Late Mk2 whining noise from the back

[rickee]

hiya!

I've been trying to track down an annoying whining noise in the car for ages (nope its not the missus). High pitched, electrical sounding that initially I thought was the lift pump. I checked it today by taking the rear seat up, removing the access plate and then starting the car. turns out the whine isn't the lift pump. to double check I unplugged the pump power while the engine was running and the whine remained.

The good news is that I traced the noise to a pair of plastic boxes under the rear right of the car, under the filler neck. Now on older models there was a pump and accumulator on the left of the car but this is the later injection model with only the in tank pump and then something else on the right that the haynes manual doesnt' identify. so..

what are they, what do they do, why would they whine and does anyone have some spare? :)

Cheers!

[PeteGLi]

The noise is coming from your main fuel pump - the injection has two pumps. Mine whines all the time. Check whether any part of the housing or connections are close to (touching) any part of the bodywork, as this amplifies the sound in the car.

[DannyH]

Now on older models there was a pump and accumulator on the left of the car but this is the later injection model with only the in tank pump and then something else on the right

mine's a '92 Scala i and it's got the 2 pumps and accumulator so i can't think what car would only have had a lift pump???

[DT1]

There are 3 parts outside the tank, a plastic resevoir/filter (sits on the chassis at the end of the s shaped metal pipe that connects to the main pump), the main pump and the accumulator.

On the injection models the main pump is hidden inside a foam case which is maybe why you didn't notice it.

The resevoir/filter is supposed to be clipped onto the chassis, if it isn't it's possible that the metal pipe is vibrating against the chassis. But that wouldn't be a 'whine', that is usually the main pump as has been mentioned.

Haynes does show all these parts though.

[rickee]

Ah, I see now. The haynes picture doesn't show the main pump, but it has an arrow labelled, to main fuel pump. it also doesn't show the accumulator on the post 1984 diagram either. Oh yeah and I misread the 1984 diagram when I thought all that was on the left hand side. I think my brain was on holiday this weekend.

Pretty sure its the pump then, wondering if its been damaged by rust dust as I know the car has a new filler neck on it :/

[Nate]

if it's pumping fuel (main symptom of not pumping fuel would be lack of engine running!) and isn't leaking, the noise isn't a problem. long term it does mean that the pump will fail and need replacing