Yankee Vet
New Member
Hello, and thanks for taking the time to read this. Any help and advice is eagerly sought and appreciated!
I have a 2000 Defender 110 Td5 with 100,000 miles presently on the clock. Last winter, the fuel pump began making a high-pitched whining noise when the vehicle was started cold - the whining was noticably worse the colder the temperature. Once the truck was up to operating temperature, the whining stopped and all was well...there were never any problems with actually starting, idling, power or smoke.....it always ran just fine.
Come summer, the noise faded into distant memory as the temperatures warmed and I forgot all about the issue. Until recently, as the snows have again arrived. The same symptoms returned - cold start resulted in a sickening whine from the fuel pump, yet everything goes normal as the vehicle reaches operating temperature.
My logical thought was that the fuel pump was nearing the end of it's life and should be replaced, which I just did with a brand new Land Rover pump. (That was NOT as simple as the workshop manual suggested it would be!) Result? The new pump now whines at the cold start! Granted it doesn't seem to be as pronounced, and it seems to quiet down sooner, but this was never anything I observed the first three winters I had the truck.
I did replace the fuel filter this past spring, between the first winter the pump began howling and now, and I do use diesel fuel additives at all times. Is it possible there is a problem elsewhere in the fuel system putting a strain on the pump until the engine warms up, such as with the fuel pressure regulator or some check valve in the lines? Again, I've not experienced any discernable issues with starting difficulty, power, performance, smoking, etc......it seems to run just fine.
(To add more ideas to your thought process - air filter is new, oil is changed often with Mobil full synthetic, etc. BUT, I did have the engine harness oil contamination issue this summer. I 'fixed' the problem by replacing the injector harness and repeatedly cleaning the ECU/engine harness connection until there was no further oil accessing the ECU connection. Again, never any problems with vehicle operation or performance.)
Thanks so much for reading through this.......and especially thank you if you can help me out!
I have a 2000 Defender 110 Td5 with 100,000 miles presently on the clock. Last winter, the fuel pump began making a high-pitched whining noise when the vehicle was started cold - the whining was noticably worse the colder the temperature. Once the truck was up to operating temperature, the whining stopped and all was well...there were never any problems with actually starting, idling, power or smoke.....it always ran just fine.
Come summer, the noise faded into distant memory as the temperatures warmed and I forgot all about the issue. Until recently, as the snows have again arrived. The same symptoms returned - cold start resulted in a sickening whine from the fuel pump, yet everything goes normal as the vehicle reaches operating temperature.
My logical thought was that the fuel pump was nearing the end of it's life and should be replaced, which I just did with a brand new Land Rover pump. (That was NOT as simple as the workshop manual suggested it would be!) Result? The new pump now whines at the cold start! Granted it doesn't seem to be as pronounced, and it seems to quiet down sooner, but this was never anything I observed the first three winters I had the truck.
I did replace the fuel filter this past spring, between the first winter the pump began howling and now, and I do use diesel fuel additives at all times. Is it possible there is a problem elsewhere in the fuel system putting a strain on the pump until the engine warms up, such as with the fuel pressure regulator or some check valve in the lines? Again, I've not experienced any discernable issues with starting difficulty, power, performance, smoking, etc......it seems to run just fine.
(To add more ideas to your thought process - air filter is new, oil is changed often with Mobil full synthetic, etc. BUT, I did have the engine harness oil contamination issue this summer. I 'fixed' the problem by replacing the injector harness and repeatedly cleaning the ECU/engine harness connection until there was no further oil accessing the ECU connection. Again, never any problems with vehicle operation or performance.)
Thanks so much for reading through this.......and especially thank you if you can help me out!