XC70 P3 Sending Unit Fuel Pump Access

[Doc67]

So, I have two P3 XC70's with sending unit issues.



One of them has a dead fuel pump and the second has a faulty check valve that results in hard starts if the car has been sitting for more than a couple of days.



I am not opposed to the service procedure of dropping the exhaust, drive shaft and tank. However, I do not have access to a lift and I am not sure if this is possible without it. So, I thought I would try the cheater method of cutting out part of the floor under the passenger side rear seat. Mine are left hand drive, so if you are working on a right hand drive, I would assume that its under the drivers side. I found it worked very well, so I thought that I would post it on here for anyone else in a similar situation. Caveat, its my car so if you are not a fan or worried about this process, feel free to abstain with your car.



1) Remove the back seat, it just clips in under the front and a good yank will remove it.



2) On the passenger side, slide the sound deadening material and carpet away and use bungies to hold them out of the way. There is also some plastic sill


3) Use a sharpie to trace out the approx. lines below. Its not critical, but with this as a guide you should be able to get close.


4) Using a cutoff disk in an angle grinder, cut the lines as marked. Be careful in the Red area as there are lines directly under the floor, make a very shallow cut. In the Blue area, there are 3 layers of metal to cut through and requires a deep cut. However, there is lots of clearance here, so don't worry to much about cutting to deep.


5) Here is what it looks like with the cuts completed.


6) Remove the panel and here is the sending unit. I swapped the sending unit with a new one. That process is for another day, lol. Its not that hard, there are just a lot of wires and hoses to contend with.


7) I used some strips of metal, self tapping screws and automotive seam sealer to put the cut out back in.


I cut out the floor, replaced the sending unit and had it all back together in a couple of hours. Normally I am not one for short cuts, but I think that this one was worth it. XC70 one has a fresh fuel pump and starts right up again. Next is to replace the one in the car with the bad check valve.