92 convertible-this thing is wedged in place and will move a small amount-I have the gas cap out..HELP!!!!!!

 

I cut through the blocks holding it side to side-it moves more but is there a drain towards the driver side? All the pics of a tank I have show nothing that should be holding this in .

 

Disconnect the fuel lines at the bottom of the tank. A real PIA but it can be done.

 

When I did this on mine I wrapped a rope around the filler neck and used a board on the bumper as leverage.

 

so there is a fuel line on the bottom of the tank?

 

The fuel lines on my '95 AJ16 engine convertible exit the tank at the bottom. I am assuming your V12 car does the same. You really should buy the service DVD to help.

 

I have a pump on top with 3 lines coming off of it and nowhere in any manual does it talk about a line under the car to remove.

 

OK, then you have no fuel lines at the bottom. Do you have any tech material you can reference?

 

Hi Ukester

Not long ago I did this job on my 95 Celebration Convertible and there is (or at least on my Car was) Not one but two fuel lines coming from the bottom of the tank, one is for petrol IN and the other for Flow Return.

You have to get right under the Car to see them and where and how they go into the Tank (You won't be able to see them just looking into the boot/trunk)

They are held in place with a push on clip on each one of them and your best bet is to soak those clips in WD40 or similar, then try and slide them off with a screw driver.

There is a special gadget that you are going to need to put them back later, which is also handy for getting them off as well (but you can make one) from a piece of stiff plastic pipe with a slot cut in to go over the tubes.

As you obviously cannot slide it over the full length of the tube, so you slide it over the rubber hoses near where the unions go into the tank and then push (and twist) on the connectors, which you just took the clips off.

After a lot of 'jiggling' the tubes should then pull out, so have something at hand to catch the petrol (not made of metal or anything that might cause a spark)

Apart from the rubber connector sleeve from the filler cap to the tank and one or two smaller hoses held on by Jubilee clips, they are the only things that hold the tank in.

Other than that its literally jammed in place with pieces of rubber material on each side and though I got mine out on my own, its handy if you have another guy on hand to help you pull it out.

As it will feel as if its bolted in!

You will also need to remove just about every piece of metal and trim that you can see then put some blocks of wood in the (boot/trunk) so as you pull it out of the hole into which it is jammed.

It will have a level 'ish' surface to slide on to.

It may also be an idea to renew the sender and anything else you can think of, as this is such a 'Pig' of a job, that you will never ever want to tackle this again!

 

Not sure which manual you have but my manual for both the 4.0 and 5.3L cars clearly states that you need to disconnect the two fuel ones at the bottom of the tank. The only way you can do this is from underneath the car.

I'm guessing that the three hoses you see at the top of the tank are the purge and vent lines for the evaporative flange.

 

so what feeds the car for fuel? I thought the fuel pump located on the top of the tank did that?

 

ukester,

I've just had a quick look through the facelift manual and the removal of the tank from a convertible. If you read the fuel system introduction, it does state that the feed and return are from the pipes under the tank. In the detailed steps on removing the tank, it also says to remove the fuel supply and return pipes. Which service manual are you working from?

Paul

 

Ok I'm a bit confused, perhaps we are not talking about the same parts? The fuel pump is located inside the tank and is mounted on the bottom. At the top of the tank there is a flange with hoses coming out of it, however, this is not the fuel pump, just the evaporative flange. The pipes from the pump/tank that feed the engine are located in the bottom of the tank.

Here is an exploded view of the tank. Part number 2 is the fuel pump. Hope that helps

 

I'd like to thank the members who stepped up to help ukester out with this job. I must apologize for my far too brief answers. Yesterday I was in and out all day and couldn't devote the time I should have to his questions. This does point out the need for all of us to have the appropriate technical documentation at hand.

 

Hi Ukester

Although the fuel pump is located in the Top of the Tank, all the fuel line plumbing is in the bottom of the tank, also submerged in the 'gas' the same as the fuel pump.

In other words its all plumbed in 'internally inside the Tank', with the flow and return from the Fuel Pump, 'internally connected' to the 'Unions' coming out of the Tank, which you can only see when you get underneath the car.

These 'Union Connectors' are in the worst possible place you can imagine, just to the side of the IRS suspension and only accessible through a hole in the IRS cradle, which is so small and awkward to get to.

That you would need a very small hand to even touch these unions with your finger tips, hence the reason for using the Tip of a screwdriver to prize off the clips that hold them in place.

And why you need the special tool or as I have suggested you can make one, from a piece of stiff plastic tube with a slot cut in to go over the external fuel lines, so that you can push and twist these 'Unions'

As they push into the fuel tank outlets with 'O' rings in between, so you have to push and twist the 'Unions' if not to get them to come out, then you will certainly need to, in order to get them to go back in.

Because as you will see when you manage to get the external fuel lines out, these fuel tank 'Unions' have a slot that has to be lined up exactly to get these holding clips back on to secure the fuel lines in place.

So best to order some new clips and maybe two new 'O' rings.

Don't forget to disconnect the battery before working on the fuel pump/lines or tank, as just one spark is all it takes to take both you and your car out of the game.

 

Absolutely renew the o-rings, they get brittle with age and it's not a job you want to do again soon if you can help it

I've found that it's easier to drop the rear cradle (dead easy to do) and then everything is very accessible.

Do try to siphon or drain out as much petrol as possible from your tank first. It'll make the job easier.

As Orangeblossom states, you will need a special fuel line disconnect tool. They sell them at any car parts shop.

 

now that does make sense-wow drop the rear cradle again...what a fantastic looking car but to work on forget it...

 

Having done this job myself, I have to disagree about dropping the Cradle, as getting those fuel lines disconnected from the tank from underneath the Car, should take you no more than 10 minutes at the most!

So unless you have another job to do on the IRS like for instance renewing the brake discs, I simply wouldn't bother dropping the cradle.

Disconnecting these fuel lines, is by far the easiest part of the job, so don't be put off by the fact that you can't put your hand through the hole in the cradle of the IRS because you DON'T need to!

(1) Get a long thin screw driver and use it to prize off the clips, which is a dead easy job. In the UK where we get rust! I sprayed those clips the night before with some WD40 (which you may not need to do in the US)

(2) Once you have got the Clips off, you may well be able to just pull the hoses out of their sockets, which had been held in place by these Clips.

(3) Have something handy not made of metal that won't cause any sparks to catch any 'gas' in.

(4) Now you can do the worst part, which is pulling the 'gas' tank out of the hole into which it is jammed.

(5) Don't cut through the rubber blocks on either side of the 'gas' tank that help to wedge it in place if you don't have to, because you will only find yourself doing the rounds trying to find some replacements.

(6) You won't find any, as spares like that don't exist! which means going around to find some similar rubber to cut some blocks from, so try and preserve what you've got.

(7) Once you have disconnected those two external fuel lines, it shouldn't be hard to pull the tank out but build up the level in the 'Trunk Well' with blocks of wood or similar, so the 'gas' tank doesn't drop down.

(8) Then you can replace the pump and sender and the rubber gaskets if they got damaged.

(9) When unbolting the fuel pump, you are supposed to use a 'Sparkproof Spanner' As if you drop the spanner and it causes a spark, the tank could explode!

(10) When you've replaced the fuel pump and pushed the tank back in place, the secret of reconnecting those external fuel hoses, is to have the special tool for the job, which pokes in through the cradle of the IRS.

This pushes on the hose unions, where they go into the tank, to compress the 'O' rings, so you can put the Clips on with a pair of very long nose pliers.

If I was doing this job again, I would pay a Jaguar mechanic to reconnect the hoses to the tank for me and put new clips and 'O' rings on as well.

It should only take Ten minutes, because they have the 'Special Tool' and have done it before on other Jags. It would be money well spent and just cost you a few dollars.

Finally: Don't forget to disconnect the Battery, before you even start on anything, as just one spark and it will be 'Game Over'!

 

I did not mean to infer that you had to drop the cradle, just that it is easier to fiddle about with the hoses with the cradle down. It is quite easy to drop the cradle and then you can also more easily do some other jobs like cleaning around the diff breather, checking rear suspension mounts, bushings etc.

 

I have had the cradle out last year-I did replace the calipers but not the discs-could use the disc though.