Draing the gas tank

Gerry Rider

Gerry Rider

Registered User
My fuel pump is dying quickly, it lets all the gas in the lines drain back when it's just sitting for a few hours. Bad check valve I'd guess. New pump will be here Tuesday from SCP, but the problem is that the tank has about 15 gallons of gas in it. Ford shop manual says to shove a small hose down the filler pipe and syphon it out as the only way of draining it. Apparently it takes some kind of magic to get the hose down the crooked filler pipe because I'm not being successful at it. What's the trick to draining the tank so it can be removed and the pump replaced? A discouraging job so far.
Gerry
 
If the pump is still operational you can jump two pins on the EEC connector under the hood and take off the Pressure line and get it out that way. I dont remember off the top of my head which two pins they are. I have done it this way many times while draining tanks or taking fuel samples from vehicles in the past. This was discussed on here recently. I believe when Ken Wagner was trying to do so. Maybe someone else can chime in if they remember exactly which pins though.
 
Draining gas tank

Thanks for all the input. I'll try hardwiring the pump today. I knew there had to be a way other trying to cram a hose down the filler neck.
Gerry
 
Draining gas tank

Tryed jumping wires this morning and the best I can do is to get the pump to run for 1 to 2 seconds then shut off, just as it always does when the ingition is turned to run position. I'm not going to live long enough to pump out 15 or more gallons one spurt at a time. So I think I'll get a knibbler and cut a hole in the floor under the rear seat and work from there. Apparently late model Mustangs already have this hole with a plastic cover on it. Makes sense and Ford should have done it to begin with.
Gerry
 
Gerry Rider said:
Tryed jumping wires this morning and the best I can do is to get the pump to run for 1 to 2 seconds then shut off, just as it always does when the ingition is turned to run position. I'm not going to live long enough to pump out 15 or more gallons one spurt at a time. So I think I'll get a knibbler and cut a hole in the floor under the rear seat and work from there. Apparently late model Mustangs already have this hole with a plastic cover on it. Makes sense and Ford should have done it to begin with.
Gerry
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I did that on my car. Be careful because the fuel lines are almost touching the fuel lines so dont nick one or you will have other problems. I love being able to access my fuel pump in a few minutes :D

Ken
 
Gerry,

You can pull the connector at the inertia switch in the trunk and supply 12V to the lead for the fuel pump. That will run the pump continously.
 
Or you can pull the rear seat bottom out to gain access to the fuel pump harness and apply 12v to it...
 
Draining gas tank

Thanks, I'll give draining it a try again. However, I'm committed to cutting the access hole even if I get the gas out this time. Making access to it so hard, dropping the exhaust, tank, etc to get to it seems ridiculous. Making a hole with a cover sealed over it just seems to make more sense to an old Jet Engine Design Engineer.
Thanks again for all the advice. SCCOA members come thru again as always.
Gerry
 
If you jumper the pump it'll spurt for 2 seconds just like you get when you turn the key on. You'll need to take it to the negative of your battery and it'll run all day.

wmdlc-eeciv.jpg
 
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Gerry Rider said:
Thanks, I'll give draining it a try again. However, I'm committed to cutting the access hole even if I get the gas out this time. Making access to it so hard, dropping the exhaust, tank, etc to get to it seems ridiculous. Making a hole with a cover sealed over it just seems to make more sense to an old Jet Engine Design Engineer.
Thanks again for all the advice. SCCOA members come thru again as always.
Gerry
Click to expand...

My buddy cut the access hole on his 5.0 Tbird to replace the fuel pump without dropping the tank .. ended up nicking the fuel line going to the pump. Just be very careful .. no power tools .. Tin snips only. ;)

Shoving a hose in the filler neck doesnt work too good unless you remove the rubber elbow where the filler connects to the tank - there is a check valve on the filler tube.

- Dan
 
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