Started to drop the tank in my 96 E150 today and the front strap bolt broke, the rear is about to. So instead of fighting to get the rear bolt off, I'm looking to just cut it and replace both bolts or straps or both. Anyone know of a source for new straps/bolts ?

 

Never mind. Good ole ebay to the rescue ! Fuel pump is going south so time to change it.

 

I had to do that job in the parking lot where I worked at the time. Went to drive home and no start - the fuel pump had given up. I could not get proper replacements on the weekend, so a trip to the hardware store, some all-thread, and some ingenuity, and I was up and running. It's been running like that for about 6 years now.

 

Mine's been running lean all the sudden, changed the regulator and filter but didn't fix the lean so decided to change the pump before it goes belly up. Good bit of metal in the tank from it. Gotta wait for the new straps to come in now so I can put the tank back in

 

I had the fun task of changing those tank straps in a parking lot on my 96 E250. I had a tank strap rust thru and it broke while driving. Having the back of your tank drop while driving down the road will get your attention. Or at least the attention of the vehicles behind you!! I was lucky enough that a local dealer had them in stock.

 

Good thing it didn't blow up !

 

Yeah those straps are fun, I had one break(rust) in two one day when I was out on a job, I just happened to notice something hanging low as I walked towards the truck. Ratchet strap to the rescue and I got me home without any drama. LOL.

 

The tank never touched the ground. The front strap was still holding it. The back half of the tank just dropped down lower then the frame. This was a few years back, but I think I figured out there was a problem because I heard a strange noise. I think the one end of the broken strap was rubbing on the driveshaft. So I pulled over and it became pretty obvious, once I got out and checked under the van. The nice part about the E250 is, it sits high enough I never needed to jack it up to do any of the work when I replaced the straps. Don't know if that's the case with the E150's or not.

 

Mine's a conversion van with running boards/fender flares and I dropped it an inch with shorter tires. So yea, I need to jack it up to get under it.

 

Update on the fuel pump change: Got everything back together Saturday. Started it up only to find out my lean condition wasn't the fuel pump at all. Me and my son worked all day on it afterwards when he said he thought I had a vacuum leak. He was right. I only found it after getting a flashlight and hunting in the engine bay. The vacuum hose connected to the TB between the two bores at their base had become disconnected somehow. This short piece was also becoming rotten and drying out, could be why it became disconnected from the long plastic line leading to a block on the driver's side of the engine box. We also found that the right side header collector had come loose, so we had to tighten that up too. Disconnected the battery to let the ECM relearn the fuel map. I haven't had time to drive it around much, but the few times around the block, it got better and better. time will tell