I have a leak from the top of the tank. The threaded ring that holds in the fuel pump is split which allows fuel to leak out. Mostly when filling up at full flow.
I dropped the tank, with it laid on the drive shaft and exhaust, I was able to inspect with a mirror. Parts on order, be here next week.
It looks like I'll have to drop the drive shaft and break the exhaust to fully remove the tank.

The drive shaft looks straight forward. Several Allen head bolts, drop the center bering and support just in front of the U-joint.
The exhust may be a problem. The front is a simple doughnut type clamp. In the rear, just in front of the differential is a fitting with a single bolt. Is that a clamp holding 2 pipes together?
What hoses do I need to look for? Filler, Pressure Line, Return Line. I could see another set of lines running across the top.
Any advice would be great before I start on this.
Thanks

 

Come on Jag Folks!!
Has anyone taken out a 2004 X-Type fuel tank?

What about the drive shaft? Is it just some bolts, then support it?

What about the exhaust? It it a break in the pipe just in front of the differential?

I'll take advice on any portion of the job.

Thanks

 

Jaginga, unfortanately, you are on the right track. The exhaust and driveshaft will need to be moved out of the way in order to get the gas tank out. The clamps you talk about for the exhaust are probably the ones you need to mess with and you have their description of how they work down good. So, undo the bolts and pull that section out of the way.

As for the lines going to the tank, I seem to recall that there are 4 there. You have a high pressure line going to the engine, you have a lower pressure return line from the engine, then you have the main fill line along with a vent line. You also have a plug on top that will need to be disconnected for the fuel pump/fuel level gauge.

You will find that the hard part of this job will be getting the exhaust apart. You get that taken care of, the rest will be very easy.

 

Thanks Thermo.
The parts came today, but it will have to wait till next weekend. I'll update for future ref.

 

Well, it's complete.
It wasn't too bad, just cramped under the car and time consuming.
Took about 6hrs crank up to clean up.
First I backed the car up on ramps.
Then loosened the single nut on the exhaust clamp, it slid right out and dropped to the ground since it has a flex hose connection.
Next came the drive shaft. With a jack stand, adjust it to just under the height of the shaft at the intermediate bearing, remove the 2 bolts and support the drive shaft on the jack stand. Next, 6 allen head bolts, make sure you have a good metric set with the rounded long end, and a small metric wrench to use to turn it, that would be for the top two. The drive shaft seperated very easily and laid down next to the exhaust.
Next, remove the tank. I forgot to mention, run it to as low as you dare, it helps the weight, I took it to about 50miles to empty.
With a jack stand handy. Use a socket, extension, ratchet, take off the front two bolts. Let the straps dangle, let the tank rest on the jack stand. Roll yourself back to where you can see how to get the straps off from the back, they fit into a puzzle type arangement, no tools needed, just hold your tounge right.
The fuel connection at the front going into the filter, the filler neck hose clamp and the return line were disconnected earlier, as was the wiring connection (that is under the seat, remove and open a large rubber gromet plug, the connection is right under there)
There was still one more hose connection I didn't see. The connection is a quick disconnect type, located over the differential. It is tough to get to, then tougher to get the right squeeze to release the clamp, keep trying and give a hulk type yell.
Finally all connections accounted for.
Removing should now be easy, but it seemed to be hanging, I thought it was on the tank edge, on install I found it was a hose connection on top driver side of the tank. I'm surprised I didn't break it during the removal.

The tank repair, the large threaded ring was cracked and leaking and setting off an error on the emisions system. I orderd the ring and an O-Ring gasket. The ring is large, about 7" in diameter. I made a tool out of 1"x1"X12", notched out about the middle 4" to clear the hose connections. This worked fine, kind of clumsy, hard to explain but just lay it across the ring and find 2 notches across from each other and put the tool in them and twist. Off was ok. Putting back on was a little tough (note, don't empty the tank out until later), tilting the tank to let the remaining gas go to that corner revealed it was still leaking. Tightenend again, still leaking. Removed and tightenend, still leaking. Finally I tightened to where I was concerned about breaking the ring again, but it worked, no leak.

Before install, I emptied the remaining gas to make as light as possible, there is an anti-siphon valve you will have to by-pass.
Install, during install the tank was hanging, noticed hose connection mentioned above. To resolve, I jacked up on the frame of the car, this lifted the suspension just enough to allow smooth entry.
Put back together in reverse order.

 

If that happens to me I do not know if I can handle it I am not a mechanic, it sounds too complicated.

Anyway well done

 

Anything special you have to do to remove the large white ring? I tried to use a ratcheting clamp since it was wide enough and could control the pressure. The ring was just not moving. Any idea?

 

Maddog, I normally take a 1/2" x 1/2" wood stick and using a hammer, tap the ring off. You can use a 1/2" wood dowel too to do the same thing. Just make sure to remain perpendicular to the ring as you are tapping it off. After about a 1/4 of a turn, the ring should get very free and it will spin off by hand at that point.