Hi,

When I used to turn the key to "on", I would hear "Ummmmmmmmm, chiyuk!" from the fuel pump, and then quiet. Now I hear "urgh, urrrrrgh, gorgle, kloomph" or something like that, then quiet. The car still runs fine (for now, anyway). Does this sound like the pump is ready to bail out on me somewhere at the worst possible moment? Or could it possibly be something else ? Fuel filter ? It's got 135,000 on it. I changed the fuel filter at about 120,000. Bought the car at 112,000, and I don't know if the pump is the orig. The car is an 88 GTA.

BTW, after reading about the tortures of the damned involved in pump-changing, I will have a mech do it, if it needs to be done.

Thanks

 

My '88 does that. to me it sounds like some air gets in the lines and gets pushed out with the incoming fuel when it is primed. I havn't had a problem though.

 

Thanks. Glad to hear it hasn't been a problem in your case. Now I won't worry about it as much.

GTA88

 

In my experience, most pumps that become loud, noisy, gurgly, or sound like a dying cow are either:

1) Dying
2) pumping through a clogged fuel filter

 

Does it sound the same when the engine is running? You seemed to be referring to the prime period when the rail is brought up to pressure. That may be a fuel pump relay with bad contacts supplying low voltage to the pump. Otherwise I agree, if it's changing it's habits it is planning to leave home.

 

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I only hear the pump during the first 2 or 3 seconds after turning the key to "on". Then it stops, and I hear "click" from the engine compartment. This must be after the fuel pressure has been brought up to the right number, right? Then, if I start the engine, I can't hear any pump sound at all since at that time the engine noise drowns out any pump sound.
Just checked it. Now it has a consistent sound, no gurgling, but still different from what it was a month ago. I'll keep an eye on it.