Fuel Pump Access Panel

SteveBarrus

TJ Enthusiast
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2019
Messages
141
Location
Washington
I am in the process of replacing my fuel pump and I am looking into installing a Fuel Pump Access Panel from GenRight. Has anyone done it and would you do it again?

I found Bosch Fuel Pumps and other Bosch parts for early TJ's here https://www.newparts.com/products?car=42-793-1998&bFilter=bosch

fuel tank access plate 0.jpg


fuel tank access plate 1.jpg
 
it's too easy to drop the tank to go through the time and expense of installing something you'll probably never use

Not for us northerners. :) a good rusted one can take an afternoon to cut off and drop. I think that's what helps sell the idea, but I'd still argue that it's good and time to drop the tank and clean things up when the pump fails.
 
haha, reminds me of a story my grandfather told me.

we used to go fishing, and i remember standing in the tackle store 1 day starring at the big wall of flashing lures, saying "man i bet those would catch um".

gramps says, BOY listen up, this whole wall of junk has maybe 10 good lures that will catch fish. the rest just catch fishermen.

Jeep parts could be described similarly.
 
Not for us northerners. :) a good rusted one can take an afternoon to cut off and drop. I think that's what helps sell the idea, but I'd still argue that it's good and time to drop the tank and clean things up when the pump fails.

I would think that northerners would be well practiced at what requires maintenance and preventative care. All things considered it's still comparatively easy even for dwellers of the north. 🧐
 
haha, reminds me of a story my grandfather told me.

we used to go fishing, and i remember standing in the tackle store 1 day starring at the big wall of flashing lures, saying "man i bet those would catch um".

gramps says, BOY listen up, this whole wall of junk has maybe 10 good lures that will catch fish. the rest just catch fishermen.

Jeep parts could be described similarly.

Great Lesson!
 
Guess I'm the dissenting vote here. I installed one and think it's a great mod. Wasn't hard to do at all and I didn't need to drop the tank to do it.

First off, I have a 1" body lift so that helped with the spacing between the tank and the floor. I used a short metal cutting blade for a jig saw. Took about five minutes to cut out the piece. Blade came no where near the top of the tank.

The only issue to watch out for is the rear tail light wiring. You can't really see it as it runs through a channel type area all the way at the rear. I nicked a wire on mine but I think that was because one of the plastic hold downs for the small wire bundle had broken and the wire bundle was sticking out a little. Easy fix.

If you do get one.....pay attention to lining it up correctly in the space........there isn't much room for error front and rear.
 
I actually bought it, but haven’t gotten around to installing it. I had been chasing a misfire issue for a while, which just happened to be a few months after installing a new fuel pump. (Turned out not to be the fuel pump.) I figure if I ever put the old one back in, or drop the tank for any reason, I will install the panel.

If I get stuck somewhere, and am trying to diagnose what’s going on, it gives me ample opportunity to verify if the fuel pump is/is not the problem. If I can eliminate that possibility in a few minutes, it could save me an entire unnecessary fuel tank drop with very limited tools. And in the rare circumstance I do have to replace a fuel pump, I could do it in 30 minutes in the parking lot of an auto parts store.

So while it may have limited utility in a shop setting, I think it will have excellent utility when stranded somewhere with insufficient tools to drop the tank and test the pump assembly.
 
I would think that northerners would be well practiced at what requires maintenance and preventative care. All things considered it's still comparatively easy even for dwellers of the north. 🧐
Yea, you would think that. Yet for every guy or gal that cares enough to actually maintain the battle of rust there are 9 that can't be bothered. And for that 1 in 10 that fight the rust demon 1 in 10 still lose the battle. Miss 1 year of the fight (you got injured, lost your job, etc) and then you play catch-up for the rest of your life.
 
If my pump fails I will drop the tank and have it cleaned and replace any or all components that look to need replaced. Do it right the 1st time.
 
I'm in the camp of "dropping the tank gives me a reason to check, clean, and treat any rust that's hiding up there". Cutting a hole just provides another way to accelerate rust, for those this impacts, if not done properly.
 
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Guess I'm the dissenting vote here. I installed one and think it's a great mod. Wasn't hard to do at all and I didn't need to drop the tank to do it.

First off, I have a 1" body lift so that helped with the spacing between the tank and the floor. I used a short metal cutting blade for a jig saw. Took about five minutes to cut out the piece. Blade came no where near the top of the tank.

The only issue to watch out for is the rear tail light wiring. You can't really see it as it runs through a channel type area all the way at the rear. I nicked a wire on mine but I think that was because one of the plastic hold downs for the small wire bundle had broken and the wire bundle was sticking out a little. Easy fix.

If you do get one.....pay attention to lining it up correctly in the space........there isn't much room for error front and rear.
Did you have to cut out any support beams?do you have pics,thinking of doing this
 
Did you have to cut out any support beams?do you have pics,thinking of doing this
Here are some pics. When I installed the panel I had a 1" body lift with the stock gas tank skid plate. It left plenty of room to cut out the floor section without having to drop the gas tank. A few weeks ago I installed the Savvy gas tank skid which raised the gas tank back up into it's original position. So now it is much closer to the floor pan.



Pic 1 - Shows the orientation of the access panel. Note the location in reference to the bolt hole for the rear seat belts.
image0.jpeg




Pic 2 - Shows the access to the fuel tank with the panel off.

image1.jpeg


Pic 3 - Shows the channel that you need to cut through. You can also see the tail light wiring in the yellow loom. The stock wiring is not in any loom. It is fastened to the rear wall with ties. I put the loom in when I installed the Savvy gas tank skid to protect the wiring now that the gas tank is up higher in the space.

image2.jpeg


Pic 4 - Shows the channel on the other side of the opening.

image3.jpeg



Pic 5 - Show the location of the channel from the back lip of the floor. The centerline of the channel is 6-1/2" from the inside part of the lip.

image4.jpeg


Pic 6 - I'm trying to show the location of the tail light wiring in relation to the gas tank and access panel opening. Again, I installed the loom to help protect the wiring. This is the area where my wiring clip had broken and when I cut the access panel opening, it cut one of the wires. Actually the wire wasn't cut, it just chewed into the insulation. I have a 2006 TJ and I'm not sure all tail lights are wired the same throughout the years. On a 2006 all the tail light wiring goes to the drivers side tail light and then this small bundle goes from the drivers side to the passenger side tail light.

image5.jpeg
 
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