Fuel pump replacement on third generation Maximas with the VG30E engine.

[MinisterofDOOM]

This writeup covers removal of OEM pump and installation of a Walbro replacement; however, most of the steps apply to removal and installation of any fuel pump. Also, keep in mind that the OEM fuel pump on VE30DE-powered third gens is different than the one covered in this writeup. Again, if you're replacing a pump on a VE car, this means there are steps that may or may not apply to you.

Setup, Preparation, and tools:I recommend doing this in a garage or enclosed (but well ventilated) area, as you will have the fuel in the tank exposed.

Tools required: -Large, small, and stubby phillips screwdriver-Meduim-head flathead screwdriver-Wratchet with extension (any size extension will probably do)-8mm and 10mm sockets-Snub-nose and needle-nose pliers-Wire cutter (diagonal cutter)-Soldering iron with solder-Two or three rags (For mopping up gas and such)-I also recommend having some duct tape (or other tape) on hand-If you haven't removed the rear seat before, you probably want a crowbar-I also use a magnetic bowl to keep track of nuts, bolts, washers, etc-If it's available, have compressed air with a blower nozzle on hand. (If you don't have one, I highly suggest borrowing one for this procedure--at the very least, go buy some canned air).

Please remember that working around gasoline and gasoline fumes can be dangerous. Maintain good ventilation at all times, and keep sparks and other potential sources of ignition away.

Start off by cleaning out the back seat and floor space. Also make sure the parcel shelf is free of loose items. Make sure you have good access through both rear doors.

Before you do anything else, you need to relieve the pressure in the fuel system. Do this by disconnecting the fuse to the fuel pump (found in the fusebox on the left of the dash). Once the fuse is removed, simply start the car and allow it to run and die. I recommend cranking the engine a couple of times as well, just to be sure. Lastly, remove your gas cap in order to vent pressurized fumes from the tank. (This last step is not really necessary, but if you don't do this, the fumes will vent through the pump bracket when you break the seal there. It's just more pleasant not having gas fumes expelled in your face.)

Once the fuel pressure is relieved, disconnect the negative battery terminal, and ensure that it (along with the attached ground) is not in contact with the chassis. The ground must be isolated and disconnected for safety purposes since you will be working around gasoline fumes.

Seat removalIf you have never removed your rear seat before, expect this to be the most difficult part of this repair. The lower rear seat is held in place by retaining clips which can be extremely difficult to break loose. The seat is also obviously soft cloth, so there's not a lot of surface against which to pry.The two retaining clips are found near the corners of the seat bottom (see picture 1). You must simply lift these free from their holes to free the seat. Use a crowbar or other pry tool if you must. This is what I had to do when I first removed my rear seat. Just be careful not to tear or puncture the fabric (or leather).Keep close track of the plastic sleeves that fit over the clips.

Once the retaining clips on the bottom are free, the seat will simply lift out of the car. There are two more "clips" that simply rest behind the seatback, but they do not secure to anything.

With the seat bottom out of the way, you will now be able to see two of the four bolts which secure the seatback. These are found at the far bottom corners of the seat and are probably obscured by foam tape. (See picture 4) These should be removable using the phillips screwdriver. If not, use your ratchet.The other two bolts are behind the armrest. Lay the armrest down and remove the two round rubber covers behind it. You'll find the two bolts behind thes. (See picture 5)NOTE:Be VERY careful with these bolts. It's easy to loose them behind the plastic panel. I use needle-nose pliers to keep them from dropping.

With all four bolts removed, the seatback detatches much as the seat bottom did. Simply lift up on the ends of the seat to disconnect two retaining clips along the top of the seat (which rest in the parcel shelf). Once the clips are disconnected the seat should come free. Set it aside.

Fuel pump removalNow that the seat is fully removed, you will see the fuel pump access passthrough in the center of the rear seat area. (See picture 6)To simplify things, disconnect the wire harness at the clip near the left side of the car (pictures 7 and 8).Now unscrew the four bolts from the passthrough panel. For the sake of simplifying the next few steps, I suggest using duct tape to hold the panel to the trunk backing where it is out of your way.

Now is where you probably want to take some time to do things right the first time. Clean the area around the passthrough as well as you can, getting rid of all the candies, garbage, and money (you're probably a few dollars richer at this point) you've uncovered. Then take the air can and nozzle and thoroughly spray the area inside the passthrough (picture 9). Make sure there is no loose debris or anything else that could fall into the fuel tank. Once you're satisfied with how clean things are, proceed to the next step.

The next two things you must do can really be done in any order, but I find it is much simpler to do things as I'm about to describe.Unscrew the 6 screws around the fuel pump bracket (refer to picture 9). Then, with the bracket loose, you can (CAREFULLY! Remember that you've just exposed the fuel in your tank--you don't want anything falling into it) slide it around. Be careful with the rubber gasket you've just exposed as well. Mine nearly fell into the tank a couple of times. This gives you much more play in the two hoses you must disconnect. For these, simply unscrew the clamps and use your pliers to slide the hose off. There is a little nub on the end of the metal tubes over which the hoses slide (see picture 10), so make sure you're working past that with the pliers, or you won't make much progress.

Once the hoses are removed and the pump bracket released, you're about ready to pull the pump/bracket assembly out of the tank. Before you do that, though, you should grab a (preferably clean) rag and spread it around/below the passthrough opening. This will minimize gasoline spillage.Rag in place, slowly and carefully begin lifting the pump bracket out of the tank. You'll have to sort of feel your way through this part, because there are various objects protruding from the pump and bracket that will need to be maneuvered around. Before you get the pump and bracket all the way out, you'll notice the filter. I advise holding this out of the tank and letting it drain itself before completely removing the bracket assebly. Once the filter has drained, set the assembly on the rag.

Removing the fuel pump from the bracketThis part can be done outside the car.

Take the bracket assembly you just removed to your workdesk or wherever you'd like to work on it. Take a close look at it. (Also, refer to picture 11) You'll see that the pump is really only held in place by the line running out of it, and the rubber isolater on the bottom (between the pump and bracket). There are two wires (red and black) that run from the pump to the bracket, and from there out to the wire harness.

In order to both save yourself trouble and protect the fuel in your tank, I suggest detatching the passthrough cover (through which the wiring passes via a rubber boot) and place it back over the hole above the tank. Simply press the rubber boot out and slide the wiring out of the cover (leaving the wires in the boot, and the boot detatched from the passthrough cover).I also put a strip of duct tape over the hole in the passthrough where the boot was. This keeps your fuel tank well protected.

That done, return to your pump bracket assembly.The pump is easily removed from the bracket. Start by loosening the hose clamp from the pump side. Then simply slide the other end of the pump out of it's nest in the rubber isolator. Then simpy unscrew the two leads. The pump should now be free of the bracket. You can discard it.

Installing the new pump into the bracketThis is the step that may differ for you if you are not installing a Walbro fuel pump. In fact, if you're installing an OEM replacement pump, this step should be much simpler for you--simply reverse the previous step.For the Walbro, however, we must replace the OEM power leads with Walbro's own wire clip (should have come with your pump). Walbro supplies crimp-fasteners, and you can use them if you wish. I chose not to.Instead, I used my solder gun to remove the red and black leads (which we just disconnected from the pump) from the pump bracket itself. You won't need the leads anymore; they can be discarded. It'll be easier to solder the new wires on once the pump is mounted in the bracket, so we'll do that first.First we simply need to test fit, so place the rubber isolater replacement that came with your new pump on the end of the pump (It only fits one way, so you can't get it wrong). Then fit the isolator into the hole on the bottom of the bracket. Since the isolator doesn't quite match the hole perfectly, it might be hard to tell how to rotate it. You must simply align the flat edges. It will be a bit loose for now.With the isolator and pump in place, grab the replacement hose segment supplied by Walbro. You will probably have to trim it to fit, which is why we're doing this "test fit." Place it next to the tubes over which it will be installed (remove and discard the old hose if you haven't already) and use that to determine how much to trim. Once that's trimmed, remove the pump and isolator. Place the new hose on the bracket-end tube. Slide the two clamps over the hose but do not tighten them yet. Take the foam surround that Walbro supplied you and slide it over the pump. Now, remove the new filter that came with your new pump from it's packaging. This fits on the same end of the pump as the isolator. Place it on the pump, followed by the isolator. Now insert the pump tube into the hose you just installed onto the bracket. Slide it down until the fit is such that the hose and isolator work against eachother and hold the pump in place. Then slide the isolator/filter end of the pump into place. Make sure the bracket is not bent on the bottom, as this will cause the isolator to fit loosely and therefore not secure the pump properly. Tighten the clamps to finish the mounting process.Now that the pump is in place, we can easily install the new wire clip. Insert the pump-end of the clip into the pump. Then run the red and black wires to the leads from which you removed the old wires. In case you've forgotten which was which, refer to picture 11 or 12--or just remember that red is the far left and black is second to the right (but even that depends on how you're looking at things). Trim and strip the wires. Then simply solder them through the leads.When you're done, the pump/bracket assembly should look like picture 12.NOTE: You may find that the new Walbro filter interferes with the fuel float. Mine did, but it appears the float's range of motion is not affected. If this bothers you, you may want to try trimming the edge of the filter or contact Walbro.

Replacing the pump bracket assembly.Once again, remove the passthrough cover from the rear of the car (and remove the duct tape from the cover if you put it there). Run the wiring back through the hole and re-insert the rubber boot into the hole. The boot should be oriented so that, when the cover is held with the boot at the top, the wiring runs out to the right.

Drop the bracket back into the tank, again taking care not to allow foreign objects into the tank. Also, remember to line the gasket up properly, and take care that it doesn't fall into the tank. It's probably best that you replace this gasket at this point. I did not (didn't think to pick up a new one beforehand). My gasket was slightly too large for it's "trough" so I simply trimmed it. I used a bit of silicon to hold in in it's trough so it wouldn't move as I aligned the fuel pump bracket.The tricky part comes from the problem of the gasket moving about as the bracket moves. When we removed the bracket, we slid it aside to disconnect the hoses. With the gasket now unseated, this no longer works. You must secure the bracket with it's 6 screws (fasten them in a double-triangle pattern for best seal), then fight for room with the hoses.For this step, rather than sliding the clamps over the hoses and then securing the hoses, I simply slid the hoses into place and then opened the clamps and fit them around the hoses. I did this because having the clamps on the hoses further reduces the already precious space there is to work with the hoses. Take care not to loose any parts of the clamps--they're 4 piece clamps with two nuts and a bolt.Now go ahead and set the passthrough cover tinto place and secure it with its 4 screws.

With the pump bracket assembly secured and the hoses connected, you can reconnect the wire harness at its clip on the left side (again, as seen in pictures 7 and 8). The foam tape that bad been securing the harness had lost it's adhesiveness for me, so I used duct tape to help hold it down over the harness.

At this point, you could go ahead and replace the seat if you wanted. I recommend testing the function of the pump first, though.Make sure the pump harness is reconnected, then reconnect your negative battery terminal and the fuel pump fuse. Turn the key to "on" (not "start") and let the pump run for a few seconds. You should be able to hear it if you place your ear near it. Then try starting the car. It should start and run as normal. If it does, you're all set. If not, backtrack and see where you've erred.

Replacing the rear seatThis is quite simple--and made even easier with two people. Start with the seatback; simply drop the retaining clips into their slots on the parcel shelf, then secure the two bolts at the lower corners. Now grab the seat bottom. Set it in place, keeping in mind the retainers that must go behind the seatback. In order to get the retaining clips to drop into their holes, use your screwdriver handles or wratchet handle to push them back while pressing down gently above them. It should fall into place without much trouble. I found that my seat is slightly loose after having removed it the first time, but not to the point that I'm concerned about it.

You're done!Now you get to clean up your tools!

(pictures in progress...give me a moment...)

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