hewtown

And I currently have a half-tank of gas in there. Car won't start, so running it out isn't an option.

If I proceed with 1/2 tank, am I gonna have a bad time? Everything I've read strongly recommends 1/4 tank or less before doing this job.... just how bad/messy will it be for me?

Any strong recommendations to reduce fuel amount via siphoning or any other suggested method??

jseklund

Unfortunately (for your question), when mine stopped, I had almost exactly 1/4 tank of gas. I am not sure why it says not to have more than this, but I saw the same 1/4 tank recommendation in the Bentley manual. I would try to siphon it out just to be safe...I would assume a tube down the gas filler neck would suffice.....

Daremo_06

I had to do this on my C4 and it had at least 1/3 or close to a half tank. I just made sure I had A LOT of ventilation. Also depending on where you live, your hand is going to get very cold.... Just keep that in mind.

If your creative you could try and get an arm length glove and use that so you dont get gas all over yourself....

hewtown

Got the fuel pump replacement finished today... ended up with a failed attempt at siphoning (don't ask) and just went for it with the 1/2 tank. And it really wasn't that bad. The old pump was pretty much fully submerged in gas, so that made the vapor thick throughout the job. But I pushed it out into the driveway and ran a couple fans, which helped a bunch. And aside from a few splashes here and there, it wasn't a big deal.

Overall the job was easy (thanks to Robert Gedeon's tech - HUGE THANKS https://www.audiworld.com/tech/eng95.shtml), but time consuming, mostly due to the difficulty removing just a few of those mother bleepin Oediker clamps.

I got it done for $290 (Airtex pump from Autozone, new fuel pump lid gasket, and a few clamps), which I was very happy with. Can you believe the service manager at my dealership gave me an estimate of "about a thousand" for this job!?

Which leads me to another huge THANKS to this awesome community, which helped me save big $$$ yet again.

Airbag

When i get ridiculous quotes like that i usually go for the OE part from the dealer .. figure i may as well splurge since im saving on the labour. Especoially for a part that is such a PITA to do .

The one thing i do find ( for me a least anyway) the Audi parts although expensive are of outstanding quality. Where i might be nervous of an aftermarket part in a place thats a pain to change.