In-tank fuel pump replacement "guide" -- For E23 cars with dual fuel pumps

[GuitarrasDeAmor]

I inquired to 'Hit Man X' about replacing the fuel pumps in my car, as I feel that is the issue with it. Well, the single pump method requires you to be able to have a little bit of welding done, and I don't have that kind of access. He asked me to write a bit of a guide. Well, the replacement was super straight forward so I am not sure it is needed, but aww here it goes.

What you need:
- A crappy old Bimmer like mine (1986 BMW 735i)
- A Carter P60293 fuel pump (I got mine on Amazon, because I hate going to stores and talking to people)
- Quick note, this is a fuel pump from an old Vega. It is not specifically for your vehicle. Our OEM pump is no longer made/is crazy expensive (because Bimmertax) so this works just as good (apparently, I truthfully haven't tested it yet, ignore this whole guide completely actually)
- Some basic hand tools
- The ability to put together a set of Legos
- Maybe some hose and electrical connectors if you're bad at this like me

1. Okay, so go in your trunk and lift up the carpet. Voila, there's your pump access panel. Unscrew it and throw it to the side.
2. Looks cruddy? Yeah, clean all that junk off before you decide to remove everything. Unless you want crap in your gas, then don't, I'm not a cop.
3. Remove the electrical connectors and hoses that go to the pump. Did you really need this step?
4. Unscrew the four nuts that hold the fuel level sender unit to the pump. It's the thing that has four nuts holding it down. You don't need a picture.
5. Take that out, then undo the rest of the screws/bolts that hold the unit to the tank. Don't drop these in your tank or you're gonna have a bad time.
6. Remove the unit from your tank. It comes out a little weird, but gently caress it out of the tank.
7. It should look a little something like this: http://i.imgur.com/8Bb02A3.jpg -- You should have a nice gas buzz at this time.
8. Unscrew the ground strap, remove the fuel screen, and disconnect the top of the pump from the rubber hose piece.
9. You see the electrical connectors on top? Look here tough guy: http://i.imgur.com/Auyb9xe.jpg -- This is a pic after the fact, but you see theose connectors on top? Use something like a flathead to disconnect them from the top of the old pump. You can do this without hurting them. Because of the big dumb brute I am, I decided that patience was stupid and instead cut the power wire on mine, before realizing with the ground strap that I could just pop them off. So do it right, or end up like how all the cool kids are doing it: http://i.imgur.com/QNxRUpY.jpg
10. The new pump should be disconnected now. Throw it away, at your neighbor's annoying kids, or keep it on your shelf as a trophy, I don't care.
11. The new pump is here, great. You saw it in the last two pics I shared with you - as you can see, it is about an inch shorter than the factory pump. Not to worry, it's all about the motion in the tank.
12. Put the new one in the same position as the old one. Attach the ground and power straps you took off the old one. If you screwed up like me, not to worry, the power is simple soldered on top and is easy to replace with a wire and some time, and the ground you could just convert to wire I suppose or get fancy with the strap somehow. I don't care how you do it, just do it. Here is mine: http://i.imgur.com/t0leZcC.jpg -- http://i.imgur.com/qZRlPXY.jpg
13. You know how I said it was an inch shorter? Well, don't ever let her tell you that farce about an inch longer you'd be a king, an inch shorter a queen, because personally I think we're fine how we are. You might disagree, but I feel comfortable with how my hose length. YMMV. For reference - http://i.imgur.com/OH184Kn.jpg
14. You're pretty much done. You may want to add a zip tie to keep the pump attached, but it felt pretty sturdy to me connected to the screen at the bottom. All I had was a hose clamp, and I didn't want it contacting the metal pump and the pump housing being metal and grounding the pump to that already. If you notice in the pic I showed the ground strap, I took a small piece of rubber and put it between the metal pump and housing so they wouldn't touch - you could do that better, or not at all, but I figured it won't hurt anything.
15. Do everything in reverse order. If you need to renumber them to follow along, feel free to copy and paste this in a text editor and do that - however I'd just recommend stopping now if that is required, who knows what you've done to this step. Here's a tip, you only have to do steps 6-1!
16. Start the car, check for leaks, go for a drive, pick up some women (or dudes, if you're into that).

There you go. So easy, even you can do it. If there are any questions, feel free to ask but I probably won't answer. I mean if you can't follow this I don't know if there is any help for you.

[Hit Man X]

LOLOLOLOL last step. This is my kind of write up!

Well done.

[DSpoljaric]

Love it! Thanks!

[pennybond]

Nice job!

[BoolJames]

Thank you or posting this,having fuel related problems I believe right now. This will be very helpful!!!

[BoolJames]

Soo I went to my car today so I can do as followed on this thread because I believe I have fuel related issues right and my car won't turn over....so I lift up the carpet in the trunk and this is what it looked like....

[BONDOSPECIAL]

Looks from your other pics like someone smashed the bottom of your gas tank pretty badly. Now would be a good time to replace the whole tank and put a new pump in.

[BoolJames]

Yea I was thinking the same thing. I wonder if the 35i and 45i is the same size though?

[BoolJames]

[BONDOSPECIAL]

the euro gas tank is larger

[Hit Man X]

Pretty nice fuel tank carnage!

As stated, ECE tank is larger (15L I think)... but a US tank will work for now and are quite a bit cheaper to buy used as well as easy to find.

[BoolJames]

Okay cool. I'll source one out this weeknd. I'm jus mad I didn't check the floor mat in the trunk. It's more tHan obvious what my issue was smh. Hopefule nothing else's is messed up like this

[offroadkarter]

While you are in there, if you are dropping the tank (which you obviously are, that thing is ****ed up), replace all of the rubber fuel lines. With how old the car is, and how long it has been sitting, it would be foolish not to.

[BoolJames]

Lol I knw right? I'm gonna call the dealer right now and see if they have hoses/fuel lines. There's no way around this issue at all. Fuel pump is poking out like a whole inch

[offroadkarter]

You don't need to go to the dealer, go to pepboys or advanced auto or something and have them cut you some gates fuel line hose. Its just generic hose, no need to be dealer specific. If anything, you can take the old hoses off and either measure it or bring it with you and have them compare the length and cut.

[Hit Man X]

The main EFI hoses under the hood and at the fuel filter, sure 5/16" works fine... but for the lift pump to the inline, good luck finding a suitable replacement 1/2" EFI hose, let alone in stock. Just go OEM with the 12x18.

Same goes for that vapor recover deal in the trunk, using other than OE is a waste of time and energy as it will not fit through the grommets beside the fuel neck. BTDT. Order up some 6x11 and 8x13, then get on with life. OE stuff for the vapor tank is not very expensive, buy 2-3 meters of each as I seem to recall 1 meter too short to do both.

[BoolJames]

Okay, jus to be clear (because this will probably take place sooner than later) the 1/2" EFI hose is the one that goes from the pump in the trunk to the one underneath ?

ima go over the graph on RealOEM to get a better understanding

[Hit Man X]

http://realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?...69&hg=16&fg=15

That should help.

[Bimmerman4ever]

Finally. someone with a good sense of humor. 5 Stars on the write up.