Gimme Fuel Gimme Fire

 I received my refurbed sending unit

It looks way better than the one that came out of the 780.

Checked all the hoses for rot and they "looked" ok. After stabbing in the refurbed unit, I hotwired the pump to prime the system and sprung a giant leak. Sigh . . .

The pressure hose that "looked" ok apparently was not ok. It ruptured in 3 . . . THREE . . . places. And of course the hose clamp is completely out of view and can only be accessed by dropping the tank.

Well, jacking up the car on soft dirt was not happening. Out comes the razor to trim away as much as the hose as possible. I took a pair of side cutters and snipped the hose clamp. Success!!

Eh . . . not so fast. I have to get a new clamp on there and tighten it blind. After what seemed like hours of fiddling, I had the new hose and hose clamp on it. Let's try this again . . . .

I hotwired the pump to prime the system and found no leaks.


She's running a bit rough and coughs a bit; not bad for sitting up for 3 years. After idling for about 15mins, it did smooth out a bit, but still has a slight hesitation. Took her for spin around the yard with the rear suspension riding on the bump stops (nivomats are dead). A tune up will probably make her sing. For now, it runs and it drives.

-=PJ

Fuel, Varnish, and Tar?

I put some hands on the Volvo 780 today to replace a dead fuel pump.

It's your standard, late 80s 2 pump setup; one internal and one external. The external pump was dead. I hooked up my siphoning contraption to pull all the old ass varnish . . . I mean . . . fuel. After jacking the car up via the approved jack points and using jackstands, I attempted to remove the external fuel pump assembly. Every inch of the underbody was covered in this tar like goo. I guess it could be worse . . . I mean there is rust on the top and none underneath

Anyway, I removed the crapped out fuel pump and old fuel filter and reinstalled everything. With a fresh battery and three gallons of fresh gas, I turned the key and the pump spun up! I cycled the key a few times and check the for leaks. No leaks found and internal pump spun up during the cycling to prime the system. YAY!! Turn the key and the 780 sputter to life . . . WOOOWHOOO! Wait . . . Wait . . . why are you coughing? Why are shutting down? Sigh . . .

Ok, let's check the normal stuff . . . Still no leaks. External Pump still cycles . . . albeit slowly??? Fuses are good. Relays are still clicking. Why hasn't the fuel gauge moved? Hmmmm . . .

I ran a test on the internal fuel pump and nothing. Great.

So after stuffing myself in the trunk to pull the fuel sending unit, I emerged with this:

Well f**k. None of that looks good and it is missing a fuel strainer. Great. I couldn't find it in tank. Awesome! That would explain what stuffed up the pump. Sigh . . . Let's see how much this is.

780 1988–1991 Fuel Pump Assembly with Fuel Level Sending Unit

3507499

$545.45

Hell to the nizzy!

Searching . . . Searching . . . Searching . . . Searching . . .

The local Pull-A-Part has a few Volvos on the yard with the same fuel sender and pump combo for less than 30bux. Add a $25 pump, $5 strainer, and $5ish in wiring kit . . . I could do this for ~$70 with shipping included.

I found a Volvo parts recycler on eBay that has a few of these for $180. Yea . . . it's more expensive but it comes with a new pump and strainer ready to dropped in. And I don't have to curl myself into a ball in musty ass trunk for an hour dealing with crusty clamps and wasps to remove a highly suspect unit.

Well . . . you know my time is something I can't make! Time to order.

-=PJ