I think you are on the money with something amiss with the fuel pickup. As for the cost, well look at it this way, if you could have avoided all the dramas and the tow on your trip for an investment of $400 you would consider it a bargain. I am not a mechanic but it is not that hard to undo bolts so I understand your thinking

Which tank are you planning on dropping? If you want i can email you a diagram of the whole fuel system if it will assist.

From what I know the second tank auto fills the front tank and im guessing there is where the issue lies so unless im wrong and not being a mechanic myself but do know enough to get my self out of trouble. Jimmy if you like I would like to see what the diagram shows me . [email protected]

Emailed you mate.
I had a similar issue to you with the gauge. And mine turned out it was picking up no fuel from the rear tank whatsoever (it displayed about 1/3 tank when it died though)
A basic overview of the way the fuel system works is that the fuel for the engine comes from the front tank only. The rear tank supplies the front tank with fuel keeping the front tank full til the rear tank is drained at which point the front tank begins to drop level.

Thanks Jimmy

Got it today spoke with parts at Toyota told me it could be as easy as o ring fell off the plastic circle nut at the top could have broke or a split in the pipe either way 270. For a new one so I will pull it down on the weekend and update this in case anyone else has this problem in the future ...Steve

HI Steve

I am having the same problem now. we have changed sender units, transfer pumps and replace all the O rings.
How did you fix your problem no one seem to know how to fix it from Toyota head of the service department at a few places to my local guy

any help will be great as it has cost me a fair bit so far
Cheers Detjan

HELP!! I read Steve's post and thought someone had read my brain. 2 years later and 120kms away but the same problem.

We're stuck/stopped on the side of the Mitchell Falls Road about 40kms from the Kulumburu/Drysdale Rd in the Kimberley - not far from where Steve had his problem. The car's been going really well for the past 8 weeks of our adventure around WA but then on our way back from Mitchell Falls this afternoon lost power for 30 seconds then died totally. Like Steve we have about 1/4 of a tank of fuel left.

If I pump the priming pump lots it never gets hard. Twice I've got it to run for 30 seconds by pumping lots but then it stops. No warning lights, no error codes on the Scangauge, nothing.

We've tried
- bypassing the Dieselcare secondary filter
- taking off the outlet hose of the Toyota filter and pumping - diesel comes out
- taking off the inlet hose of the Toyotal filter and turning the ignition on - nothing comes out (I'm told the tank fuel pump should pump fuel out)
- adding 20l of diesel to the tank (####'s idea)
- checking for leaks/breaks in the fuel pipes.

The service manager from Kunanurra Toyota thinks the fuel pump may have died. We have the Toyota Extended Warranty and (apparently) they are going to send a truck tomorrow to collect the car + camper trailer + us and bring us back to Kunanurra to fix it. It's been interesting describing where we are... and one of them did comment that we were a long way from anywhere but that the towing was included to the nearest Toyota Dealer... so hopefully they will turn up!

Steve - how did you fix your problem? Is there something simple I can do on the side of the road to get me going again? Does anyone else know what it could be?

I've got a satphone if people have ideas and a moment to talk - 0405 898 437. It's a normal mobile call for you to call and free for me. I've also got a satellite internet system (which I'm using for this) which I'll turn on hourly but I am worried I won't have enough battery power to last until the tow truck comes so it will be off most of the time.

PS Mitchell Falls is nice but the road in is horrible! Tonight is our 19th Wedding anniversary... I thought we'd be camping by the Gibb River and going for a swim instead of being dragged up onto the side of the Mitchell Falls Rd and being eaten alive by mozzies! Tomorrow won't be much fun with all the dust from passing cars.

Stevesonly gave me a call - He said to fix it they changed the fuel filter between tanks and replaced/fixed a sensor between the tanks (my memory is that he wasn't exactly sure what the sensor deal was - Steve sorry if I've got that wrong).

Based on what he said and matching what I'm seeing, I think the transfer filter may be blocked and so all the fuel is in the sub-tank instead of the main tank.

I've got a spare filter for between the tanks so I've just replaced it. I still can't get the car to start... I'm not sure how to get fuel back into the main tank. I'll start another thread and update this one when I work it out.

Problem (hopefully) solved!! I think it was a blocked transfer filter between the tanks. I changed the filter but that's only half the battle - the fuel is then "stuck" in the sub tank. It needs the engine running with fuel from the main tank to suck the fuel from the sub-tank to the main tank. See http://www.pradopoint.com.au/showthr...engine-running for a discussion on what to do next...

Peter

Hopefully you are up and running again mate.
Did the problem come back when you got back down to 1/4 of the tank after you replacing the filter and the sensor?

Cheers Detjan

Made it out. Looks like it was just the transfer fuel filter that was blocked. Since then I've run it down to have "---" km's left (ie car thinks it is out of fuel) without a problem. I also bought a replacement spare transfer fuel filter just in case. And I'm keeping a spare 20l jerry can of diesel on the Tvan "just in case".

I didn't have a sensor problem - just the filter. Stevesonly called me back in the morning after ringing the Toyota dealer to find out exactly what they did to get his car running again - (I think) he said that the fuel pickup in the sub-tank was blocked and had to be replaced.

One thing to note - if you have a Techstream cable you can see the main/sub tank levels measured separately. I had the cable and a laptop but not the s/w (frustratingly... and my satellite internet was out of data allowance so I couldn't download it). I need to do some investigations when I get back home but I suspect you could probably diagnose the transfer problem by looking at the levels of the two fuel tanks. If the main tank is empty and the sub tank isn't then there is a transfer problem. If you don't have a Techstream cable it may be worthwhile getting one so you can do your own research - if you are a bit tech savvy it isn't too hard to use and lots cheaper than going to Toyota!

Have heard of the fuel quality at some remote outlets…….Lots and lots of water and I think that tank to tank filter does all the primary filtering.

I got mine fixed now to, if you keep having the same problem your car stopping just below 1/4 of a tank. This is how we fixed it.
There a small diaphragm at the bottom of the sender unit in the bottom tank its about the size of a 1 cent coin. After some 4x4 driving the fuel can push this out when the bottom tank is low. You will have to drop your tank and take out the sender unit and have a look to see if it not seated right, If not this will allow air to be stuck in when the bottom tank run out fuel but your top tank will still be full.
All you need to do is push the diaphragm back into place and this will fix the problem.
I hope this will help

Thanks Detjan - it seems there are a few different ways you can get stuck with 1/4 of a tank! I'm glad mine just turned out to be a blocked transfer filter.