E30 Zone

So I was taking a look at my fuel pump the other day as I noticed it was starting to whine a bit - when I removed the inspection cover I noticed what looked like a bit of a damp patch around it. See image below.

To me it looks like the fuel pump o ring may have perished, however would fuel actually be able to leak out the top like this?

And, considering it has started whining, would it make sense to replace the pump and o ring all at the same time? Any advice much appreciated as always!

Just giving this post a liiittle bump as I'm planning a road trip to France in 6 weeks and want to work out if I should bother replacing my fuel pump... or just the o ring before I go?!

Anyone have any thoughts? The whine from the pump is quiet, only very noticeable when I remove the rear seat... and I've cleaned the whole area to see if the damp/wet patch comes back or not

Are you sure the whining isn't just normal operating noise? If I were you I'd buy a replacement pump and keep it handy for when/if the current pump dies. You may as well replace the rubber seal as a preventative measure, they probably don't cost much and it's an easy job.

The end of the large breather hose (the largest one, on the top left of the photo) looks a bit darker to me than the upper parts of that hose. Is that hose itself wet? I had an issue with that hose (since replaced, and the problem went) where it was fine with a low-fuel tank, but if I filled it up too high, it would slosh out of that pipe under cornering, wetting the top of the tank. As yours looks dark/wet, it hasn't started to perish, has it? (Mine was really brittle when I removed it...)

The stain is also more concentrated in that area too, rather than evenly around the fuel pump.

+1 for checking the breather...often perished underneath against the tank...just where you can't see it. If its split...cut a bit off and re attach...only if the rest of the tube feels ok, replacing this pipe can be a right pig to get it out of the feed through which is filled with putty...30 years old and hard as hell !!

Paul

I had similar darker pattern around the breather hose and a fuel smell outside the car. Decided to change the hoses and replace fuel filter first and that fixed the problem. I’ve left the hoses around the fuel pump alone.

Cloggy Saint wrote: ↑

Thu May 12, 2022 3:42 pm

Are you sure the whining isn't just normal operating noise? If I were you I'd buy a replacement pump and keep it handy for when/if the current pump dies. You may as well replace the rubber seal as a preventative measure, they probably don't cost much and it's an easy job.

Yeah it could be normal operating noise as I can only really hear it when the rear seat is out... I thought I could hear it from outside of the car however I think that could just be something vibrating around the exhaust

Have ordered a new rubber seal and will replace that as soon as it arrives

paultv wrote: ↑

Thu May 12, 2022 7:52 pm

+1 for checking the breather...often perished underneath against the tank...just where you can't see it. If its split...cut a bit off and re attach...only if the rest of the tube feels ok, replacing this pipe can be a right pig to get it out of the feed through which is filled with putty...30 years old and hard as hell !!

Paul

Thanks for the advice... will check this when I also replace the rubber seal! Cheers