The other day, with about a fifth of a tank of fuel, and parked facing slightly downhill, my 2005 LR3 would crank fine but not catch. When I put in a couple more gallons of fuel, it immediately fired right up, so I deduce that the problem is an inoperative front fuel pickup tube. Searching on forums I found a reference that maybe the pickup tube could become detached from the fuel pump.

Has anyone actually had this problem?

I've seen writeups of dropping the fuel tank, and it doesn't seem too bad of a job, but once it was down does anybody know whether a detached pickup tube could be spotted -- and reattached -- easily enough?

Are there any other issues anybody has had with similar symptoms that could alternatively explain why the pickup wouldn't work?

The internal assembly inside the tank carrying the various fuel lines and harnesses looks like it is not serviceable (not easily accessible, among other things), so I imagine if the problem is anything else than a simple disconnection at the end of the tube, a new fuel tank including the assembly would be required ….

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

The tank is not hard to work on especially if you can get it in the air to drop it out. Small hands make working in the tank easier. but why bother unless it is something that annoys you. The simple fix is do not go below a quarter of a tank.

 

Thanks for the info. Big hands here, for better or worse. Yeah I could just live with the fuel starvation issue in the background, but I'm sure sooner or later I'd mess up and get a bit too low -- no doubt far from civilization. So I was wondering if anybody had any cases of this and it was a simple matter of popping a tube back on near the opening, that would be one thing. If common instances involve inside the front end of the tank, that would be another thing. I saw the video of the tech who greased up his arm in order to be able to get it back out of the tank ….

 

Bit like a "Vet" I know who was checking a pregnant cow out