So I did it and was quite successful!
Before starting I made sure to unplug the power to the fuel pump and crank the engine for a few seconds to just get rid of any pressure in the lines. I didn't see anybody else mention this, but it probably saved me from a bit of a mess when disconnecting the high-pressure line...
Anyway, 5 of the 8 screws came out without any real trouble (with a sharp new #2 philips bit), 2 of the remaining 3 were removed with craftsman screw extractors, and for the last one I chiselled off the head and removed the remainder with a pair of vice grips (once the pump was out). Once again, PB blaster works as advertised
I tool some pictures along the way, the first one is is of the top of the pump body with all the screws removed (there are two screws I put back in to keep the fumes down). You can see the screw that I chiselled the head off of at the 2 o'clock position.
Remember kids, always work in a well ventilated area
After removing the pump I put the ends of the gas lines into plastic zip-top bags (to keep the dirt away) and plugged the hole with a towel. The gas lines are very easy to disconnect if you use the two-screwdriver method shown in
this howto. Also, if you can't get the connectors apart, give them a little soak in WD40, that always works for me.
Old pump body, gasket, etc:
New parts! I'd recommend buying everything listed on the first page, you'll probably end up damaging the "washer" when you remove it (it's not actually a washer, it's a metal clip that holds the low-pressure filter onto the pump). Swapping everything over is very easy, you just pop off the bottom plastic cap, remove the "washer", remove the low-pressure filter, and then slide out the pump. To remove the fuel level sender unit, you push down on a tab on the pump body then slide the sender unit down to remove it. The whole process is very straightforward
I'm not 100% convinced that the $20 rubber gasket for the high-pressure side absolutely needs to be replaced, mine still *looked* fine. If I had to do it again I'd still buy it for the peace of mind, but I suspect you could get away without changing it.
I could only get zinc-plated hex-top metric machine screws at the local home depot, they only came in one size which was roughly 1cm too long. So I ended up trimming each one with a dremel to make them fit, it isn't perfect but it works.
I took the FSM's recommendation and opted to "prime" the fuel system for 5 minutes just to make sure there are no leaks. You just short one pin on the DIAGNOSTIC connector and set the ignition switch to ON and the fuel pump will start running.
So what caused this stupid problem? I'm not 100% sure but this probably has something to do with it
That plastic was cracked and about to fall off. Such s*** quality
I almost forgot, THANK YOU mtnbiker26 and everyone else who has contributed thus far to this thread, it's been very helpful.
