How do you replace the fuel pump in a 1994 Plymouth Voyager?

Answer 1

My 1995 Plymouth Voyager, at 150,000 miles, developed thedreaded "Fuel Pump Problem" - occasionally, it wouldn't start. Looking on the web for advice, I found "ifyou pound on the tank, and it starts, it's probably the fuel pump." I pounded, and it started - for a while. One evening, at a friend's house, it wouldn'tstart, even after vigorous pounding. Igot a ride home, then started calling around to see how much towing it homewould be. Finally, I went over to thefriend's house, and I was talking to a place about coming to get it, when Ithought "Maybe I should give it one more try." It started, I drove it home, and I put it in my driveway. I had another car available.

I knew that the tank had to be removed to replace the pump,and I wasn't looking forward to that - one bit. I hate crawling around under cars. But, I figured having the pump replaced would be so expensive that Ishould give it a try. I ordered a fuelpump from Ebay ($100), and I got a Chilton repair manual, which includedinstructions on removing the fuel tank. I scoured the web for tips on doing the job, and the number one problemarea seemed to be supporting the tank while getting it out. Of course, I siphoned the fuel out (using thelittle tube provided for that on the back of the tank). I didn't lose very much.

Finally, the big day came. I already knew that you're supposed to "release the fuel pressure"before undoing the fuel lines. Therepair manual had instructions for this, which involved hooking up the batteryto some leads in some alternate manner. Unfortunately, the battery was dead (the car had been sitting for awhile). I tried charging it, but itdidn't seem to charge. So, I decided Iprobably needed a new battery. I calledaround, and the cheapest available was a Sears 'Easy-Start', for $42.99 (Ifound out later that Napa Auto Parts had one for $30.99. Darn!). After getting the battery, I decided that, since the car had beensitting, the fuel pressure was probably 'released' already, so I didn't botherwith the instructions. Oh, well, Ineeded the battery anyway. Sears tested myold one and said it was bad - I suppose just from sitting.

Finally, I crawled under the van to undo the tank. The first thing was to remove the fuel lines. I tugged at them, but they wouldn'tbudge. There were no hose clamps, so Isuspected something else was holding them on - but what? The manual simply says "Remove the fuellines." Back to the web for moreadvice. Fortunately, I found an articlewhich talked about replacing a leaking fuel pressure line on this type ofvehicle, and it described pushing in the black plastic ring on the connection torelease it. The manual should havementioned that. A little fuel came outof the pressure line, but it wasn't too bad. Don't try removing the fuel tank in an enclosed space, however.

Once that hurdle was crossed, I started trying to undo thetank strap bolts. I assumed, since it'san American car, that they would be 9/16" or 5/8". Wrong! They're 15mm. So, I had to findmy metric socket set. That took awhile. Then I started undoing the bolts,and they didn't want to turn. I thought"Must be rust!" I put some kerosene onthem, but that didn't help. Checking on the web for advice, I saw mention of PB Blaster, supposedly the best thing forfreeing tight bolts. Finding a placethat had it (Napa Auto Parts) took a while, and by the time I got back with it,sprayed it on, and waited for it to work, there was another couple of hoursshot. Turns out, it didn't do anygood. Apparently the nuts are thelocking type.

So, with the fuel tank supported by a jack, I undid thestraps. The bolts are rather long, soit's ratchet, ratchet, ratchet. While Iwas ratcheting, I was wondering how I was going to get the tank off of thejack, since it would still be several inches off the driveway with the jackfully lowered, but it turned out that was not a problem - the empty tank is notheavy at all. What did turn out to be aproblem - a very annoying problem - was getting the tank off the fillerpipe. Trying to hold up the tank withone foot while wiggling it, and wiggling the filler pipe, and seeing almostzero movement, and then gradually realizing that the filler pipe sticks intothe tank about 4 inches, was not fun. Ihad to jack up the other side of the car so the tank could clear the muffler asit came off the filler pipe. Plus,thestraps always seemed to be in the way. Incidentally, before youstart to remove the tank, you have to remove the screws that hold thefiller pipe to the body, where the filler cap is.

Another problem in removing the tank was the 'vaporseparator rollover pipe' which goes from the top of the tank to the fillerpipe. It had one of those 'one-use'crimped hose clamps. I tried getting inthere with wire cutters to cut the crimp, but getting my hand around and overthe tank and putting any pressure on the wire cutters was impossible. I finally used a hacksaw blade to saw throughthe crimp. Even then, getting the rubberhose off of the plastic tube was very difficult, because of the crampedconditions. Plus, be aware that the tankflange has razor-sharp edges on it (also inside the tank, after you get the pump out!) . I'mlucky that the scrapes and cuts I got doing this will only take a few days toheal.

I would like to take this opportunity to suggest that thebean-counters who were responsible for this whole situation should be lined upagainst a wall and machine-gunned. Yes,the tank is a great place for the pump, that is, until you have to replace thepump. The car is undoubtedly lessexpensive to build with this design, plus I'm sure repair shops just love it!

Once the tank was finally off, it was time to remove thefuel pump from it. The repair manual didnot mention that there is a special locking ring holding the pump, the kindwith four little tabs sticking up about 1/8" inch. Somewhere on the web I noticed a reference toremoving the ring by tapping it with a screwdriver and hammer. I tried this, but I could see it wasn't goingto budge. I didn't want to try beatingit hard enough to get it loose, because I was afraid of damaging the tank. So, I went into my machine shop and made aspecial wrench (out of 1/8" aluminum plate) to remove it (and reinstallit). This took a couple of tries, butthe second version worked great. Basically, it's got sort of a 'Y' shape, to go around the pipes andprovide a handle, and two 6-32 nuts (held by short screws) which bear on two ofthe tabs.

One thing that was mentioned in a couple of references tothis procedure was cleaning the inside of the tank. They made it sound like the bottom of thetank was going to be covered with gunk, and I was wondering exactly how I wasgoing to clean it. However, When I gotthe pump out, and looked inside the tank, it looked beautiful. A bit of clean gasoline floating around on a clean metal surface. There were a couple of pieces ofunidentifiable crud on the bottom of the tank, which I removed.

<o:p></o:p>To make a long story shorter, I installed the new pump, gotthe tank reinstalled (easier than removing it, but still a pain), poured aboutthree gallons of gas in the tank, and tried starting it. It wouldn't start, after numerous tries, andI was really bummed out! I didn't want towork on it any more, and I was trying to think of what to do. I did look at the manual's description offuel pressure testing, and I noticed something about having such-and-suchamount of fuel in the tank during some particular test. I had about three more gallons of gasavailable, so I poured that in. It startedright up. Was that 'priming the pump'?