hey everyone i need to replace the internal fuel pump on my vl wagon. now here is my question, can the pump be replaced without taking the whole tank out ? it looks like it would be ok to do so but just wondering if anyone has done it. i really dont wanna take my tank out if i can help it, i did it on my old vl and i really dont wanna do it again. also anyone done it without a hoist ?? just jacked up the rear of the car and on car stands ? any help would be great, thanks. also im a bit worried about doiong it coz you have to get it in the swirl pot, is it hard to do ?

i did it about 6 months ago with the tank still in, and no hoist, or stands for that matter. car wasnt lowered at that time tho. just made sure the car was almost out of juice (so the fuel level is below the bottom of the hole). make sure you relieve the fuel pressure though, just take out the fuel pump fuse and run it till it dies and your good to go. didnt take long either.

Thats what i want to hear lol. Im an apprentice mechanic so i have the knowledge but i just have never done a fuel pump on a vl before so the last thing i wanna do is get stuck at home on the weekend with no car. I learned the hard way about releasing the fuel pressure when i did an engine swap on my calais lol fuel straight in the eyes, its not very nice. did you have trouble putting it back in ?? like getting it into the pot?

nah dude not at all, just remember how you took it out, and put it back in just like that. i.e. you have to twist it a bit to get the fuel level sender out, cos its attached to the pump, and (as quoted in the haynes manual): do not bump the float or sender unit against the tank during removal or the accuracy of the unit may be affected.

Well did this today and it was quite easy, it did take me a little while to get the thing out as I didn't know which way had to twist it lol and it kept hitting the diff and things but once I had it out and replaced everything it went back in in about 30 seconds. Best of all it fixed my problems, so im pretty happy. Oh and the pump only cost me $50..... I love being in the trade lol

sweet as man...

How did you know to replace the intank anyway? Was your engine not starting at all?

because when i had less than half to three quarters of a tank it was making a terrible bubbling noise. took it out and found that the clip that goes on the rubber tube that connects the electric pump itself to the tube had broken off so it was sucking in air.. so in actual fact the pump it self was not to bad so i could have got away with just replacing the clip but i didnt know that at first. so i replaced the pump anyway and now its good and the pump it self is alot quieter than my old one so im glad i replaced it anyway.

mine was just running rough and went thru process of elimination, replaced the in tank which turned out to be ok, but there is a small filter/strainer lookin thing where the pump sucks in the fuel and it had been eaten away over time by the fuel, so glad i did it anyway. turned out to be leaky injectors in the end, combined with water damage to the ecu.