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Does anybody know how hard it should be to remove the fuel lines from the fuel filter? I've definitely got the clamps loose, but can't seem to get the fuel lines to budge. Mind you, the filter does look like its original (or very close to it), and it is almost -10 C outside. Should I just wait until its warmer out?

They can sometimes be a real pain in the butt.

One thing you can try is take a can of spray lube with the little red extender hose......lift up the fuel line hose a little.....stick the red extender hose in there, and spray some lube in there to help get things unstuck.

You may need to take a pair of pliers and use them to twist the fuel line around on the fuel filter......again...putting lube in there helps.

I would suggest putting a towel or something between the pliers and fuel line to keep the line from getting torn up by the pliers.

Thanks Josh!

Yes, put something between the pliers and fuel line so you don't rip it like I did , once you get one line free, you can just grab the whole filter and twist it out of the other line, try not to spill too much fuel when you do this...

I was worried about doing both of those things!! Believe me, the only things going through my mind were "Don't rip the line, Don't rip the line, Don't spill gas, Don't spill gas, Jeez its cold out here, Jeez its cold out here" It was not fun... And I get to try again tomorrow!

You have relieved fuel pressure by disconnecting the fuel pump or the fuel pump relay and cranking the engine a bit, right? That helps keep the fuel spillage to a minimum.

I had left it for over 12 hours. Should I still be disconnecting the fuel pump and cranking? Anybody know where the connector is on a wagon? The Haynes says under the carpet in the back, but when I looked I wasn't sure what it was talking about.

I just left it for a few hours before replacing mine. There wasn't a whole lot of fuel spilling out. You should be fine.

-Brian

Cool! Thanks guys!

I would relieve pressure, it's really easy, my experience is if you pull the pump wire before you start the engine it won't start, so start the engine first, pull the wire (it's under the back seat) and let the engine die. Now your pressure is fully relieved...

The harness connector is under the back seat.

You have to remove the back seat bottom first. There are just two bolts, I think, one by the left and right rear passenger's calves. There's also one bolt at the center where the seat bottom meets the seat back but I'm not sure you need to undo it.

Then, on the passenger side, there's a little metal or plastic cover held in place with a few screws. Remove this cover, and you should see the fuel pump harness connector. Unplug it.

If you're very flexible and know what you're looking for, it'd be faster to unplug the fuel pump relay, which is under the driver's side dash, way near the firewall... That's a pain to get to, though, and I don't even know how to describe it. To reach it, I would sit on the ground with my back against the driver's footstep, and lean back and towards the front of the car. Feeling along the firewall, you can reach up until you find a bracket with a cylindrical relay (green connector) on it and one rectangular relay (brown connector). The cylindrical one is the fuel pump relay. You can pop it out of the bracket (it just snaps in and out) to make it easier to plug and unplug.

Another option, which I haven't tested but think ought to work, might be to just unplug the 26-pin connector of the ECU. This is the largest connector, and I think it's the one that's not generally tied together with the other three, so it ought to be easy enough to identify. It basically contains all the outputs of the ECU, including ignition, injector control, and fuel pump control.

Edit: This last idea isn't going to work. See below.

I was up under there trying to diagnose an electrical problem. Both my brother and I (actually, he told me how to do it) find that reclining the seat all the way and then laying on top of it with your head on the floor works. You get a rush of blood to your head, but you can see everything you want to under the dash.

That's how I usually do wiring under the dash, but I just can't get up high enough and over far enough to reach the ignition and fuel pump relays. They're in a really hard-to-reach place... seems like a dumb design to me, considering how vital those two relays are.

Yeah, I was surprised when I first heard they were located way up there. It seems to me that the turn signal relay is also in a weird place. Why wouldn't they locate all of that stuff together? ARGH!

vrg3 wrote:Another option, which I haven't tested but think ought to work, might be to just unplug the 26-pin connector of the ECU. This is the largest connector, and I think it's the one that's not generally tied together with the other three, so it ought to be easy enough to identify. It basically contains all the outputs of the ECU, including ignition, injector control, and fuel pump control.

This is a dumb idea. You can't relieve pressure if the injectors aren't working.