Fuel pump whine

[jooset]

Haven't posted in a while...but I've been reading. Just started driving my car on a daily basis after a several years of being a periodic weekend car. Anyway, over the course of the last 3-4 weeks, I've worked out a few issues that you'd expect to come up after not being drivin daily. Now I think my fuel pump is making more noise that it was. It runs for 3-8 seconds, then pauses, then runs for 3-8 seconds and so on (park/idle). I think it is louder than before because I never noted it before since being replaced years ago...but maybe only 30K miles on the fuel pump. I'm pretty sure it was a walbro 340. Have the hot wire kit, 237 press reg, 50lb injector (yeah I know over kill), and turbotweak chip. All has been there for a while, nothing new (other than me noticing the whine). Am I in for a fuel pump failure? Any suggestions? Thanks a million/ Matt

 

[sd-slider]

Anyone...?

 

[williamsGN]

"Pauses" ... you mean the pump is shutting down when the car is running ?

 

[sd-slider]

"Pauses" ... you mean the pump is shutting down when the car is running ?

Mine seems to get "quieter" which could be perceived as a pause...

I too had never noticed the "whine" before...almost like a ringing sound.

I replaced my stocker with a Walbro 340 ~18 months and 1200 miles ago.

 

[williamsGN]

Really just have to rely on a fuel pressure gauge.. I have one on the A pillar so I can watch it rise under boost. Should stay pretty steady at idle. Mine has a higher pitch than I had ever notice, but usually I'm not down by the tank when the car is running, fuel pressure has stayed fine.

 

[sd-slider]

Thanks.

 

[TRICKSIXPA]

Where are you listening to this sound in the car?? Some Powermasters that are low on brake fluid will whine or if the motor is on its way out, will do the same when it is building pressure. If you listen to your fuel pump make sure your on the ground behind your car Just saying. When I heard whining before its been either the powermaster or some V8 that I just made look silly flying past them.

 

[jooset]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Good news is the car seems to still be running fine, with one minor exception I'll get to in a minute. Sound is definitely not the PM...I'm listening at the back bumper...it's the fuel pump...positive. Upon further review, I'd call it a 'buzz' rather than a whine...I'm starting to get used to it. When I describe that the buzzing stops intermittently, I can't say for sure that the pump is technically 'shutting down', all I can say as the buzzing stops. I don't have a fuel pressure gauge on the car currently. Maybe I should just make an audio recording (or video with sound) this weekend and post it.

Oh yeah...the one other indication I have that may be noteworthy is that occasionally when I'm in stop and go traffic and I'm stopped for a while (or at a traffic light for a while) and I take my foot off the brake and ease into the accelerator, I get a very short (less than a second) period of no response followed by a bit of a lerch fwd before getting the expected response. This happens infrequently and I don't notice it if I mash down the accelerator - probably because you expect to get a lerch fwd in that situation
I surmized that this may be occuring on the random chance I take my foot off the brake during one of those pauses when the fuel pump is not at 'full buzz'....which led me to my original concern that the fuel pump might be going. But I'm exptrapolating well outside of my comfort zone here....

 

[Fast4Ward]

if its louder than usual its likley going. when i took out my old one out it had a nice ball of lint that built up in the screen.
the new one seems to be louder only when gas tank is almost empty.
i would monitor the fuel pressure gauge to see how its performing with a full tank of gas.

 

[sd-slider]

Went for a cruise tonight and when I pulled her back into the cave, I left her running to go back and listen. I knelt down to listen under the bumper directly below the tank as I had done the last time.

There was no noticeable "whine" this time, just a consistent light "buzzing" which was very faint and sounded like a normal pump. I also checked it with a screwdriver handle in the ear and the other end on the tank.

I'll mount my fuel pressure gauge "semi-permanent" to my windshield and try to catch it in the act.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Bigblock454boy]

I have a similar issue when I turn the key to the on position it primes hard then after it reaches pressure there seems to be a whining groan sound that is very low coming from the tank I have no idea what it is. I have a dual fuel pump I tank setup