real challenge, the metal plate that separates the muffler and the fuel tank is really thick and bending it out of the way with one hand while removing the bolt with a ratchet in the other hand was a real pain) and I could finally reach in to disconnect the electrical connection and pull the Fuel Tank Pressure Sensor (this was all done by feel, not by sight!).
Putting everything back was a bigger challenge after putting the new Fuel Tank Pressure Sensor in and reconnecting the electrical. The back strap was really stubborn and it took alot to re-align the holes so the bolt could get through and be tightened up.
Total Time Spent: 2 hours
Tools used:
- Ratchet with 5/8th inch (16 mm) socket along with two 2" extentions (a single long extention to the ratchet would have been so much better!)
- New pan to collect dripping gas from fuel lines
- Two adjustable jacks to hold up the tank
- Ramps to raise up the front of the vehicle (borrowed)
- Canned Air to spray into the area where the fuel pump was to clean out the area before removing and inserting the Fuel Tank Pressure Sensor
I figured that if my tank was completely empty (had about a quarter tank of gas still) and if I also had a second set of hands, I could have finished this sooner.
Thanks for the help with this. But it looks like the answer to my original question of not removing all the straps is a definate NO unless I suddenly had daintly little hands. Nevertheless, a good experience for me in knowing in the future that I will NEVER get another car again without an access panel to the fuel pump!!!! :-)