Van work - September 8, 2010

We woke up in Bill and Leslie's driveway and the task for the day was to replace the van fuel pump. The van has had a sputtering problem on hot days and recently died with 3/4 of a tank, so after some web research Ken decided it was the fuel pump. We were fortunate enough to get Bill's assistance with changing the fuel pump. It was not a simple task because the pump and fuel filter are located inside the van's 36 gallon gas tank (this project will be cross posted on mrpulldown.blogspot.com).

We started the project by helping Bill finish his Daddy-daycare responsibilities: scrubbing the tub, vacuuming, and cleaning rooms. With three sets of hands, the chores were finished quickly, and Bill and Ken moved on to the van project (while Anja took over Daddy-daycare). The first task was to try to drain the 30+ gallons of gas out of the tank and unbolt the tank's support straps.

After siphoning, the fuel tank still had about 10 gallons of gas in it, so we used a floor jack to lower it slowly.
Then we pounded the lock ring out of the fuel pump.
For some reason, the new pump did not come with a pull so we had to reuse the old one.

New pump installed in the tank.
Leslie's mom and Edger arrived at about halfway through the project and made this awesome dinner of Alaskan Salmon and veggies.