Thread: Long range tanks and fuel pumps

Yep agree Frenchie. I just had several posts about my dramas when my pump failed on my extreme fitted with a long range tank. You have to wonder if the pump is working harder with a biggger tank, I have been doing quite alot of soft beach driving lately and thats when the pump starting screaching, next morning say it's final note.

It was covered under warrenty, but the dealer had such dramas removing that they broke fuel lines twice pulling the tank in and out.

For interest they quoted $525 for the pump and $200 labour.

Originally Posted by nornalup

Yep agree Frenchie. I just had several posts about my dramas when my pump failed on my extreme fitted with a long range tank. You have to wonder if the pump is working harder with a biggger tank, I have been doing quite alot of soft beach driving lately and thats when the pump starting screaching, next morning say it's final note.

It was covered under warrenty, but the dealer had such dramas removing that they broke fuel lines twice pulling the tank in and out.

For interest they quoted $525 for the pump and $200 labour.

That's interesting. I was quoted $1600 for the pump from the dealer (ended up paying $800). I had a bit of a discussion with the dealer about their pricing and they told me a pump for a Td5 Disco is only $600.

It actually took 12 hours for the mechanic to do mine, but they only charged me 6 hours labour.

My extended warranty has now just paid for itself.

A better option might be to have a sill tank and retain the original at the back.

Originally Posted by nornalup

You have to wonder if the pump is working harder with a biggger tank,

I don't think a bigger tank necessarily makes it work harder. The top of the tank is indented so it sits in more or less the same position on the bottom. Main thing is that it doesn't like having to pump air, so if you have a leak it has to work harder.

Interestingly it's a two stage device. Pumps through the fuel filter first, then back to the pump and off to the motor.

Originally Posted by Frenchie

That's interesting. I was quoted $1600 for the pump from the dealer (ended up paying $800). I had a bit of a discussion with the dealer about their pricing and they told me a pump for a Td5 Disco is only $600.

It actually took 12 hours for the mechanic to do mine, but they only charged me 6 hours labour.

My extended warranty has now just paid for itself.

A better option might be to have a sill tank and retain the original at the back.

Have a look at the Walbro Corporation website. They are in Bay City, Michigan, and make an extensive range of quality OEM and after-market fuel pumps and associated items. Internal & external, high & low volume and pressure. Prices are reasonable by anyones standards, and ridiculously cheap by LR standards. They are very helpful. An e-mail will get you technical advice and a dealer's contact details. E-mail, credit card, and air-mail generally has the bits in your letter box in 1-2 weeks.

I got it down through the dealer down here in Albany, and it was covered by my ASWN extended warrenty also, thank christ.

I'm pretty sure thats the price they had on the sheet. Only issue is the service was so bad I never could find out what went wrong with the pump or any details of why they broke two lines refitting. Just drove to Perth and back with no dramas and no sign of any leaks.

My mechanic broke a line getting the tank out, simply because it's so difficult to access the pump. They replaced the line to the filter with high pressure flexible fuel hose, it was the only way they could get it back in again.

If it goes again I'll be tempted to put the original tank back in and look at sill tanks for the long range capacity.

All this has got me worried...

What sort of kilometrage are we talking about before failure?

Regards
Max P

Mine has done 150,000km. The failure was probably caused by the botched job installing the LR tank though.

Other people have had failures caused by frequently running the tank nearly dry. They don't like that.