So I decided to replace the fuel pump in my Kia. It was on its way out, and I figured better to be pre-emptive than to break down even further out in the boondocks than I already live.
The fuel pump, as sold by Kia, is about $430.00 because they only sell the entire assembly (that is, the pump pre-mounted on the hangar). Aftermarket, the assemblies range from about $185.00 to $250.00 for the Airtex pump, which no one seems to have much luck with; and about $350.00 to $450.00 for the assembly with the Carter pump.
Not being one to toss money away lightly, I decided to just buy the pump itself from an eBay guy I've had good luck with. All they sell is fuel pumps. He has like a 99.3 positive feedback rate. So I ordered the pump, it shipped same-day, and it arrived today.
Normally, this should be a 45-minute job. But when I opened up the trap door, I observed that the mechanic who'd replaced the gas tank about a year ago use el-cheapo screws to mount the fuel pump flange, and the heads were rusted away. Lovely. I would need new screws. The problem was that I had no idea what size they were.
I could have just looked it up; but that being much too easy, I blasted the screws with PB, spent a while cussing to pass the time while it soaked in, and managed to get one of the screws out more or less intact. It turned out to be a 4 mm, so off I went to Car Quest buy a left-hand twist drill bit, a set of extractors, and 12 4mm screws. I only needed 8 4mm screws, but I figured at least four would leap into the grass under the car, so I bought 12 4mm screws.
I wound up not needing the extractors, but I do meet enough recalcitrant screws that I'm going to keep them. The left-hand bit did the job easily because of the el-cheapo screws. But for the life of me, I couldn't get the pressure line off the pump hangar. The problem is that that particular fitting is plastic, and it breaks easily if you start wiggling the hose too enthusiastically. Don't ask me how I know.
So I cut the fuel line, which I had forgotten to depressurize again after the unplanned trip to Car Quest. Mental note: Use a checklist next time.
Even after cutting the line, it took me about 15 minutes to get the hose off the pump hanger. The screw on the clamp was not only overtightened, but also rusted on so solid that not even PB would loosen it. And again, you can't wiggle that part much without risking it breaking. So I wound up slicing the line off, and then sort of digging it out from under the clamp.
Then came the task of actually replacing the pump, which was easy. It was a perfect fit. It attached to the hanger perfectly, and I just cut the old line and replaced it with a new piece.
I also looked at the fuel sender, which always tests perfectly, but never works right, and considered testing it and the rest of the circuit again. But I decided to just leave it be. I've replaced the sender multiple times, and everything else in the circuit tests okay, but it doesn't work when it's all put back together.
But the heck with it. I've been doing without a reliable fuel gauge for so long that I don't need it anymore. I've learned exactly how many miles I get to a tank under any conceivable combination of driving conditions, so I just use the trip odometer as a fuel gauge.
Next was the task of replacing the hanger into the gas tank, which would have been easy except for the remnants of the old screws still in there, which had to be removed with a needle-nose vise grip. Not difficult, but tedious. Only one fell in the tank, and I fished it out.
Now, remember the pressure line? I'd cut it because I couldn't get it off the pump hanger, which meant that I would have to replace that length of fuel line (stretching not being an option), which would have been easy if the point of attachment were, like, another inch longer, or if I had hands the size of a toddler's. Neither of those situations being the case, that task added another half hour and about a dozen cuss words to the job.
It was one of those things that car engineers do just to **** off whomever has to work on that part of the car. There was no reason at all why the fitting couldn't be an inch longer. But it was exactly the right size to force the connection to live in a nearly-inaccessible nook. Or maybe it was a cranny. I never could tell the two apart.
Very unusual for Kia, actually. I find their cars relatively easy to work on. Except for this connection.
Anyway, I eventually got that part of the job done with a box wrench and a quart or two of blood from my knuckles. So now the easy part: reinstalling the hanger. Just position the sock in the bucket, tighten down the eight screws (hex screws in this case, because that's what Car Quest had), and reattach the hoses and wires. Simple, right?
Yeah, except that I couldn't find my 7mm socket. I looked high and low, but neither searching nor praying nor cussing was to any avail. Neither could I just go buy a new one, because I don't have a spare car. (Mental note: Call my friend Pete the used car guy and tell him I need a spare car.)
So I had to use a box wrench, which wouldn't be bad except that the el-cheapo screws that the guy who'd replaced the fuel tank had used had been too short for the job, and had resulted in the bottom part of the threads in the mounting ring getting rusty. That meant that I could only hand-tighten the screws about halfway down. The rest had to be done with 10- to 15- degree turns of the wrench.
After I got about three screws snug, but not tight, the box wrench was yanked out of my hand by a gremlin who had just recovered from his fit of laughter about the nearly-inaccessible fuel line connection. The wrench wedged itself between the gas tank and the bottom of the car, and no amount of fishing, praying, or cussing could loosen it.
So with three screws snug (but not torqued), off I drove to the hardware store to buy a 7mm socket. Ahh, the smell of gasoline. I bought a 7mm box wrench, as well, which said act I thought would guarantee that the old one would immediately fall out of its hiding place and leap into my hand. But that didn't happen. It did fall out -- I heard it clanging along the road on the way back -- but it did not leap into my hand. I drove back to look for it, but I guess it leaped into the bushes, instead.
With socket wrench and 7mm socket in hand, I finally finished up the job. Everything worked fine in the end. Idrove to the Country Store to buy a six-pack of beer put the car through a thorough test drive, and the new fuel pump pumps fuel very nicely.
So I buttoned everything up and cleaned up. My 45-minute job only took three hours.
Oh, by the way, I found my old 7mm socket. It had rolled under some stuff in the back of the car. So now I have two.
-Rich
The fuel pump, as sold by Kia, is about $430.00 because they only sell the entire assembly (that is, the pump pre-mounted on the hangar). Aftermarket, the assemblies range from about $185.00 to $250.00 for the Airtex pump, which no one seems to have much luck with; and about $350.00 to $450.00 for the assembly with the Carter pump.
Not being one to toss money away lightly, I decided to just buy the pump itself from an eBay guy I've had good luck with. All they sell is fuel pumps. He has like a 99.3 positive feedback rate. So I ordered the pump, it shipped same-day, and it arrived today.
Normally, this should be a 45-minute job. But when I opened up the trap door, I observed that the mechanic who'd replaced the gas tank about a year ago use el-cheapo screws to mount the fuel pump flange, and the heads were rusted away. Lovely. I would need new screws. The problem was that I had no idea what size they were.
I could have just looked it up; but that being much too easy, I blasted the screws with PB, spent a while cussing to pass the time while it soaked in, and managed to get one of the screws out more or less intact. It turned out to be a 4 mm, so off I went to Car Quest buy a left-hand twist drill bit, a set of extractors, and 12 4mm screws. I only needed 8 4mm screws, but I figured at least four would leap into the grass under the car, so I bought 12 4mm screws.
I wound up not needing the extractors, but I do meet enough recalcitrant screws that I'm going to keep them. The left-hand bit did the job easily because of the el-cheapo screws. But for the life of me, I couldn't get the pressure line off the pump hangar. The problem is that that particular fitting is plastic, and it breaks easily if you start wiggling the hose too enthusiastically. Don't ask me how I know.
So I cut the fuel line, which I had forgotten to depressurize again after the unplanned trip to Car Quest. Mental note: Use a checklist next time.
Even after cutting the line, it took me about 15 minutes to get the hose off the pump hanger. The screw on the clamp was not only overtightened, but also rusted on so solid that not even PB would loosen it. And again, you can't wiggle that part much without risking it breaking. So I wound up slicing the line off, and then sort of digging it out from under the clamp.
Then came the task of actually replacing the pump, which was easy. It was a perfect fit. It attached to the hanger perfectly, and I just cut the old line and replaced it with a new piece.
I also looked at the fuel sender, which always tests perfectly, but never works right, and considered testing it and the rest of the circuit again. But I decided to just leave it be. I've replaced the sender multiple times, and everything else in the circuit tests okay, but it doesn't work when it's all put back together.
But the heck with it. I've been doing without a reliable fuel gauge for so long that I don't need it anymore. I've learned exactly how many miles I get to a tank under any conceivable combination of driving conditions, so I just use the trip odometer as a fuel gauge.
Next was the task of replacing the hanger into the gas tank, which would have been easy except for the remnants of the old screws still in there, which had to be removed with a needle-nose vise grip. Not difficult, but tedious. Only one fell in the tank, and I fished it out.
Now, remember the pressure line? I'd cut it because I couldn't get it off the pump hanger, which meant that I would have to replace that length of fuel line (stretching not being an option), which would have been easy if the point of attachment were, like, another inch longer, or if I had hands the size of a toddler's. Neither of those situations being the case, that task added another half hour and about a dozen cuss words to the job.
It was one of those things that car engineers do just to **** off whomever has to work on that part of the car. There was no reason at all why the fitting couldn't be an inch longer. But it was exactly the right size to force the connection to live in a nearly-inaccessible nook. Or maybe it was a cranny. I never could tell the two apart.
Very unusual for Kia, actually. I find their cars relatively easy to work on. Except for this connection.
Anyway, I eventually got that part of the job done with a box wrench and a quart or two of blood from my knuckles. So now the easy part: reinstalling the hanger. Just position the sock in the bucket, tighten down the eight screws (hex screws in this case, because that's what Car Quest had), and reattach the hoses and wires. Simple, right?
Yeah, except that I couldn't find my 7mm socket. I looked high and low, but neither searching nor praying nor cussing was to any avail. Neither could I just go buy a new one, because I don't have a spare car. (Mental note: Call my friend Pete the used car guy and tell him I need a spare car.)
So I had to use a box wrench, which wouldn't be bad except that the el-cheapo screws that the guy who'd replaced the fuel tank had used had been too short for the job, and had resulted in the bottom part of the threads in the mounting ring getting rusty. That meant that I could only hand-tighten the screws about halfway down. The rest had to be done with 10- to 15- degree turns of the wrench.
After I got about three screws snug, but not tight, the box wrench was yanked out of my hand by a gremlin who had just recovered from his fit of laughter about the nearly-inaccessible fuel line connection. The wrench wedged itself between the gas tank and the bottom of the car, and no amount of fishing, praying, or cussing could loosen it.
So with three screws snug (but not torqued), off I drove to the hardware store to buy a 7mm socket. Ahh, the smell of gasoline. I bought a 7mm box wrench, as well, which said act I thought would guarantee that the old one would immediately fall out of its hiding place and leap into my hand. But that didn't happen. It did fall out -- I heard it clanging along the road on the way back -- but it did not leap into my hand. I drove back to look for it, but I guess it leaped into the bushes, instead.
With socket wrench and 7mm socket in hand, I finally finished up the job. Everything worked fine in the end. I
So I buttoned everything up and cleaned up. My 45-minute job only took three hours.
Oh, by the way, I found my old 7mm socket. It had rolled under some stuff in the back of the car. So now I have two.
-Rich
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