Dash Riprock
Active Member
- Joined
- April 9, 2005
- Messages
- 72
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- LA, CA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 95 Explorer XLT
My '95 XLT , 2WD, recently died, luckily in my driveway. I had just changed a brake rotor and went to move the truck and it didnt start. Actually made me chuckle:
Change brake rotor = kill truck. :scratch:
Obviously the two were not connected. So using all the great info from this site, I did all the trouble shooting checks:
No fuel pump hum upon key on
Fuses good/have power
Relays click/have power
Inertia switch not tripped and has power
Test lead from OBD I connector grounded - no fuel pump activation
Voltage at last connector before the pump was good.
Diagnosis: Fuel pump =
My first warning: Ive seen the link below used to describe the procedure. Although it says it is for a '95 XLT, I found it beared no resemblence to the fuel tank and pump configuration of my '95 XLT. It is probably for a 4WD, or maybe a design change occured within the year.
http://www.explorerforum.com/Singleton/web/pages/fuelpump2.html
I also saw some differences in the Autozone Repair info available online, notably the tank mounting configuration and the actual fuel pump assembly design.
So on to the fuel tank. My first tip, if it isnt obvious, is take down the spare tire (as well as the normally mentioned left rear tire). With the axle jacked up 4-5 inches on jackstands, I found I could nearly sit upright underneath the truck. This allows much better access to the fuel filler and vent line on the back of the tank. Also, i think it would be best if you remove the filler and vent lines before partially lowering the tank. Its a bit of a struggle and Im sure it would be easier if the tank wasnt moving around.
My first challenge was to drain my gas tank, which was nearly 3/4 full. Trust me, do not try to take the tank down with any appreciable weight in it.
For starters, I tried to get a hose all the way down the filler neck into the tank. I couldnt do it, no matter how I tried to twist the hose. I finally had to disconnect the fuel filler lines at the tank first (which you are going to do anyway)to get the line in. Dont bother fighting the entire length of the filler line.
As for the siphoning, my brain really kicked in and allowed me to avoid the wonderful Mouth-Full-of-Gas dental rinse. I made a simple air pump, that anyone with a compressor and air nozzle can make for free. See picture below
I inserted the air nozzle with a small bit of tubing and a small tip from a Mighty Vac Brake bleeder kit into a hole I cut in the larger tubing that I fed into the gas tank. I angled the air flow toward the end of the line that was inside my gas can and blew air into the siphon hose. Voila! instant suction and the gas came roaring out of the tank. Once you have a good flow you can stop the air and just let the thing drain. Even if you dont have the tip I had, all you need is a smalll tube that you can insert into the larger siphon tube and angle "downstream".
Now for a big warning. My fuel tank was mounted with one strap at the rear and at the front into a bracket that attached to the frame. When you look at this thing you have two choices. Either take off the entire bracket with the tank, or remove the two bolts holding the tank to the bracket. Well, I chose the two bolt method. I chose wrong. Wouldnt you know Ford used RED Loc-Tite on them? I snapped a bolt easier than snapping a dryed twig. Damn! Take my advice: TAKE DOWN THE ENTIRE BRACKET! The picture below is forward looking aft at the front of hte gas tank. You can see where the bracket attaches to the frame rails.
Luckily I avoided going to Ford by rummaging through my stuff and finding a suitable bolt/nut/washer combo that retained the rubber grommet used to "soft-mount" the tank to the bracket. Before doing that, however, I had to remove the captive nut that was welded to the top of the tank flange that the original bolt screwed into.
So there I was straddling this 4 foot long gas tank, die grinder and cutoff wheel in hand, sparks flying..... I got the welds weakened and snapped the nut off the flange with a socket and extension. I felt like Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove:
Also, about removing the pressure lines from the tank. Autozone rented me a special tool to disconnect the fittings on top of the tank. They are 8-10 inches long, plastic, kind of like a tuning fork with the part that clamps around the line on one end. Forget them, I strugged with them for 20 minutes and gave up, went out yet again and spent $25 on a much more compact metal tool and the lines came off first time, very easy.
Now comes the actual fuel pump. I removed my pump from the tank to find that it was one big unit, the pump was actually inside a plastic housing. When I went to Autozone, they could only sell me the actual pump which was one of two pumps available, depending on electrical terminal size (thin or wide). So I go back home and disassemble the entire pump housing and pry apart the plastic housing to get to the pump. Lo and behold, the pump I had did not match EITHER of the available Autozone pumps! Mine had one wide terminal and one thinner terminal.
I decided to go to a local independent parts place and they also found the pump P/Ns on the computer corresponded only to the pump itself. However, they had a parts manual that also showed a 3rd pump that for some reason did not show on the computer listing. This 3rd P/N was the entire plastic assembly. I was in business. Unfortunately, I now had to connect the electrical wires to the wiring on the harness. The pump assembly came with some of theose crimp-type butt-end connectors, but I decided to make things a little stronger by soldering the wires together and then shrink-wrapping the wiring. The pic below shows the pump, removed from the plastic housing.
I really never expected to be doing assembly work on this job. I was expecting a straight "remove and replace". So that all that running around and whatnot made the job quite a bit longer than expected. In the end, I rated the job a "2-Knuckler", that is, I only skinned two knuckles! Not bad.
The truck is back on the road, so that is what matters.
Hope this helps someone.
Change brake rotor = kill truck. :scratch:
Obviously the two were not connected. So using all the great info from this site, I did all the trouble shooting checks:
No fuel pump hum upon key on
Fuses good/have power
Relays click/have power
Inertia switch not tripped and has power
Test lead from OBD I connector grounded - no fuel pump activation
Voltage at last connector before the pump was good.
Diagnosis: Fuel pump =
My first warning: Ive seen the link below used to describe the procedure. Although it says it is for a '95 XLT, I found it beared no resemblence to the fuel tank and pump configuration of my '95 XLT. It is probably for a 4WD, or maybe a design change occured within the year.
http://www.explorerforum.com/Singleton/web/pages/fuelpump2.html
I also saw some differences in the Autozone Repair info available online, notably the tank mounting configuration and the actual fuel pump assembly design.
So on to the fuel tank. My first tip, if it isnt obvious, is take down the spare tire (as well as the normally mentioned left rear tire). With the axle jacked up 4-5 inches on jackstands, I found I could nearly sit upright underneath the truck. This allows much better access to the fuel filler and vent line on the back of the tank. Also, i think it would be best if you remove the filler and vent lines before partially lowering the tank. Its a bit of a struggle and Im sure it would be easier if the tank wasnt moving around.
My first challenge was to drain my gas tank, which was nearly 3/4 full. Trust me, do not try to take the tank down with any appreciable weight in it.
For starters, I tried to get a hose all the way down the filler neck into the tank. I couldnt do it, no matter how I tried to twist the hose. I finally had to disconnect the fuel filler lines at the tank first (which you are going to do anyway)to get the line in. Dont bother fighting the entire length of the filler line.
As for the siphoning, my brain really kicked in and allowed me to avoid the wonderful Mouth-Full-of-Gas dental rinse. I made a simple air pump, that anyone with a compressor and air nozzle can make for free. See picture below
I inserted the air nozzle with a small bit of tubing and a small tip from a Mighty Vac Brake bleeder kit into a hole I cut in the larger tubing that I fed into the gas tank. I angled the air flow toward the end of the line that was inside my gas can and blew air into the siphon hose. Voila! instant suction and the gas came roaring out of the tank. Once you have a good flow you can stop the air and just let the thing drain. Even if you dont have the tip I had, all you need is a smalll tube that you can insert into the larger siphon tube and angle "downstream".
Now for a big warning. My fuel tank was mounted with one strap at the rear and at the front into a bracket that attached to the frame. When you look at this thing you have two choices. Either take off the entire bracket with the tank, or remove the two bolts holding the tank to the bracket. Well, I chose the two bolt method. I chose wrong. Wouldnt you know Ford used RED Loc-Tite on them? I snapped a bolt easier than snapping a dryed twig. Damn! Take my advice: TAKE DOWN THE ENTIRE BRACKET! The picture below is forward looking aft at the front of hte gas tank. You can see where the bracket attaches to the frame rails.
Luckily I avoided going to Ford by rummaging through my stuff and finding a suitable bolt/nut/washer combo that retained the rubber grommet used to "soft-mount" the tank to the bracket. Before doing that, however, I had to remove the captive nut that was welded to the top of the tank flange that the original bolt screwed into.
So there I was straddling this 4 foot long gas tank, die grinder and cutoff wheel in hand, sparks flying..... I got the welds weakened and snapped the nut off the flange with a socket and extension. I felt like Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove:
Also, about removing the pressure lines from the tank. Autozone rented me a special tool to disconnect the fittings on top of the tank. They are 8-10 inches long, plastic, kind of like a tuning fork with the part that clamps around the line on one end. Forget them, I strugged with them for 20 minutes and gave up, went out yet again and spent $25 on a much more compact metal tool and the lines came off first time, very easy.
Now comes the actual fuel pump. I removed my pump from the tank to find that it was one big unit, the pump was actually inside a plastic housing. When I went to Autozone, they could only sell me the actual pump which was one of two pumps available, depending on electrical terminal size (thin or wide). So I go back home and disassemble the entire pump housing and pry apart the plastic housing to get to the pump. Lo and behold, the pump I had did not match EITHER of the available Autozone pumps! Mine had one wide terminal and one thinner terminal.
I decided to go to a local independent parts place and they also found the pump P/Ns on the computer corresponded only to the pump itself. However, they had a parts manual that also showed a 3rd pump that for some reason did not show on the computer listing. This 3rd P/N was the entire plastic assembly. I was in business. Unfortunately, I now had to connect the electrical wires to the wiring on the harness. The pump assembly came with some of theose crimp-type butt-end connectors, but I decided to make things a little stronger by soldering the wires together and then shrink-wrapping the wiring. The pic below shows the pump, removed from the plastic housing.
I really never expected to be doing assembly work on this job. I was expecting a straight "remove and replace". So that all that running around and whatnot made the job quite a bit longer than expected. In the end, I rated the job a "2-Knuckler", that is, I only skinned two knuckles! Not bad.
The truck is back on the road, so that is what matters.
Hope this helps someone.