2G AWD Denso Fuel Pump Install

2G AWD Denso Fuel Pump Install on a 1995 GSX

For some reason, no one has yet to write up a VFAQ for installing a Denso pump in a 2g, and in fact, there is no VFAQ for any fuel pump install in a 2g AWD, which is significantly different than the FWD (evil? :) counterpart. So here it is, hopefully it will help some people out. It's really quite easy to do, and although all of the other FP VFAQ's say that you'll "swear like a WWII trench soldier", I didn't find myself swearing once during the install, though the fitting was a bit tough to get off. Oh, and take my word (as well as that of everyone else who has done a FP!), forget the top fitting, you won't get it off easily. Just go for the bottom, it's really easy to access.

In other news, I installed a fuel pump from a Supra 94 TT. It's $180 (a bit more than the Walbros, but it's quiet, it's Toyota quality (I've heard Walbros have feed problems which is why they are so noisy), and it's what my friend Reg runs on his 700hp+ One Lap Supra, so it's good enough for my lowly One Lap beast. *smile* I got mine from Texas Toyota (http://www.toyota-parts.com/).

(TS- FYI, a Walbro install will be virtually the same)

Parts Needed:

Denso Fuel Pump (duh)
One 4mm nut, washer, lock washer and electrical o-ring connector doodad (+)
One 5mm nut, washer, lock washer and electrical o-ring connector doodad (-)
14mm and 19mm (can substitute 3/4") flare nut wrenches
One Phillips screwdriver
One Flathead screwdriver
One hammer (don't worry :)
One visegrips / "channel locks"
One wire stripper / snipper
One sheetmetal cutter
One container for the fuel to drip into below the pump

This is a picture of a flare nut wrench in case you have never seen one before. You need a 14mm and a 19mm for this job.

First, make sure you are below 3/4 tank, preferably 1/2 tank, or you may have a LOT of fuel everywhere when you open up the tank. Next, pull the rear seat bottom. Here is a shot of me pulling the seat release. NOTE that unlike the first gens, that have the latch on the seat, the 2Gs have the latch on the car. So pull the latches, and then lift up on the seat to remove it.

Here is the rear seat area. The grey cover on the left is the one we're interested in, and beneath which you will find the fuel pump.

Here is a closeup of the cover we'll be removing. You need to remove the four screws, located at each corner of the grey cover, as well as the one screw holding down the plastic piece for the wiring. Once these 5 screws have been removed, gently lift the cover up about an inch or two, and then disconnect the white plug (you can see a picture of the plug below). It's simply a little push tab facing towards the front of the car.

Here is a picture of the cover removed and pushed out of the way. Here you can see that the assembly is quite different than the FWD one. The rubber line on the top left is the return line, the rubber line to the right is the suction line for the other half of the tank, the rubber line on the bottom left is the feed line to the fuel rail (the big metal thing is the top fuel line fitting). Do NOT bother trying to remove it here, you risk breaking the assembly. The fittings on this end of the feed line do not have swivel fittings. If you try to spin it loose here, you will twist the line and possibly tear it (it has happened to people). Instead, continue reading - we're going to attack it from the bottom.

Now you should open your gas cap and try to start the car a few times to try to get as much fuel out of the line as possible. Here is a picture with the ventline removed. Yes, you will spill quite a bit of fuel when you disconnect it. Enjoy the smell :)

Now we need to remove that plastic ring that keeps the assembly in place. The service manual calls for the use of a special tool to remove this ring, but it's certainly not needed. As you can see, a flathead screwdriver and a hammer will do the trick just fine. You want to unscrew the plastic ring by tapping on the little lips on the top, slowly but surely. I think it took about three complete rotations or so to get it off, so it'll take a few minutes.

Here is a closeup of where to tap.

Next remove the return line, as shown here.

Now for the fun part! Jack up the car using the little notch in the rail in front of the rear passenger side tire. This will give you plenty of access to get to the bottom fitting. You'll be able to find it easily - you can even just follow it up to the fuel pump if in doubt. Now is a good time to put some sort of large container (a drain pan would work well) to catch the fuel that will leak out). The trick to removing the fitting is to first put the 19mm flare nut wrench on the big nut, and then slide the 14mm flare nut wrench on the little one. You're going to be basically holding the 19mm one in place and concentrating your efforts on unscrewing the small nut from the big one. You can see that behind the 14mm nut the hardline is threaded, so that's how it'll unscrew.

It'll take quite a bit of effort, but with the flare nut wrenches, chances are 99% certain that you won't strip the nuts. Once you break it loose, fuel *will* start coming out of the line and down your arm, just to add to the fun. Just keep on working on that 14mm until it's completely free from the larger one. Now get back into the car.

Now comes the scary part - get some tin snips, and cut the rear seat floor above the feed line (don't worry, it isn't structural, it won't hurt anything, and will make your job a LOT easier). Cut in about 1 1/2". [NOTE: Picture from FWD VFAQ, you'll still have the fitment ring on, it's impossible to get off completely yet, you'll just have loosened it all the way.]

Now wiggle the entire assembly up and out of the car, being sure to not let the rubber line rub against the cut you just made, as it could tear it. Also be sure to pull the pump out VERY carefully, as the float is in there kind of strangely, and you want to make sure you don't bend it.

Here is a picture showing the proper technique to avoid tearing the line.

Here is a picture of Chad Gray (Cable on IRC) holding the entire assembly out of the car. Note the white ring is steal on the assembly.

Here is the bottom bracket that holds the pump in the assembly. Grab that screw with a pliers or visegrips, and crack it loose FIRST, then loosen with a Philips screwdriver, or you may strip the screw. I promise you won't get it off with just a screwdriver, so don't even try. Pull the bottom bracket off. Also disconnect the two connectors at the top of the assembly. You might be able to get away with just undoing the one going to the pump.

Here is the pump out of the assembly. The pink lines separate the various sealing parts that you MUST NOT lose, you will need all of them for the new pump. For lack of better terms, the white (left) piece is the "cap", the middle piece is the O-ring, and the black (right) piece is the "spacer". ery carefully rock the cap off (carefully, you do NOT want to crack it), then pull the O-ring and spacer off. Transfer all of these parts to the new pump immediately so you won't lose them (I didn't in these pictures, but I was careful not to lose them :)

This is the bottom view of the stock pump. Carefully rock that metal clip off of the post to remove the filter which will be transferred to the new pump.

Here is a picture of the filter transferred over to the new pump. Note it will not go on quite as well as on the stock pump, but it will seal just as well, just be sure to really push it on, and push on the metal clip well. To do that, use a nutdriver to push the metal clip onto the new pump. If you don't have a nutdriver, you can use a small socket, which is what I ended up doing. Worst case scenario, use a pair of pliers with the jaws slightly open.

Here is another shot of the filter on the new pump. The reason you can't get it on as well as on the stock pump as it's shaped a bit differently, and the plastic of the filter will butt up against the ledge on the pump. You'll see :)

Now turn your attention to the other side of the pump. When you disconnected the connectors on the assembly, there is one with a white connector on one end and a black connector on the other. Snip off the black end (I *THINK* it's the black end, I can't remember now for certain.. it's the end that actually plugged into the pump, not the assembly), leaving a bit of extra wire if you want to reconnect the stock pump at some point in the future (about 1cm of slack or so is enough). Now crimp the blue wire to the smaller electrical o-ring doodad, and the blue one to the larger one. Now place the blue one on the + post, and the black one on the - post and use the appropriate lock washer, washer and nut (specified at the beginning of this VFAQ, 4mm and 5mm). Torque em down a bit and make sure they're snug.

Now put everything back together! Because the pump is physically larger than the old pump, it won't fit exactly the same as before, it might be at a very slight angle when you push it back into the assembly. I bent the bracket a tiny bit so it went in well at the top, but you can see it's still at a small angle in these pictures. Be careful when putting the pump up into the fuel feed line - the rubber O-ring should be lubed with some grease, oil, or spit (hey, it works) so that the O-ring slips easily into the feed line. If it does not, the O-ring can kink or tear, and the car will be hard to start after sitting a few minutes, as the kinked/torn O-ring will allow the fuel to bleed out of the feed lines. The symptom will be that the car will take several seconds to start after sitting more than a minute or 2, but starts right up if you turn it off and then immediately start it back up.

Here is another view of everything back together and ready to go in the car. Make sure you're careful not to bend the float when putting it back in, and make sure you put that white ring on TIGHTLY. Otherwise you'll be sloshing fuel around when you drive and it will seap through the top. Do it by hand at first, and then use the screwdriver/hammer method as described above. Make sure those fittings that you love are tight, and you should be ready to go! I recommend starting the car with everything reattached minus the top grey cover plate so you can check for leaks, both in the car and below. Enjoy!

A note from Gino Valic in the Talon Digest:
"I recently discovered when installing my Nippondenso pump in a 91 gsx that the O-ring needed for the pump is the same one used in the Walbro installation kit. I wound up using the O-ring, retaining cap, and strainer clip for my pump installation. I have found the part # for this O-ring which anyone should be able to find in Autozone or PepBoys autoparts store. The O-ring is made by Borg Warner and the part # is 274571 Fuel injection seal. The list price is $4.25 and it cost me $1.98. The kit include two O-rings so if you screw one up, you have an extra."

Credits

Text and Pics by:
- Emmanuel Crouvisier (Twingles!)
- Tom Stangl [from 2g FWD Walbro VFAQ]
Special thanks to Chad Gray for getting under the car and consequently getting drenched by fuel, and Ian Jordan for his EE expertise.

Questions, suggestions, comments, constructive criticism and/or corrections? Fill out this form.

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person to visit a Pump VFAQ page since Oct 13, 1997.

This document can be reprinted for personal use or reference for your mechanic(s) with no prior permission needed. It can be linked to directly, as long as you have a link to the main VFAQ page of http://www.vfaq.com, though linking to the main page instead is preferred. This document can NOT be reprinted for profit/resale/redistribution of ANY type without expressed WRITTEN permission from me in advance. Bulk copying of this document onto your web site without prior permission will not be tolerated, link to it instead.

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talonts

	This is a picture of a flare nut wrench in case you have never seen one before. You need a 14mm and a 19mm for this job.
	*First, make sure you are below 3/4 tank, preferably 1/2 tank, or you may have a LOT of fuel everywhere when you open up the tank.* Next, pull the rear seat bottom. Here is a shot of me pulling the seat release. NOTE that unlike the first gens, that have the latch on the seat, the 2Gs have the latch on the car. So pull the latches, and then lift up on the seat to remove it.
	Here is the rear seat area. The grey cover on the left is the one we're interested in, and beneath which you will find the fuel pump.
	Here is a closeup of the cover we'll be removing. You need to remove the four screws, located at each corner of the grey cover, as well as the one screw holding down the plastic piece for the wiring. Once these 5 screws have been removed, gently lift the cover up about an inch or two, and then disconnect the white plug (you can see a picture of the plug below). It's simply a little push tab facing towards the front of the car.
	Here is a picture of the cover removed and pushed out of the way. Here you can see that the assembly is quite different than the FWD one. The rubber line on the top left is the return line, the rubber line to the right is the suction line for the other half of the tank, the rubber line on the bottom left is the feed line to the fuel rail (the big metal thing is the top fuel line fitting). Do NOT bother trying to remove it here, you risk breaking the assembly. The fittings on this end of the feed line do not have swivel fittings. If you try to spin it loose here, you will twist the line and possibly tear it (it has happened to people). Instead, continue reading - we're going to attack it from the bottom.
	Now you should open your gas cap and try to start the car a few times to try to get as much fuel out of the line as possible. Here is a picture with the ventline removed. Yes, you will spill quite a bit of fuel when you disconnect it. Enjoy the smell :)
	Now we need to remove that plastic ring that keeps the assembly in place. The service manual calls for the use of a special tool to remove this ring, but it's certainly not needed. As you can see, a flathead screwdriver and a hammer will do the trick just fine. You want to unscrew the plastic ring by tapping on the little lips on the top, slowly but surely. I think it took about three complete rotations or so to get it off, so it'll take a few minutes.
	Here is a closeup of where to tap.
	Next remove the return line, as shown here.
	Now for the fun part! Jack up the car using the little notch in the rail in front of the rear passenger side tire. This will give you plenty of access to get to the bottom fitting. You'll be able to find it easily - you can even just follow it up to the fuel pump if in doubt. Now is a good time to put some sort of large container (a drain pan would work well) to catch the fuel that will leak out). The trick to removing the fitting is to first put the 19mm flare nut wrench on the big nut, and then slide the 14mm flare nut wrench on the little one. You're going to be basically holding the 19mm one in place and concentrating your efforts on unscrewing the small nut from the big one. You can see that behind the 14mm nut the hardline is threaded, so that's how it'll unscrew.
	It'll take quite a bit of effort, but with the flare nut wrenches, chances are 99% certain that you won't strip the nuts. Once you break it loose, fuel will start coming out of the line and down your arm, just to add to the fun. Just keep on working on that 14mm until it's completely free from the larger one. Now get back into the car.
	Now comes the scary part - get some tin snips, and cut the rear seat floor above the feed line (don't worry, it isn't structural, it won't hurt anything, and will make your job a LOT easier). Cut in about 1 1/2". [NOTE: Picture from FWD VFAQ, you'll still have the fitment ring on, it's impossible to get off completely yet, you'll just have loosened it all the way.]
	Now wiggle the entire assembly up and out of the car, being sure to not let the rubber line rub against the cut you just made, as it could tear it. Also be sure to pull the pump out VERY carefully, as the float is in there kind of strangely, and you want to make sure you don't bend it.
	Here is a picture showing the proper technique to avoid tearing the line.
	Here is a picture of Chad Gray (Cable on IRC) holding the entire assembly out of the car. Note the white ring is steal on the assembly.
	Here is the bottom bracket that holds the pump in the assembly. Grab that screw with a pliers or visegrips, and crack it loose FIRST, then loosen with a Philips screwdriver, or you may strip the screw. I promise you won't get it off with just a screwdriver, so don't even try. Pull the bottom bracket off. Also disconnect the two connectors at the top of the assembly. You might be able to get away with just undoing the one going to the pump.
	Here is the pump out of the assembly. The pink lines separate the various sealing parts that you MUST NOT lose, you will need all of them for the new pump. For lack of better terms, the white (left) piece is the "cap", the middle piece is the O-ring, and the black (right) piece is the "spacer". ery carefully rock the cap off (carefully, you do NOT want to crack it), then pull the O-ring and spacer off. Transfer all of these parts to the new pump immediately so you won't lose them (I didn't in these pictures, but I was careful not to lose them :)
	This is the bottom view of the stock pump. Carefully rock that metal clip off of the post to remove the filter which will be transferred to the new pump.
	Here is a picture of the filter transferred over to the new pump. Note it will not go on quite as well as on the stock pump, but it will seal just as well, just be sure to really push it on, and push on the metal clip well. To do that, use a nutdriver to push the metal clip onto the new pump. If you don't have a nutdriver, you can use a small socket, which is what I ended up doing. Worst case scenario, use a pair of pliers with the jaws slightly open.
	Here is another shot of the filter on the new pump. The reason you can't get it on as well as on the stock pump as it's shaped a bit differently, and the plastic of the filter will butt up against the ledge on the pump. You'll see :)
	Now turn your attention to the other side of the pump. When you disconnected the connectors on the assembly, there is one with a white connector on one end and a black connector on the other. Snip off the black end (I THINK it's the black end, I can't remember now for certain.. it's the end that actually plugged into the pump, not the assembly), leaving a bit of extra wire if you want to reconnect the stock pump at some point in the future (about 1cm of slack or so is enough). Now crimp the blue wire to the smaller electrical o-ring doodad, and the blue one to the larger one. Now place the blue one on the + post, and the black one on the - post and use the appropriate lock washer, washer and nut (specified at the beginning of this VFAQ, 4mm and 5mm). Torque em down a bit and make sure they're snug.
	Now put everything back together! Because the pump is physically larger than the old pump, it won't fit exactly the same as before, it might be at a very slight angle when you push it back into the assembly. I bent the bracket a tiny bit so it went in well at the top, but you can see it's still at a small angle in these pictures. *Be careful* when putting the pump up into the fuel feed line - the rubber O-ring should be lubed with some grease, oil, or spit (hey, it works) so that the O-ring slips easily into the feed line. If it does not, the O-ring can kink or tear, and the car will be hard to start after sitting a few minutes, as the kinked/torn O-ring will allow the fuel to bleed out of the feed lines. The symptom will be that the car will take several seconds to start after sitting more than a minute or 2, but starts right up if you turn it off and then immediately start it back up.
	Here is another view of everything back together and ready to go in the car. Make sure you're careful not to bend the float when putting it back in, and make sure you put that white ring on TIGHTLY. Otherwise you'll be sloshing fuel around when you drive and it will seap through the top. Do it by hand at first, and then use the screwdriver/hammer method as described above. Make sure those fittings that you love are tight, and you should be ready to go! I recommend starting the car with everything reattached minus the top grey cover plate so you can check for leaks, both in the car and below. Enjoy!
	A note from Gino Valic in the Talon Digest: "I recently discovered when installing my Nippondenso pump in a 91 gsx that the O-ring needed for the pump is the same one used in the Walbro installation kit. I wound up using the O-ring, retaining cap, and strainer clip for my pump installation. I have found the part # for this O-ring which anyone should be able to find in Autozone or PepBoys autoparts store. The O-ring is made by Borg Warner and the part # is 274571 Fuel injection seal. The list price is $4.25 and it cost me $1.98. The kit include two O-rings so if you screw one up, you have an extra."