2003-2008 AWD Vibe Gas Tank Removal/Replacement

Technical info on the Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix including do-it-yourself info
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zbyers
Posts: 1767
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 6:12 pm
Location: Sheffield, Pennsylvania

2003-2008 AWD Vibe Gas Tank Removal/Replacement

Post by zbyers »

2003-2008 AWD Vibe Gas Tank Removal

Sorry for the lack of pictures… I half helped and was doing most of the heavy lifting with dad, so no pictures. Also, not responsible if you kill yourself or your car blows up or anything else crazy happens. This is simply how we managed to uneventfully change our gas tank. Recommended to have a second set of hands to help, and if possible, a third set to be the tool fetcher.

We did this as mom’s tank was leaking from one of the vent lines, and was extremely noticeable (phewwwwww, it stank!) if you filled the car up.

But to remove the gas tank from an AWD, you really don’t need many tools. We put it up on my lift in the garage (yay for lifts!) but we have also done it on ramps and/or jack stands in the driveway.

TOOLS
I cannot fully remember all of the tools totally necessary, but I know the below is needed.

14mm socket—used to undo the bolts to the rear seat to get to the fuel pump lines. This is also used for the gas tank straps; and I believe the 4 bolts holding the drive shaft to the rear diff.
Flat screw drivers—since most people won’t have the fuel line disconnects, you can poke them with flat screw drivers (though I recommend finding quality fuel line disconnect tools to remove them)
10mm socket—used to undo the bolts holding the e-brake cables to their brackets that wrap around the gas tank…
12mm socket—I think we used this for the bolts to the charcoal canister on the tank.
Object to hold up rear driver shaft (5 gallon bucket does the trick)
Bungee cords are also helpful to hold up rear seat, and charcoal canister.
17mm socket—I believe this was used
Something to catch the fuel in when you undo filler neck and other gas lines.


PARTS
New Gas Tank Straps; not sure part # as dad ordered from Rock Auto
New Gas Tank; ensure you are ordering one for the AWD, as the FWD is different.

THE HOW!
Basic rundown of how to remove and reinstall.. Please note—steps may be missing and/or I may have forgot tools

1) Unbolt the four rear seat 14mm bolts holding the seat bottom on… Use bungee cord to hold it up out of the way. You can now access the fuel pump stuff.
2) Undo the fuel pump lines/connectors so you won’t fight it when you drop the tank.
3) Crawl under the car and undo the four bolts holding the driveshaft to the rear diff… you may need to put the car in neutral to rotate it to access all bolts, and back into park to break them loose.
4) Undo the carrier bearing bracket bolts to the rear drive shaft… this must be removed to give you enough room to get the tank out. Support the drive shaft out of the way.
5) Unbolt the charcoal canister and bungee cord it to the rear spring out of the way.
6) Unbolt the 10mm bolts holding the e-brake cables to their brackets around the tank... if you don’t, you’ll end up fighting it.
7) Loosen hose clamp connecting to the filler neck… have a catch bucket ready for the fuel that spills out.
8) Undo front bolt on gas tank straps… you won’t reach the rear ones with the tank in.
9) Now you should be able to wiggle the tank around and get it most of the way out..
10) You will need to undo some of the charcoal canister vent lines on the tank to totally remove it.
11) By now, the tank should basically be free, minus whatever random lines are still attached (this is the part where I had to leave)

Install is Basically Opposite of Removal
Install is essentially opposite of removal. Just a few things to note…
1- You will need to totally tighten the bolts to rear of the gas tank straps totally, before installing the new tank. You cannot reach these bolts with the tank in place.
2- Ensure you are hooking up all of the vent lines correctly.
3- I think that’s basically it. lol



If I missed any steps, please let me know and I will update. If anyone goes through this too, please take some pics this time around, and I will update this post with the pictures.

Good luck all!
'74 Thing, '79 El Camino, '83 VW DoKa '91 Vanagon, '03 Base, 04 GT
'06 CRV, '06 AWD, '07 Base, '12 Highlander Limited, '17 Frontier CCLB

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