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Hi, I'm Don from 1A Auto. I hope this how-to video helps you out, and the next time you need a part for your vehicle, think of 1AAuto.com. Thanks.
In this video, we're going to show you how to replace the fuel tank on this 2001 Ford Taurus. You're going to need a new fuel tank from 1AAuto.com, a flat blade screwdriver, a drip pan, two pairs of pliers, 13mm socket and ratchet with an extension, a file, a vice, a hammer, jack and jack stands, and depending on the condition of your vehicle, you may also need a damaged bolt removal tool and an impact wrench.
Start off by starting your car, and then go to your fuse box and remove this fuel pump relay. Your car should stall out. Now, turn your car off. We're going to disconnect these two fuel lines from the fuel filter, pry down on the tabs, and then pull them free. While Don's doing that, in order to prepare for this, you can see that we have it on the lift, but doing it with just jack and jack stands is okay, too. You just want to jack the vehicle up as high as you can so that you can have a lot of room to get the tank out from underneath. Now, put your drip pan underneath your fuel filter here, and pull those hoses free. Just let that drain for a second. Now, loosen up these two hose clamps, and slide those clamps back. We'll fast-forward as Don does this.
Now, just pry up this yellow clip and once you get it pried up most of the way it's easier to just remove it by hand. We'll fast forward as Don just works these hoses free. You can see he does use some penetrating oil to help, you don't need to but it definitely does make it a bit easier. Then, just pull this hose free as well. With that hose free, there's actually another hose coming into it that you want to disconnect. Lastly, on the front passenger side corner of the tank, there's a harness. You just push in the tab and disconnect the harness. Put a block of wood on a jack and then just jack up your gas tank.
Then, you want to remove the bolts holding in the gas tank straps. There's a 13mm on both. Using a 13mm socket and ratchet with an extension or using an impact wrench and a 13mm socket, you just want to remove that bolt. When we go to remove this one, we have a bit of a problem with it. As you can see, it's completely rounded so to remove it, we're going to need to use this damaged bolt removal tool, and you just put it into a socket and use an impact wrench, and those teeth will bite into the bolt and help pull it free. Just push it up into place and use your impact wrench to remove it. We'll fast-forward as Don does this.
Now, pull back the gas tank strap, and there's a pin that holds this end in, and you can remove it one of two ways. You can either use a flat blade screwdriver to push it up and into the hole, or you can use a small pair of pliers. Once you can see the pin at the edge of the hole, and once you can see the pin through the hole, then you just use your pliers and pull the pin out. We'll just fast-forward as Don does this on the other strap. Actually, having your car down on the driveway on jack stands with a jack underneath is easier.
You can see because of fuel in the tank we've got two people holding the tank. Pull out the jack, and then we shift it down and out, and then pull it right down. Remove any debris with a broom or compressed air works well as well. With a screwdriver and a hammer, and just remove that ring. To get the ring off, you're going to need to pull this harness free. Just disconnect it, pull it from that clip, and then slide the ring over these harnesses.
Now, use a flat blade screwdriver to pry up around the outside of the fuel pump sender. You want to make sure you remember which way the arrow on the fuel pump sender is facing for when you go to install it onto your new fuel tank. That sender will pull up, and you want to just let it drain for a second, and then remove it the rest of the way. Now, you can just drain out some of the gas that's inside of this. Just use a container and a funnel, and now you can recover any unused fuel.
Then you need to twist this out. You just twist it and remove it, but it does get jammed in there, so it helps if you just pry it up with a flat blade screwdriver and then twist. Now you can lift it up and out. Now pry up on this and pull it out. Now loosen this hose clamp with your flat blade screwdriver. Just move that aside. Then just pry and pull on the hose until it eventually pulls free. Now push it onto your new gas tank, and you can see we're using our old one, we're just really doing this video to show you the process.
Just put the hose back on and tighten up this hose clamp. Push this back down in and do the same with this. Once it's pushed all the way down in, you want to just twist it back into place. Remove this gasket from your old fuel tank and push it onto your new fuel tank.
Then, you want to push your fuel pump sending unit back into place, making sure that the arrow is facing the same way that it was on your old fuel tank. Once you have it pushed down into place, slide the ring over your harnesses, and while applying pressure to the sending unit, just push that ring into place and twist it back. Then, use your hammer and flat blade screwdriver to completely twist it back into place. Then, re-clip this harness into the bracket here and reconnect it up here. Re-clip your harness and reconnect it. This harness, just run it underneath those tubes and push that clip into that hole on the side of the gas tank. Our pins for our gas tank straps were a little bit rusty, so we just filed them down a little bit. Then, you want to take your two gas tank straps, the long one goes on the passenger's side, the shorter one on the driver's side. We just put the passenger's side up into place, and slide that pin in.
Push the gas tank back up. Put the jack back underneath the gas tank to hold it into place. We'll fast forward as Don replaces that gas tank strap, replaces the 13mm bolt, and tightens it up. Now, put the driver's side gas tank strap back into place and slide that pin in, and then replace the 13mm bolt over here and tighten it up. Reconnect this harness, and slide these two hoses back onto your fuel filter, and replace those two clips. Now, you just want to reconnect all of these hoses, and we'll fast forward as Don does that. Make sure you replace that yellow clip to hold that hose into place. Make sure you get this upper hose too.
Now, replace those hose clamps and tighten them back up. Now, you can remove the jack that's underneath the gas tank. Replace your fuel pump relay, put the fuse box lid back into place, and start your car. The first time, it'll probably stall out because it's still re-priming everything. The second time, you should be all set.
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