Noisy fuel pump

[Iron horse 121]

So we're all familiar with the initial hum of the fuel pump pressurising the system when turning the ignition on, but lately I think it is louder when the engine is running. It could just be my hearing has tuned into it, but has anyone else had a similar experience? I don't think I've heard anything about fuel pump failures, but do they get noisier with age?

[SteveThackery 3,090]

I don't remember hearing the one on my NC, but the pump on my Versys was definitely audible, even when riding at low speeds.  It stayed like that for thousands of miles and didn't get any worse.

[embee 7,288]

I think the noise from mine varies from time to time, sometimes it's pretty quiet, other times it sounds a lot louder. Don't know if it really is the pump or just me. 

It could be to do with the amount of fuel actually in the tank, it could have some damping effect or change the natural frequency of some panel or other.

 

It's worth just checking the connector down beside the fuel tank, it serves the pump and fuel level sender. Make sure all is clean and tight.

 

Interestingly when I had a starting issue when away on hols the chap at the repairers we got to phoned his mate at Honda France to chat about the problem, and one possibility had been the fuel pump. Honda said to him that fuel pump issues were almost unknown on the NC, they were being pretty honest with him trying to sort the problem (turned out to be the connector supplying the kill/start switch).

 

The other thing I found by chance was that the fuel pump relay and the fan relay are identical parts, on the Integra they are side by side in the right fairing. My fan relay had failed, I swapped them to double check it was indeed the relay having narrowed it down first. Maybe swap them over to see if it changes anything.

Edited May 4, 2019 by embee

[tw586 88]

depends on fuel level, the lower the level the noisier it gets