Ticking HPFP, cure it or live with it ?

vinee59

vinee59

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Hi All,
My A3 recently starting making a ticking sound coming from the HPFP at low revs (below 2000 rpm), I guess at higher the sound is covered by the engine sound, also the sound only comes when the engine is warm.
Also the car drives fine as I do have any of symptoms such as loss of power, engine misfire etc...
I had the car diagnosed by garage specializing in diesel injection who told me they didn't really have an answer to give me as they were confused themselves as for what was causing the sound.
  • They used the computer to check the pump's readings and they all match the manufacturer's values.
  • They have removed the pump's head to inspect it (even with a microscope) and it was clean (no metal bits)
  • The tried to disconnect the plug from the head and the sound was gone (which a I guess is a good sign as the pump being driven by the cambelt keeps rotating, meaning it doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the pump internal components rotating and obviously confirm there is no metal bits inside the pump), so they have replaced the head with a new one and the sound was back again... this what go them confused
  • They only thing they have found faulty was that the fuel filter hasn't been changed since 2013, so I asked then to replace it thinking that could be the issue there causing the pump to work extra-hard but I have been driving a good 100 miles (city and motorway) and the sound is still there
So they told me I could either replace the pump but that would be an expensive bet (about £1200 as you need to replace the cambelt as well) as they couldn't guarantee it would fix the sound or I could go to have the car diagnosed by Audi to see of there is a software update (i.e. see if something needs to be done on how the head sensor and the fuel rail sensor communicate) but I am not really sure about that one as to me Audi will just tell you to change the pump and won't really bother investigating.

So here I am in a situation where either I change the pump, i go to get the car diagnosed by Audi or I just live with that sound, i mean the sound doesn't bother me at all I just want to make sure that ticking doesn't mean I will ending up having to change the whole injection system.

What do you think guys ? have you experienced that ticking sound with your car ? what did you do about it, live with it or replaced the pump ?

Thanks in advance for your replies.
 
Is this the sound



I have a problem with my vw Passat b7 2.0tdi

its an annoying ticking sound from the fuel pump but when I disconnect the pressure control valve the ticking goes away,i have been to an diesel workshop and they told me its normal but somehow I just cant believe that an engine with 92000km should have that sound.Iknow this is an audi forum and I apologize but its the only place that I found with ppl that have simular problems,
 
Hi There,
Exact same sound, I have another thread on a different forum where I posted that last week end I rented a 1.6 tdi VW Caddy 2018 with 8000 miles (about 12000km) on the clock and the pump had the exact same sound which reassured me but yh the sound is a bit annoying and it seemed to be mystery why some cars have it and some others cars don't and I don't want to spend £1200 to change a perfectly working pump knowing the problem may not even go ( I read a post where a guy replaced his pump and still got the buzzing sound).

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audi upgrades
Just to know that if it breaks you need to clean fuel tank change injectors and so on makes me worry but why does the tick stop when I disconnect the pressure control valve?. Hearing about the caddy with only 12000km doing the same makes me feel better :) please post updates if you got them
 
I do not have an answer for the valve, the garage I brought it to even tried a new valve from another pump and the sound was still there...as long as you don't have metal bits in the pump, and you camcheck that by removing and checking the valve, it is fine... if you just want to be sure just get the car diagnosed as I did, at least they will check the valve fornyoy and make sure all readings match VW values. As for me I just accept to leave with it

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Have you had the timing belt replaced not long ago, I’m inclined to believe the cam needs to be fine tuned via a torsion value similar to what is done to the PD Pumpe Duse cars.

Can someone comment on how this fine turning is conducted on the CR engines
 
The timing belt was done back in 2017 by Audi, before I actually bought the car so I am unable to comment if the noise appeared shortly after the cambelt was done... some people seems to claim it was the case but I personally don't think so, otherwise why the 2018 VW Caddy had the same noise ? The cambelt hasn't been replaced yet on that car. I was also reading that timing doesn't need to be tuned on CR unlike on PD engines but this can be surely be confirmed

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I’ve had this happen on a few CR engines specifically after doing the timing belt, and using the correct locking tools.

The thing is the tools are only precise to approximately +-3 Degrees hence on the PD engines the cam is adjusted to suit.

It may that this causes HPFP to be a slightly misaligned to the CAM even after using locking tools hence the immediate presence of the noise after a cambelt change.

Maybe no one has figured out the fine tuning between cam and HPFP
 
Last edited:
What you are saying would make sense... as if we can't fault the injection system the only thing left is the cambelt driving the pump but that would get me worries that Audi who has change the belt on mine and is supposed to do that type of work all the time on the same type cars can't get it right, especially if they have all the tools to do the job.

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Also if the cambelt is responsible for the sound coming from the pump that would mean that on the VW Caddy I drove last week end VW would have got the belt fitting wrong in the manufactory.

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vinee59 said:
What you are saying would make sense... as if we can't fault the injection system the only thing left is the cambelt driving the pump but that would get me worries that Audi who has change the belt on mine and is supposed to do that type of work all the time on the same type cars can't get it right, especially if they have all the tools to do the job.

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Click to expand...

People just live with the noise, but indeed there is something underlying and very annoying
 
To be honest this what I am trying to figure out so I will keep this thread going until we can find an answer if any...

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If you can compare torsion values or something with a working engine and also check the timing between CAM and Crank.

Also I found after doing the timing belt and rotating the engine over twice, the HPFP is sort of 0.5mm away from the pin and most leave it be assuming it to be acceptable.
 
I dont have anyway to check that myself but I am planning to get one of them obdeleven Bluetooth device and maybe I can try to check these values, my friend has golf 6 tdi 140 and doesn't have the noise, mine is a tdi 170 , would the values be the same ?

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Update: Drove a 2013 seat Alhambra 2.0 tdi last week, 40k on the clock, the hpfp doing the same ticking sound.

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