1984 280GE Fuel Sender connection
I have just started to look at the restoration of my 280GE and one of my first jobs is the fuel tank. I could smell the stale fuel but could not see the leak. I started looking at the corrosion and a quick wire brush soon exposed the first hole which helped me drain off the couple of litres of very stale fuel left in the tank. I dropped the tank and as i have read it was no surprise that the straps, bash plate and pipework are all completly corroded. I decided to try and remove the tank without opening the inspection hatch in the floor which was fine however i now have everything but the fuel sender disconected now. I would have expected a plug in conection however the connections appear to be soldered directly tothe terminals. Is this standard or a mod where a plug has been cut off in the past please ? Many thanks
The plug has been removed, the terminal ends are just pushed on , pull them off gently with some long nosed pliers
You won't get the sender off with grips , you will require a socket , there is a guy up by me who repairs steel fuel tanks
Thanks again. Yes sender stuck solid so socket required. Bracket for small tank is rusted solid on bolts. Small bracket has rusted throughso will need to find another. Nuts now rounded of. Going to need a new rubber for around the filler. The shopping list continues to grow. There are some local tank repair guys to me but want them to look at both. Rad needs doing some time as well which they allso do. I have released the 10mm bolts that hold the small tank to the bracket but the 11mm nuts that hold the bracketto the inner arch i causing me a headache. Do you know if these are just bolted throughthe arch ? Looks like i may have to split the nut to get it off
As regards the saddle tank , do you really want to keep it ? You can always blank the main feed off to it when you get the tank refurbished
Fortunately there is only the saddle tank on the filler side. Looks to have been a perfect collector for silt and muck. Even the rear bumper has been designed to collect and fill with muck to rot it. Looks like this will need some serious welding if anything left once i have removed it and stipped it. I think its now half its original thickness due to corosion !
Just change it to a standard filler neck
Sounds like a good idea to me. Ive got the sender out now. Turns out to be a 46mm socket not 45. I can now get the tank refurb looked at. Thinking of going for stainless straps. Looks like there was something missing between the straps and tank guard looking at the diagram which may have caused problems with corrosion. I allso have the problem of the central stap which holds the fuel pump cover in place. Going to need a replacement tank guard as this central strap hooks on to this. I think you can remove this strap and bolt the fuel pump cover tothe tank guard but will need to find a guard first.
I have now removed the saddle tank. Turns out yhe nut i could access from the wheel arch inner was welded to the bracket. I needed to remove rhe linner stuck to the arch inside the vehicle and unbolt. Crazy think is the 2 bolts near the filler are exposed. The 2 holding the rear bracket are covered. 1 left to access but i need to remove the jump seat and internal trim to access the one bolt. Saddle tank is far worse than main tank. The breather pipe connector tube had completely disintigrated. The tee pieces on the breather above the main tank again compltely gone. Allso found the bracket which should be holding the bumper end has rusted away. Steel bumper rusted through. The more i undcover the more rust i find. Looks like there was a heat protector atatched to the under floor above the exhaust. This must have been connected by some sort of metal clips x4. Rusted away and dropped down. No idea how to re fix this in place. I knew there would be rust but it is amazing how much there is.
...I knew there would be rust but it is amazing how much there is....
Always remember it is never as bad a LandRover! It's getting the parts which is time consuming (and sometimes expensive), plus the knowledge of what goes where. The schematics don't always show it well.
The best vehicles are those which are not encased in plastic shields (just hides the rusting) but open and well rust proofed, and preferably waxoiled.
btw. Ditch the saddle tank and save yourself £50 in fuel.
Very true. The chasis has survived well in comparison to the body. The last landrover i found in a field up the road i was to scared to move it there was so little chasis left. I think if i had towed it out it would have been in two halfs. I will take both of your advice and ditch the saddle tank. Just need to find the replacement extended filler now. I can see the parts hunting being great fun and certainly adds up. Looks like taking your time is the key. I can see the shims between the straps and guard that were missing now but cant see the central strap for the fuel pump cover so think this may have been a mod as the tank guard diintegrated. As you say when you look back at the diagrams things become more obvious sometimes, Next job is a quote for the main tank repair. I have a large tin of waxoil rady to deploy and will more than likely need more. Thanks again.
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Thats greatthank you they came straight off. The sender wont budge now even with a big pair of grips so looks like i need toinvest in a 45mm socket. I have found a hole in the top of the tank by the breather along with the original underneath. I suspectthere will be more. I allso need need to remove the smaller tank bythe filler as i suspect further corrosion. There were years of silt and mud stuck in the many nooks. The small bracket holding this tank is very corroded and the nuts wont budge at the moment. All good fun.