hey all, trying to drain fuel tank with a siphon.... not working out so well. can i drain it fron the fuel filter, if so where is it located?
pulling hair out in virginia

 

you can not drian your tank like that.there is a ball in the filler tube[for roll overs-wreck].government mandate since the 80's..steve

 

I siphoned out the gas. It's difficult, but it can be done. You need a fat piece of tubing, probably 3/8ths of an inch at least. I first tried aquarium tubing, but it wasn't stiff enough and it just folded over on itself somewhere in the filler tube. When you're pushing the fatter tubing down the hole you'll come to a spot where it just stops. At that point you have to twist and jiggle it while pushing it at the same time. That will get it past the difficult spot and on down into the tank.

The tubing I used was actually from a small hand pump that Harbor Freight sells. The pump worked great once I got the tubing into the tank. Here's a link: http://www.harborfreight.com/multi-u...ump-66418.html

I just noticed, the tubing I used was 1/2 inch.

 

Oh... and you can't do it at the fuel filter. When I disconnected my filter the fuel dripped out VERY slowly. It would take several days just to drain a couple of gallons.

I just thought of something, however. If you disconnected the fuel line from the filter, then turned on the key, the pump would run for several seconds. I'm not sure how much gas would come out, but if you did that over and over eventually you'd drain the tank.

 

I want to put this thread to sleep. For all who come behind me with no fuel pressure> after you have done your electrical checks and you know its the fuel pump....god help you if this is your only car and you think this is a fast fix. It aint. Not being a Jaguar mechanic, struggling with the fuel lines (whitch i never did get disconnected to remove the fuel tank) I got my helper to assist me as 4 days struggling with those lines was a bear! The actual removal tips Gus has posted are the correct steps to take, however there are things to learn on your own as you do this. hope you dont have a full tank of gas, I removed the fuel gauge unit ( the lower of the 2 screw fittings and the 2 plug in leads) and pumped it out from there. extra work. next try to get the fuel lines disconnected from the tank....much better than what i did. We angled the tank and removed the screw on fitting on top of the gas tank, then removed the 3 lines and plugs (2) then unscrewed the larger of the 2 feeds on that go into the top of that fitting, bear in mind, that when you are angleing the tank, you will pinch the harness on the right side and damage it if you are not carefull, (ask me how I know) you can angle the connection on the top of the fuel tank anf if you have it situated just right you can pull the large blue thing out and finnish taking the ring that threads on the top of the gas tank off, unplug the electrical connection and start on the pump itself. BTW, dont buy a generic pump like I did, you have to work too hard to make it attach to the pump brackett, but it can be done, all work is done blindly or looking through the level indicator hole. once we put it all back togather, guess what? The first fuel line was seperated and had to put it back on anyway!
One other thing if you have a 99 XK8 like I do the fuel filter is under the the car on the DRIVERS side in the rail, just look and you will find it. I still have to replace it, but I just drove it around the block and all is well again. Thank you Gus, H2O Rev and all others for your help. This forun is awsome and all who come here feel welcome, just learn how to use the search feature when searching and use different terminology on your search, it really helps! I hope this info helps the next guy, as there is an alternitive method, but it aint easy either. Time for several beers (about 10)

 

It is difficult to get the hose past the (rollover ball?).
I used a length of 5/8 inch clear vinyl hose (cost at Home Depot plumbing dept 10 ft/$8.81). Wouldn't work until I cut the end of the hose at a shallow angle and sharpened the end with a razor blade (think veterinarian's syringe needle). Once I did that it slipped in immediately.
I left a couple of coils more than necessary on the tubing so I would have more notice of the gas approaching my mouth out of the corner of my eye.
Worked great!
Make sure to have enough empty receptacles/cans on hand because it will fill up a five gallon can in about as many minutes.
I kick myself now because I probably could have tried the sharpening trick on the odd pieces of 1/2 inch garden hose or washing machine hose I just had laying around and saved myself a few dollars but the clear tubing avoided the "mouthful o'gas"!) It has to be relatively stiff hose or tubing though.
Oh another tip: I fed the tubing through an oil funnel I inserted in the fuel inlet to hold the trap door open without inhibiting the hose.

 

Food for thought, this reminds me of a siphoning task I recently faced. I lost the belt on my clothes washer with a full tub of water. The belt is under the machine so I had to think of a way to drain the tank


Siphoning is best but how to get flow started ? I turned on a garden hose, once water flowed, capped the end. Disconnect from water valve, dragged that end through window. Dont forget this hose is full of water. Placed it in tub at bottom. Secured same and went to far end of hose . Remove cap, water flowed out - this created free suction to suction to start siphon. Tub empty in minutes.

Would it be easier to charge a hose full of gas plug the end, then insert ? I'll leave that up to you, seems like an easy way to start the flow. If not for your car, keep it in mind for something else down the road.

 

Thanks Johnken!

Actually I used your approach at draining both a hot water heater that had the drain blocked by sediment (the force of water from hose "unblocked" the drain) and a dishwasher that had a broken pump. Start the flow of water from the spigot and then undo the spigot connection.
How to fill the tube with gas though? Maybe using that length of washing machine hose I had laying around with the washing machine connector still intact and a polyethylene bottle with matching screw top? Fill the bottle with gas, attach bottle to hose connection with other end inserted in gas tank. and squeeze to start the flow into the tube/tank then lower the end below gas tank and unscrew bottle.

Where were you before I made that trip to the Home Depot?

 

In my case, I did have one of the two pumps working. So, I disconnected the fuel line at the filter, pulled the working pump's relay, and fashioned a jumper across the socket contacts. (I'm thinking that I used an old pushbutton remote from a B&H slide projector)

 

I ended up taking the fuel sender unit out from the back of the tank based on what some bright spark suggested on another forum. DONT DO THIS!


I thought I'd managed to drain/siphon enough by conventional means. I ended up spilling loads and loads over my garage floor and stinking out the whole place!