How to change the in tank fuel pump on a Range Rover P38
Changing the in tank fuel pump on the Range Rover filled me with dread. It needed changing as the fuel gauge was sticking, and giving me an inaccurate reading – and the fuel gauge sender is on the same unit as the pump – so the whole assembly has to be changed. In addition, I had doubts that the pump was actually working due to my cold starting problems.
The reason for dread is that usually the whole fuel tank has to be drained, and the fuel tank removed from under the car – which results in a lot of shuffling around on the cold concrete under the car.
It got me wondering “there must be a better way of doing this!”
So whilst researching the job, I stumbled across a thread on the Landyzone forums, where the forum member “Canyon” had worked out the exact measurements of where to cut a hole in the boot floor so you can extract the pump without having to drop the tank! Bingo!
So this is the route we went down – cut a hole in the floor! This way if we ever had to get access to the pump/fuel lines/wiring then we will have hatch in the floor ready to go.
The whole job took approximately an hour and a half to do, and was much easier/quicker than dropping the tank. Just make sure that once you have access to the old pump, meticulously clean the entire area, so no dirt can fall into the fuel tank.
For reference, here are the part numbers for the pumps depending on if you have a petrol or diesel Range Rover:
Part numbers
Petrol V8: STC4344
Diesel: ESR1111
Product link to eBay below for the diesel version i bought: (ad)
So as all of the instructions on how to do this are covered in the Landyzone forum thread, here is my photo report on the job.
Remember, double check all measurements – measure twice, cut once!
Photo report: Changing the fuel pump on a Range Rover P38
Results
So now I have a fuel tank pump that I know is good for thousands of miles, and a fuel gauge which works properly.
No change in the cold starting problems though, so next up is the glow plugs!
Tags: diesel, DSE, fuel pump, fuel tank, How To, land rover, P38, Range Rover, v8
Views: 31,701
Great write up. I could have done with this write up last week. I too have cold starting problems, I need to heat glow plugs twice in order for it to fire. I have changed leak off pipes and glow plugs although the new plugs have not resolved the issue. I did buy the cheapest I could so now I have a set of Beru on order. The only thing I would do differently is to leave the 4 egr bolts in place as the bottom left can be a little fiddly and opt to remove the two bolts on the exhaust pipe and the intake from the intercooler in the front of the egr and remove the plastic intake distribution and egr together. Should save a few minutes too. Hopefully my branded plugs will make the difference.