Whirring noise near back of car ...

[kingcrimson]

I went out to the garage a few minutes ago, and there was a mechanical whirring noise. I looked around and isolated it to the back of the car. Got underneath, and it seems to be near the fuel tank area, so I'm wondering if the fuel pump was running.

I started up the car, and the noise went away. If I didn't know better, I would suspect a stuck fuel pump relay maybe? Anyone else experience this? The car had been driven about 2 hours before I went out and heard the noise.

Bob

[Ronzuki]

I want to say that noise may be an emissions thing. I don't recall the technical term for it, but I believe there may be a pump of some kind running that is used for evap line testing or the like. Our SX4 does the same thing occassionally. It's a random test that does not run all of the time at least on some cars, and when there's a small vapor leak it can set the CEL and appear like a loose gas cap. We're currently chasing down one of these type CELs on a 2001 Olds Alero. It's old, a lot of the rubber lines are getting cracked and brittle. The shop can inject smoke into these lines and search for the leak. Time consuming thus expensive.

Probably more info than you were looking for...sorry

[kingcrimson]

Thanks Ron - I appreciate the info. Certainly makes me less worried, since I no longer have a Suzuki dealer nearby. I like the sound of a periodic test of the emissions control system more than a bad fuel pump