I pulled my fuel pump out and found that there is an orange rubber piece that is in the housing that the filter attaches to. This is rotted and there are pieces of rubber in the fuel pump container housing.

Im assuming this is the check valve. Is there a source to replace this rubber piece? Am i better off just buying an aftermarket check valve to attach ouside of the tank right where the fuel hose attaches to the tank? Im not about to pay several hundred dollars to Jaguar to replace the entire housing when I already have the new pump and it is an exact match as to what I am replacing. It seems that this rotted rubber piece is the cause of my hard start.

Here are the photos. You will notice pieces of the orange rubber in the housing:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1099651...eat=directlink

 

So I installed the pressure valve in the tank attached to the fuel pump hose. My starting problems have now gone away. I didnt need a fuel pump. The car starts up no prblem, always within 1-2 turns. No more cranking the engine ten times.

Also, I cut a hole in back of the seat to access the pump. I use da dremel. There is a very thick rubber mat underneath the metal that prtoects sparks from getting anywhere near the pump housing or fuel lines. I cut three sides of a square and then scored the side of the square close to the window. Then I just broke the metal off. this double ensured that I did not cut the fuel lines. I will post a photo. IMO the car should come this way. Im just going to rv sealant a piece of metal over the hole. This is what other manufacturers do, in my experience, when they allow access to the fuel pump. RV sealant really is the way to go here for easy future access.

 

NOTE: AT YOUR OWN RISK! I was not going to post this because it is a bit crazy and you have to be very careful. First off if you have ANY gas smell in your trunk area do not do this. I did this outside and drained the tank with a siphon after running it dry. I also cut the hole with a face mask on, friend with a fire extinguisher, flame proof gloves, etc. all the precautions you can take is recommended. That said, it is not necessary to go entirely through the metal. You can go far enough in so that you can hit it with a hammer and just knock it out. The top only needs to be scored lightly. I did this procedure like a dentist would cut into someones tooth. Very precise and very careful, trying not to go all the way through the metal, keeping sparks outside of the tank area despite the fact there is a protective thick rubber pad. If you do it without going through the metal, it is relatively safe imo.

I made sure that I only went about an 1/8" in while cutting the metal. In just far enough to cut the metal. The rubber pad underneath did not even score. I used a dremel with a heavy duty round blade made for cutting metal. Again I did not cut through the metal at the top. I just scored it. It pulled off very easy by hand, after moving it up and down a few times. The hose on the right top looks close but it is actually far in there. Look at the bottom photo. You have a good 1.5" of space in between, but then again, do not cut through the top part of the square where the hoses are, it only needs to be scored. the whole cutting prcess was no more than 10min. The dremel cut right through the metal as if it was wood. note I used a decent dremel blade that is made for metal cutting (cost about $10 for three of them). If you try to use the blades that come with your dremel you will just eat them up.

I cut through the rubber with a knife careful not to cut the lines at the top. I only had the utility out enough to go through the rubber.

You may notice I still need to get the hose all the way on there. These are premature photos...




Here is the thickness of the rubber. Note you also have padding underneath it. If your careful when cutting and do what I said about just scoring the top of the square lightly, and not going entirely through the metal this is IMO a safe procedure.



here is the hole from the rear window. Its approx 10" by 10". The evaprative plate you see is quite large. The assembly came out very easy. Its a little tight but not much worse than doing it with the tank out. Either way you have to work through the hole and disconnect connect the rubber mount and the fuel lines.

I do not have a photo of the check valve I installed but I just connected it to the main line coming out from the top of the plastic fuel pump assembly. the bosch pump I purt in there was acutally a walbro and was identical to the one that was in there. The tank itself was sparkling clean. Which makes me think it has been replaced or cleaned recently. I only had the the car a few months now and there was an accident in the back as seen by the body work... It looks like a new tank. Though the check valve in the pump assembly is old and crumbled...

If I have any future issues with any of this its a mximum hour operation as opposed to all day, if I had to pull the tank, remove the convertible top pump, etc. etc. No thanks. I installed the check valve after installing the pump in no more than 10min.

Again I am just going to use rv sealant and primed metal as a cover. The old hondas I worked on always just have a round access point like you see in the trunk of the xjs behind the tire... I know some people may think this is a hack job but I highly disagree. Its highly functinoal and it will be covered by carpeting, which was destroyed in the process btw. Im using a nice piece of berber carpet in its place. Another upgrade imo.

 

If you want to ensure that the replacement plate is secure, you could:

use two lengths of bar stock longer than the opening, that each have two bolts epoxied sticking upwards and mount a plate that is also larger than the opening with holes matching the bolt locations for matching nuts on top as well as the RTV.

That way you get a nice solid attachment and seal in case of a rear end collision.

Think of a toggle bolt as the inspiration for this.

 

Thanks for the tip. I am probably going to do waht you say about using a larger plate and then use rivets with the rv sealant. to avoid any bulge through the carpet.