ShadowsPapa
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Bill
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2019
- Threads
- 247
- Messages
- 40,469
- Reaction score
- 53,930
- Location
- Runnells, Iowa
- Vehicle(s)
- '25 JTMX, '23 JLU 4xe, '82 SX4, '73 Javelin
- Occupation
- Retired auto mechanic, frmr gov't ntwrk security admin
- Vehicle Showcase
- 3
- Thread starter
- #1
All cleaned up, show ready. Following my neighbor to a nearby car show. He's not a slow driver but I found myself falling behind - then realizing that my foot on the gas pedal wasn't doing anything. push in clutch, tach drops to ZERO.
Going up hill at the time but was able to coax it close enough to a convenience store (yeah, out in the sticks) driveway that I could push it up the hill, across the highway over to the end of their driveway.
Nothing. She cranked, but no fire. Great.
A guy pulling a trailer with tiller and yard equipment pulled up and asked if I needed help. We checked a few simple things out, then I called my wife and said "honey, bring the truck".
The guy unhooked his trailer and by that time my wife was there with the JT so I grabbed tow straps and the fellow pulled my car up the hill to the station's lot where it was flatter. The plan was that I could go get my trailer, back up to the car and almost roll it onto my trailer and take it home.
So I hop in the JT and head home, drop off my wife, and hook up the trailer., Still needed the come-along to finish pulling the car onto the trailer.
Ignition was fine, did a bit of diagnosing based on the big fat TSM I have for the 1994 Grand Cherokee (which is what the engine came from).
No pressure at the fuel rail.
I triggered the fuel pump relay and could clearly hear the pump running - and that was a problem. It should charge the fuel rail and quiet down a bit. It was too loud and running freely.
I had a feeling that the short piece of fuel hose that held the pump onto the sending unit pipe had broken, slipped loose or rotted. It has been since 2011 that I put that all together.
So needed to remove the sending unit and try to work the pump and sending unit out of the 3" hole in the front of the fuel tank.
Those lock rings are not easy to remove the shade-tree way (brass punch and hammer) and I was having no luck.
So, I made a tool - a "socket" to fit the sending unit lock ring so I could turn the ring and unlock the sending unit to remove it with the pump.
That made it simple - an hour making the tool, 10 seconds to remove the lock ring, another 3 or 4 minutes to take the sending unit and pump out and bingo - the electric pump was no longer attached to the sending unit pipe.
I decided to order a new pump while I was doing the repairs because it's getting really hard to get them. I'll keep this one as a spare and install the new one. After all, the pump has been in there since 2011. And in 5 years or so, I may not be able to get a pump like this again.
I cut a piece of water pipe on the chop saw, and cleaned up the ends on the lathe.
I then used my Dremel and a cutting wheel to cut notches to fit the tabs on an old spare lock ring I had on the shelves.
But I wanted a way to keep this "socket" aligned on the tabs, prevent it from slipping off.
So I used the lathe and using another piece of that pipe, made it thinner and cut a ring off. I slit the ring and expanded it on an exhaust pipe expander.
I slid it over the socket and welded it in place.
I then drilled a hole clear through near the other end so I could put a punch through it for leverage turning it.
This is the lock ring I need to remove to get the sending unit out -
Lock ring removed, I worked the sending unit (and pump) out of the tank.
The hose holding the pump to the sending unit tube was MUSH, rotted. The pump had fallen off and was just blowing gas around in the tank.
Come on, Jeep people - you know what this pump was originally for, right? Clue - decades ago, it fueled a 4.0 and gee, today it's powering a 4.0 in the car pictured below..
Going up hill at the time but was able to coax it close enough to a convenience store (yeah, out in the sticks) driveway that I could push it up the hill, across the highway over to the end of their driveway.
Nothing. She cranked, but no fire. Great.
A guy pulling a trailer with tiller and yard equipment pulled up and asked if I needed help. We checked a few simple things out, then I called my wife and said "honey, bring the truck".
The guy unhooked his trailer and by that time my wife was there with the JT so I grabbed tow straps and the fellow pulled my car up the hill to the station's lot where it was flatter. The plan was that I could go get my trailer, back up to the car and almost roll it onto my trailer and take it home.
So I hop in the JT and head home, drop off my wife, and hook up the trailer., Still needed the come-along to finish pulling the car onto the trailer.
Ignition was fine, did a bit of diagnosing based on the big fat TSM I have for the 1994 Grand Cherokee (which is what the engine came from).
No pressure at the fuel rail.
I triggered the fuel pump relay and could clearly hear the pump running - and that was a problem. It should charge the fuel rail and quiet down a bit. It was too loud and running freely.
I had a feeling that the short piece of fuel hose that held the pump onto the sending unit pipe had broken, slipped loose or rotted. It has been since 2011 that I put that all together.
So needed to remove the sending unit and try to work the pump and sending unit out of the 3" hole in the front of the fuel tank.
Those lock rings are not easy to remove the shade-tree way (brass punch and hammer) and I was having no luck.
So, I made a tool - a "socket" to fit the sending unit lock ring so I could turn the ring and unlock the sending unit to remove it with the pump.
That made it simple - an hour making the tool, 10 seconds to remove the lock ring, another 3 or 4 minutes to take the sending unit and pump out and bingo - the electric pump was no longer attached to the sending unit pipe.
I decided to order a new pump while I was doing the repairs because it's getting really hard to get them. I'll keep this one as a spare and install the new one. After all, the pump has been in there since 2011. And in 5 years or so, I may not be able to get a pump like this again.
I cut a piece of water pipe on the chop saw, and cleaned up the ends on the lathe.
I then used my Dremel and a cutting wheel to cut notches to fit the tabs on an old spare lock ring I had on the shelves.
But I wanted a way to keep this "socket" aligned on the tabs, prevent it from slipping off.
So I used the lathe and using another piece of that pipe, made it thinner and cut a ring off. I slit the ring and expanded it on an exhaust pipe expander.
I slid it over the socket and welded it in place.
I then drilled a hole clear through near the other end so I could put a punch through it for leverage turning it.
This is the lock ring I need to remove to get the sending unit out -
Lock ring removed, I worked the sending unit (and pump) out of the tank.
The hose holding the pump to the sending unit tube was MUSH, rotted. The pump had fallen off and was just blowing gas around in the tank.
Come on, Jeep people - you know what this pump was originally for, right? Clue - decades ago, it fueled a 4.0 and gee, today it's powering a 4.0 in the car pictured below..
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