Long range fuel tank installation

[JimmyC Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JimmyC]

G'day all.
Finally received my LRA long range tank and decided to install it myself at home. Spoke with a couple of mechanics and they advised me that it should be no huge issue and fairly easy.
The install was not too bad except for one major thing... I can't get the tank in!
I've followed all the instructions and everything has come together ok but when it comes to putting the tank in it will just not fit.
So currently the car is in the driveway up on stands with no rear fuel tank. Taking the car to any available mechanic tomorrow to get it in, my thinking is it needs to be on a hoist to get the fine touch for fitting.
Has anyone got any tips for me?

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Get a bigger hammer

Cheers Andrew

[JimmyC Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JimmyC]

I spose the big question is if I get it into a mechanic tomorrow what will happen when I drive with no rear tank and all the hoses hanging off?

[JimmyC Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JimmyC]

So just an update if anyone is interested. Had a look this morning and managed to get it in myself. Learned some interesting things along the way too. Ill post a detailed overview in my build thread soon

[SuperDavid Member Find all posts View Profile Close SuperDavid]

good stuff

[r2d2 Member Find all posts View Profile Close r2d2]

Can't wait to see the end product

[JimmyC Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JimmyC]

Got it back from the mechanics yesterday. All fixed and cost me $220. Not too bad considering how badly I stuffed it up!

[GeoffJ Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close GeoffJ]

While we're on fuel tanks.
2009 150 Prado, supposed to have 150 litre tank.
When I filled it this morning
- It said my range was 81 km
- My economy since last fill was 9.1 l/100km
Therefore you'd expect about 9 litres in tank
It took 131 litres of diesel, filled to the brim.

Therefore, either the tank only holds 140 litres or there's a safety margin (or accuracy error) of 10 litres in the range reading.

[SuperDavid Member Find all posts View Profile Close SuperDavid]

safety margin, lots of talk about it in other diesel fuel threads

[JimmyC Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JimmyC]

So took the car for a little run last week. Little being Alice to Darwin and back and the tank performed well. A bit nervous when I got to the 800km mark (where it ran out last time) but it kept going. Got approx. 1700km before I considered putting diesel in and it was at 1/4 tank at that point.
My experience with the fuel gauge display is it will sit above the full mark till approx 500km and then start to drop. Obviously the distance to empty doesn't work anymore, displays the range that the 150L tank would. Decreases km by km but then turn off and on the car and it resets higher again.

[AussieAndy Find all posts View Profile Close AussieAndy]

So Jimmy, once you've done 1,000Km or so and turn the car off and back on again would you say it is as acurate as it was before? I am kinda half keen on a long range tank, but I guess mostly because that and lockers is all I have left. (And getting 1,700Km between fill ups is awesome )

[JimmyC Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JimmyC]

Hi Andy,
So from what I can work out the DTE reading is no longer accurate while there is fuel in the rear tank (the LR one). Because the rear tank is larger when the float gauge is at the top the car thinks there is 63L in there when in actual fact there is 126L. The DTE calculates on the idea that there is 150L total not 220L. As the prado drains the rear tank first then the front tank the front 87L tank stays full until the rear is empty (and it is proper empty, when i pulled out the old one there was maybe 200mL in it). If the rear is half full then the CPU thinks you have 30L in the rear not 60L so the range is lower that what you'll actually get.
In other words the DTE will not be accurate until the rear tank is completely drained and that is about the 1000km mark. But you can go without the DTE as the fuel gauge is still accurate

[JimmyC Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JimmyC]

So unfortunately the drama continues. The tank has now sprung a leak. From what I can gather the leak is coming from somewhere around the sender unit. Talking to TJM the leak is most likely around the seal of the sender unit where it connects to the tank. The leak itself only put out about maybe 100mL of fuel and doesn't leak while the car is idling which suggests they may be right. Since the leak seems small and not 'flowing' I'm not hugely concerned. Booked back into another mechanic next week.
It's all a learning experience....

[Rusty62 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rusty62]

Your not the first one to have the sender leak. Need to be very careful when tightening the unit as if not square they will leak. If fuel leaks out dust will get in.

Rusty.

[JimmyC Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JimmyC]

So a bit of a late post here I took the car back to the mechanic. He dropped the tank out and re sealed the sender unit with a new gasket and lengthened a couple of the fuel lines. When you cut the metal lines that are part of the sender unit you lost the little flange thing that helps retain and seal the soft hose. So having a slightly longer hose with a bit more overlap is good. When I picked the car up the mechanic summed up the job he did really well "the tank was such a pig to drop out and put back in I made sure that I would NEVER have to do it again"
It has been 2 months with no leaks and I love it!