Noise under passenger side dash on ignition

[patrickd]

My 02 Fabia SDI is giving out a strange whiring noise behind the dash on the passenger side when I turn the ignition before starting the motor.

I don't have air con and searching through the forum this seems to be a cause of similar problems.

Does any one know what this could be and if it needs rectifying??

I can happily live with the annoying sound I just don't want to risk any serious damage being done by leaving it unattended.

Many thanks

[Mike B]

A whirring gurgly sound lasting about a second?

It's the pump priming the fuel system!

[patrickd]

It is a bit of a gurgling sound but it last longer than a second and has gotten progressively louder over the past couple of weeks.

It actually sounds quite electrical, a humming that persists until the engine fires up - it may go on beyond that but the SDI is so noisy it's hard to tell

[ric04vrs]

might be something like the recirculation motor running

[Mike B]

Misread the first post, Passenger side! Sorry.

Now does the noise only occur when the fan is running?

[DeeBe]

This might sound ridiculous, but check the passenger side headlight beam adjustment. Turn the ignition on and go to the front of the car to see if it is the headlight. If not, then sorry for wasting your time!

On a side note, could it not be your glow plugs taking longer to reach working temperature?

[patrickd]

Thanks for all the above suggestions.

In answer to the points raised, no the sound doesn't seem to conitnue when the fan is running, it is only when I turn the ignition key forward to the position prior to actually firing the engine.

As regards glow plugs, I didn't think they actually had the potential to make a noise???

It literally is just an electrical whiring or whining that persists for 5 -10 seconds prior to ignition and it seems to be very close to the passenger side dash.

I've assumed that it was something priming the engine in some way but it obviously isn't very happy at the moment

[fordfan]

Has the car got ABS?

[patrickd]

Yes it has got ABS

Could it be that??

Sounds expensive if it is.

[ric04vrs]

ABS does a self test when you first put the iggy on , so could be normal noise

mine VRS made a whirring noise this morning , it was from the temp dial for the heater , it was set to 18 degrees and not fully cold , so assume it was just the flap moving to the correct position