’07 S40 – Fuel Pump Install

The fuel pressure on the S40 was fluctuating like crazy, after much Googling I determined it was a one way check valve located on the pump that was bad. A pump replacement was in order. But wait, I bet I can fix this without replacing the pump. I rigged up a one way check valve under the hood with hose not made for fuel injection; complete fail. 🙁 After a few days it seemed to be working, them with a car full of people of course, the hose blew. That dropped the fuel pressure, which told the pump to send more fuel. By the time I stopped and killed the car and we all ran like someone dropped a grenade, about a half-gallon of fuel had blown all over a very hot engine. I have no clue how that car did not go up in flames. So, remember kids, DO NOT rig the fuel system, bad things will happen. I purchased a new fuel pump, I think it was around $300, cheaper than a car burned to the ground.

Some Volvos have a convenient little door under the back seat to provide access to the fuel pump, which is in the gas tank, this Ford made Volvo had no such hatch. I had to drop the fuel tank. The first step was to disconnect the filler hose from the tank, it is just held on by a huge hose clamp. Then unbolt the straps that hold the tank on. One piece of advice, make sure you have very little fuel in the tank before this procedure. I thought I would just run a siphon hose into the tank and pump the fuel out. Negative ghost rider, Volvo has a little insert to prevent fuel theft; nice. So I had loads of fun balancing a half full tank, guess that is about 8 gallons or about 60 lbs. I found the tool that removed the giant plastic nut that holds the pump in on eBay pretty cheap. Once you pull out the old pump, just connect the fuel lines and electrical connectors to the same place on the new pump. Another word of advice most of the pumps do not come with the ‘pump to tank’ gasket, GET ONE. This surgery is a pain in the rear, you don’t want go through the whole process again for a $10 gasket. The car runs so much better now, it seems like Volvos in general have loads of fuel delivery issues.

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