Time for me to change the notorious 05-06 Nissan Pathfinder Fuel Sending Unit (fuel gauge level) and Evap Canister....Have to drain the fuel tank first since the wife filled her up! Will post pics and steps along the way...

that sounds like tons of fun lol

Well first things first, we're gonna be dropping the fuel tank so we're going to need to siphon as much fuel out as possible. Open the Fuel Filler Cap to relieve the pressure on the tank, and disconnect the negative battery terminal. Remember the more fuel removed the easier it is for you to work on! We ended up emptying out about 17 gallons because the wife just filled it up even though I told her not to....there was about another gallon left in the tank when we were done siphoning.

One snag we ran into was the siphon tube would not reach all the way to the gas tank, you may have a longer one but it does get pretty difficult to jam down the tube with all the turns Nissan put in it. So we lowered the spare tire and removed a section of the tubing to slide the siphon into. HINT: Before starting, power wash or clean all mud, sand or dirt from the bottom of your vehicle, in our case we didn't and had Arizona desert dropping in our eyes all morning.

The next step was to start lowering the fuel tank. We used a floor jack to lower the fuel tank slowly. We took the two bolts holding the front strap off completely, than starting to loosen the back ones with the jack fully extended under the tank. We slowly lowered the jack so that we could reach around the back side of the tank to undo the EVAP hose (red in picture), Fuel Filler Hose (blue), and Vent Hose (yellow). Than we lowered the tank more to reach the top of the tank to undo the Fuel Level, Pump and Filter Electrical Assembly (green), and Fuel Feed Hose (purple). Once everything is unplugged finish removing the fuel tank by removing the back strap now. CAUTION: Do not lower the fuel tank too much, you may damage the connections on the top of the fuel pump assembly. CAUTION: Be careful when removing the EVAP hose, it is held together by a weird c-clamp type connector. If damaged you will need to replace the EVAP hose kit ($36 from Nissan), if you do happen to damage it, "Everyone breaks it and nobody carries it" - Nissan Tech ~ "use a zip tie".

Hard part is over now. At this point we took plastic bags and rubber bands and wrapped all the openings to prevent dirt from falling in. We also cleaned the top of the tank where the fuel pump assembly is to prevent things from falling in the tank when we removed the pump. Also remove the EVAP hose from the molded clip on top of the fuel tank. To remove the pump you need a Lock Ring Removal tool ( in our case a flat head screw driver and hammer). Undo the lock ring counter-clockwise and lift the fuel pump assembly out of the tank, tilting it occasionally for clearance of some of the parts and the float arm.

Changing the fuel level sensor is pretty straight forward from here. You need to remove the sensor with attached float arm by pressing on the tab at the end of the sliding rails and slide the sensor off. Than remove the small black piece that has the two black wires going to it. Last but not least, unplug the brown plug. We removed the brown plug with a small flat head screw driver from the back side. Than install the new sensor the same way you uninstalled the old. Than place a new Fuel Pump assembly O-ring where the old was and reinstall the Fuel Pump assembly and install the lock ring and tighten back up with lock ring tool. CAUTION: Be careful not to damage any parts of the Fuel Pump assembly, replacing this will run you upwards of $200. CAUTION: Don't forget to place the EVAP hose back into its molded clip on top of the fuel tank, not doing so will result in the EVAP hose crimping when you re-install the fuel tank.