Hi,

My wife owns a 1981 Bertone Coupe. It has recently been emitting a funny noise which appears to be coming from under the car just in front of the driver-side rear tire. We think the noise may be coming from the fuel pump that is located there. My best description of the noise is something like a groan - you can hear this noise through the fuel filter on the firewall along with a vibration.

This noise did occur a few years ago. We took it to our mechanic (who specializes in Volvo) and for about a year he was dead-set that the sound was coming from a heat shield vibration. The shield was, of course, looked at and tightened, but the sound remained. This went on for about a year, then out of the blue, he says that the sound is coming from the fuel pump. He replaced the pump in the tank and the sound went away. Now the sound is back.

Could this sound be coming from the main pump that is under the car (not in the tank; the tank pump is only a few years old)? Does anyone have experience with this kind of sound? Is this a fuel pump I can easily replace (I am fairly mechanical and have done quite a bit of work on other cars (not the Volvo, though). What about the pump in the tank - can this be replaced fairly easily?

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Feel free to write to me at my email address: dwguy@earthlink.net

Thanks,

Don