XJ fuel strainer issues

[DaveB]

I have an XJ fuel pump in my Scrambler custom tank and had the new pump die last weekend. What I found is that the new fuel strainer doesn't fit tight over the end of the pump which I believe allowed some gunk to get sucked into the pump and jam it up. I went on a quest to find a strainer that fit tight on the end of the pump. I went to Napa, Checker, AutoZone and the dealer. What I found is that every single strainer that they sell is sloppy on the pump (by quite a bit). The dealer would only sell an entire sending unit. So off to the Tear A Part to find a stock setup. What I found was that every XJ pump I pulled had lost its strainer or had it fall off while taking it out. I found an old 86 XJ that had the 2.5L four cylinder and I discovered that the strainer on that model fits tight on the newer (87-94) pumps. The junk yard strainer was bad so I hit up AutoZone and bought a new one and it now seals tightly. So if you have a loose strainer on your XJ try the 86 2.5L strainer.

 

[Gravy]

You could have saved a lot of work by sticking it on there with a sheet metal screw, or a dab of fuel safe rtv. There's a fuel pump strainer stick write up on NAXJA and Pirate in on of the RCI fuel cell thread.

But never-the-less, good info Dave since all the 4.0's use basically the same arangment.
This and the fact that the pump extends is why I designed my fuel cell so the pump/strainer sits pushed against the floor of the cell like it does in a stock tank.

 

[DaveB]

My fuel pump also sits tight against the bottom and what you suggest would keep the strainer from falling off but my goal was to make sure that the pump couldn't pull anything in that didn't go through the strainer which requires a tight fit on the joint between the pump and strainer.