Is my fuel pump on its way out?

[nazitf]

I hearing a high pitched squeaking noise coming from the back of the cabin. At first I thought it was the radio or perhaps the cooling fans but with both switched off I still get a continuous high pitched tone. It’s hard to isolate exactly where it’s coming from but it’s definitely from the mid/back of the cabin. It occurred for most of my one hour journey today and very occasionally disappeared altogether but would come back again in less than a minute. The noise was independent of the throttle use and there was only one occasion during the journey where the car stopped in start-stop mode however the noise had resolved itself just prior to the start-stop and didn’t immediately come back after starting again, but did return about 30 seconds later.

 

Any thoughts on what could be causing this?

 

[psycholist]

Is there any loss in power and full throttle to indicate insufficient fuel is getting to the engine? When was the fuel filter replaced last? If something is blocking this the fuel pump will be working a lot harder, which could be the root cause of the issue.

[nazitf]

Is there any loss in power and full throttle to indicate insufficient fuel is getting to the engine? When was the fuel filter replaced last? If something is blocking this the fuel pump will be working a lot harder, which could be the root cause of the issue.

 

No loss of power and no other performance related issues occurred. The fuel filter is less than two years old.

 

It appears that this problem only lasted about 24 hours, spanning two journeys each approximately one hour since it has now magically resolved itself!

 

Perhaps it was something that was hindering the flow through the fuel pump or perhaps it was dodgy bit of diesel that went through the system? Either way, I’m glad its back to normal - if only all problems were resolved in this way!

Edited 28 May, 2016 by nazitf

[terrytowelling]

So did you change the filter? It can get blocked with one fill up

[SuperbTWM]

Its not difficult to run the lift pump manually with the car off to aid in diagnosing the fault if it ever comes back

[nazitf]

So did you change the filter? It can get blocked with one fill up

 

I've not yet changed the filter as the problem resolved itself and hasn't since come back. Skoda say the fuel filter should be good for 60k and I've only done half of that. If the symptoms reappear, I will definitely get the filter changed.

 

 

Its not difficult to run the lift pump manually with the car off to aid in diagnosing the fault if it ever comes back

 

 

Is that done by turning the ignition key to the point which is just before the engine starts?

Edited 30 May, 2016 by nazitf

[terrytowelling]

I had my car go onto limp mode after a fill up . checked filter and it was chocka with water and grit . I suspect I had the dregs of the station tank. Your pump could be struggling against the semi blocked filter

Edited 30 May, 2016 by terrytowelling