Noise from fuel pump when starting up

[sharc]

Hi all

A few months ago, my fuel pump failed on my '03 Bora TDI.
A VW dealer replaced it and since then a sound can be heard coming from the fuel pump area, when the ignition is turned on and briefly when the car is started. The sound is best described as a squelching, and it sounds like either air or dirt or something other than fuel is being sucked up through the fuel pump. This only happens when the tank is less than half full and has only happened since the fuel pump was replaced.
I took it back to the garage a month or so ago and they replaced the pump again but the noise is still there. It's been back in today and they have had another look. They have given the pump a clean bill of health and are saying that nothing is wrong, the noise is just because the fuel reservoir has air in it when the tank is less than half full, and when it is full, it is submerged, so there is no air.
This sounds like a cop-out to me. If this were normal, every car would make that noise, but they don't. And my bora would have done it all along, but it's only done it since the fuel pump was replaced.

What could be causing this?

Cheers

Andy.

[zollaf]

this is perfectly normal on a pd, and is merely the pump priming the fuel system. i can only presume that your pump has never worked, and the tandem pump has been doing all the work.

[sharc]

Interesting!
I suppose I should have asked in my first post - can anyone else with a Golf/Bora TDI confirm that yours makes the same noise?

Just to clarify - the pump always makes a sound, and I can tell that it is pumping a small amount of fuel - but the noise is normally like I would expect - a motor noise. This other noise is quite a bit louder and as well as the mechanical noise of the pump there's the 'other sound'. Imagine you're pumping water through a hosepipe and all of a sudden loads of small particles of gravel get sucked up and whoosh around inside the hose - that's the sound!

Thanks
Andy

[pon]

Sounds normal to me, the same noise as my Mkiv Golf TDI makes

[TDiBoraSam]

My Bora 115 TDI makes this 'squelching' noise when I first turn the key in the ignition. Kind of like air being sucked into a pipe.
Again, this is something that started a while ago, it hasn't always made this noise.

The car has also developed a strange starting problem in that every so often, the engine turns over, but won't fire. If I turn the key back and try again, it always fires up 2nd time.....I think this is related to the squelching noise, which must be air in the system somewhere?

[sharc]

Yeah, I new that it couldn't be 'normal' although it seems it is quite common. I mean, if it was normal and by design, for a start my wife's Bora would do it, and also the garage wouldn't have even taken it in to look at it if every car did it, they would have said something to me straight away. Basically they don't know what it is although it would seem that it's not a serious fault or else Golfs and Boras everywhere would be failing.

Thanks very much for all the replies.

Andy.

[Crasher]

It isn’t a fault, it is the pump riming the system, fluid moving into air makes a noise.

[peter cutmore]

I have a passat that sounds the same have been told it is normal

[Crasher]

Yes it is.

[tony-1977]

My 2002 Bora 1.9TDI SE 130 does exactly this. Normal I guess. Getting over 50 MPG so fuel system must be good :)

[andy e]

my citroen relay van makes this noise, also if ignition is left on (ie when having lunch and listening to radio) it will not start until ignition is switched off and on again (yes i know it is a vw forum just my misfortune to have it as a company van:p)

[Crasher]

They really should have put a note in the handbook about this.