Hunter......I hate to hear the bad news, but I guess it was getting close to being "time" for a new pump. Hopefully yours will not be as corroded as the one I showed in the pictures above. The good thing is that you dont need to drop the tank, although that round access hole above it is a bit on the small size. I guess the new pump will come with a new sleeve filter also.....as the old one is probably needing replacing also.

Enjoy the wrenching........

 

It's ALIVE!!! Apparently all Mitsubishi OEM fuel pumps are sold out from everywhere, except some questionable sites in Russia. I don't quite trust those comrades, so I ended up going with a Carter pump kit from RockAuto. I had an OEM in-tank fuel filter on hand already (bought it some time ago), so this was perfect time to replace it. Decided to go from the top through the access hole under the rear seats. It's a little tight in there, but I still had sufficient enough space to get the pump out without any issues. We are pretty lucky here in the Northwest that we don't get much rust on our cars. This is the first time the pump came out from the tank. Virtually no cortosion on any fasteners or the hold-down ring. New pump plugged right in, new filter, new tank gasket and back into the tank we go.
Monty started almost immediately.
Word of advice - even if you're going through the top - try to make sure you're not at full tank of gas. Mine was topped off completely just before it died. With vehicle unable to move and sitting on a slight in

cline, tbis resulted in some fuel spillage.
I was also surprised to see how clean the tank was on the inside after 20+ years.

 

Thats a real clean looking tank....did you paint it silver years ago? Only bit of rust seems to be under the gasket, unless thats just the textured gasket that Im looking at. Yep, the access hole is a bit small, but allows "just enough" room to do the job. Sure beats draining all the gas out and dropping the tank down to the ground.

 

No, no paiuting the tank. It was never opened till yrsterday. The "texture" you see is some kind of rubberized substance that wa in place under the bottom cover. I think spilling fuel evacuated It on the photo. The bottom access cover was almost glued down with a bead of sealant. That is probably there to prevent water ingress.

 

Yep, you are real lucky to live in that "rust free" zone.....thats amazing to see vehicles looking so pristine up underneath. So, not surface rust, but that rubberized glue stuff. By the way, do you reccomend putting some type of sealant on that area before installing the new pump?

 

I just replaced the gasket that goes the there with the new one.
Looking at the photos of rust from the Midwest, I definitely count myself as lucky to live here

 

Probably the best idea......that way the next guy who replaces it 30 years from now will find it easier to take off.
Yep, the fuel pump you took out in no way looked like the picture I posted at the top of this thread......rust, rust, and more rust.

While you are on the maintenance splurge, have you ever flushed and replaced the Power Steering Fluid in your rig? That is something that far too many people just ignore. I did a couple of my other rigs this week, and the fluid was like black paint (160k, and never changed).....I sleep better now having it flushed out and new clear fluid in their veins and arteries.
I do like the little filter in the Montero reservoir that comes out and can be cleaned and put back.

 

Thanks for the tip on power steering fluid, Hawk. My vehicle's at 160k as well, I'll change the power steering fluid while I have the pans and cardboard out for the radiator replacement this weekend.

 

Good idea, while you are changing the radiator. Were you planning on removing the power steering return line while flushing? If so, these pics show how darn tight my lines were.....so tight that I finally had to use a hydraulic spreader tool to push against the wrench. The only reason I went through this trouble was because one of my p.s. lines was leaking. Otherwise, maybe the return line up at the p.s. resevior can be removed and put into a can to catch the dirty fluid that returns from the steering box. There should be videos on youtube of people showing how they did it.