Fuel pump replacement pictures:

Removing the assembly.

Fuel tank out of car.

Cool..now I have 'Hubcaps'.

Here is the view inside the tank:

Cool pics...

Fred...

Youch! I sorta hope you had other reasons for removing the tank, because you can quickly and easily replace the Q45 fuel pump without removing the tank from the car.

I know -- fine time to mention it.

My dealer wanted $1000 for this job! Two hours of my time and I saved $750!

You can do the whole job in two hours, and that's including beer time. Now that I've done it once, I could do it again in an hour, but probably no beer.

1. Remove the back seat -- bottom, then back. You'll find nearly a dollar in change under the seat, which helps with above-noted beer time.

2. Remove the high-mounted brakelight and the package shelf. (This is the whole trick -- as you remove/install it, the fuel pump goes partly up through the hole vacated by the package-shelf binacle.)

3. Remove the in-trunk panel separating you from the gas tank.

4. Remove the gas cap. Otherwise, pressure in the tank pushes gas everywhere as you disconnect the pump!

5. Replace the fuel pump -- it's surprisingly easy. Be careful not to bend float arm. You have to twist it around some as it goes up through the hole in the package-shelf area, but it sure beats removing the tank!

6. reverse 4 through 1.

I did it on a Friday evening between getting home from work and dark. (I replaced the fuel filter the next day.)

I may be "driving mom's car," but mom's maiden name was Andretti (j/k).

I wanted to clean the tank, thus the reason for removal. It turned out to be pretty clean....the picture reflects exactly how it came out...only a small piece of rubber 'skin' at the bottom. In any event, the whole job took only about 2.5 hours.

My hat's off to you -- that's fast.

Woo-hoo! I'm "hubcaps" now!

Here's a shot of a 1990 Q45 fuel pump assembly as it came out of the fuel tank alongside a new fuel pump and O rings.

Also shown is the fuel pump control unit (aka the fuel pump modulator) which has been resoldered and reinforced (not shown).

The microscopic particles that are too small to be filtered by fuel filter yet too large to pass thru the individual injector filters get concentrated in the fuel.

Failure to empty the tank, clean the tank is why subsequent pumps only last half the time or less compared to the first pump!

My 1st pump lasted 157,000 miles, my second lasted 53k, my 3rd is on its last legs at 48k!

Time to follow my own comments and clean the tank and flush all the lines and replace all the rubber hoses.......as the cost of the pumps and work is starting to raise cost per mile by a penny.

The pumps are supposed to last 100,000 miles.........with clean fuel.

Anyone have any tips on removing the tank? Seems like AZQ45 does not allow email, and the Forums remain crippled by no private messaging.

Any information appreciated.

Hey Greg, wasn't this the guy who bought a 740i? Do you know him? Can you PM him since us mere members can't?

Thanks.


Modified by maxnix at 3:18 PM 9/16/2004