All, this is bound to be fairly long. I'll try to keep it as tight as possible.
First, a lot of haters
promised me this tank wasn't going to fit
because china. Well, I have a 500-mile range LC250, and they don't.
I initially posted some info on the tank in question in LC Talk, under the thread Fuel Tank Options. The tank in question is here:
FK NOTVUCH 110L(29 Gallon) Main Fuel Tank Fit for LC250
Price: $1230 US, plus shipping and tariffs of (for me) about $330 as I recall.
Shipping: Ships from China, they packed it extremely well and built a wood crate to protect it. It showed up flawless. Delivery took something like two months give or take.
Customer Service: Mike Lee is the Sales Manager and is a class act. Very responsive, knowledgeable, and credible. When I initially inquired about fit, they had not tested this on the US-Spec LC. But they took the question back to their tech team and concluded it would fit, and offered a guarantee if it didn't. Obviously, it worked and they are to be commended for their efforts. You can reach them via their CONTACT tab on their website.
I am attaching some photos, all-pre-install but you get the idea.
Quality: The tank is an aluminum-magnesium alloy; the TIG welds look great, the powder coat finish was good, no visible flaws. The hardware seems to be of good quality and heavy duty. The seals provided and hoses all seem to be of OEM quality at least via visual inspection. There were concerns voiced on the previous thread about buying a chinese fuel tank - I'm not going to convince you otherwise if that is what you believe, but I can tell you the quality looks and feels as good as you're going to find, and at this price point it is hard to imagine it being better.
Installation Video:
This was for me the only source of instruction; I gave a few notes to Mike afterwards and he said they will add some written instructions for a few places where I had difficulty (removing three different fuel pump connectors without being able to really see them, thread pitches being similar but not the same on some parts and unlabeled, nothing big).
It's pretty straight forward; you remove the skid plate, support the tank, remove the hangers, drop the tank a little and remove the electrical and plumbing connections, drop the tank, pull out the pump and put it in the new tank, install a few new hangers and reinstall. The process isn't difficult, it's just the tight quarters that makes it harder
.
I tackled this by myself, on the floor of my garage, with a jack and jack stands. I had the jack stands at their max length and it was just barely high enough to slide the new tank underneath. I'm talking just barely- like the fuel pump touched the bottom of the frame sliding it in. If you have access to an assistant, a vehicle lift, and
crucially a scissor cart to support and lift the tanks up and down while you undo/redo the electrical and plumbing connections, you will have a much easier time. That said, I just proved it is possible to do without those things.
If you're wondering how i got the tanks up and down (the OEM with fuel still in it and heavy and awkward), I used a piece of plywood bolted to my floor jack, slid it underneath the tank and jacked it up. that was easy; installing was much more awkward - i used the same piece of plywood with some wood blocks under one end and slid the new tank up into position. You have to be VERY precise and close to the final landing spot to be able to make the plumbing and electrical connections. There is no more than maybe an inch of extra hose (especially the filler hose). It is extremely tight quarters and amplified if you're on your back trying to get the tank into position by yourself- again, a lift for the vehicle and scissor cart to lift the tank would make this WAY easier as shown in the video.
There are no issues with the fit of the tank. I know a lot of people were concerned about the rear suspension link being in the way because this is different from the lexus (and it's larger tank), but this isn't a lexus tank. It was designed for this vehicle.
I didn't measure the gas I transferred (with siphon pump) from my old tank to the new one, so I was unable to confirm how many gallons actually go into the tank before the pump stops. But, it was definitely north of half a tank, and I put 18.5gal in at the gas station shortly thereafter.
If you're wondering about fuel gauge, it will be wrong. The computer thinks you've got 17 gallons and you have 29. As far as I'm aware there is no good way to fix it on the dash. Further, the shape of the tank will make the relationship between the new tank and the oem tank non-linear. Eg., at full tank the ratio is about 1.7 (17:29gal). But the fuel light reportedly comes on with 4 gallons, which is a ratio of around 2 (2:4gal). So there isn't a clean / easy conversion factor you can apply to understand your remaining range. By far the simplest way is to set your trip A at refills, and set your mileage meter to "total average" instead of "trip average". That will give you the total mileage on the tank instead of the current trip. Then, just monitor your trip A miles and make some adjustment based on the mileage you're getting. I average about 19mpg, so 475 miles will be my mixed driving number to fuel light illuminating (25gal x19), and if the tank mpg is trending closer to 18 I'll go with 450 and if it is trending closer to 20 I'll go 500.
Overall this is a killer upgrade for me; makes the LC so much more functional for long trips without the hassle and expense of an aux tank. And, I will add, it's just as many gallons as you'd get with a saddle aux tank.
Ok, what else guys?
