Hi guys, I'm noticing my fuel pump sometimes squeals, (yes, squeals!) when I start the bike but will quiet down after about a minute of running. I can sometimes it will stop briefly by tipping the bike from side to side whilst it's squealing.

It has never given me any problems with the running of the engine, and it has never stopped whilst riding or anything (at least not yet!)

The bike has 20,000 miles on it, I've never run the tank dry or anything but I suppose previous owner could have.

To my memory it only happens when I have a full or near full tank - I filled up today, no squealing when I started the bike on the forecourt, rode home, parked the bike, started it up about 15 mins later and the pump is squealing.

Has anyone else experienced this? Could it just be trapped air running through the pump or something? I've never experienced this before.

Cheers

Those symptoms sound very much like the precursor to pump failure? I've had a few submersible fuel pumps go on cars and bikes (not the XT mind) and they've all squealed or got noisier just before they conked out. Any trapped air will usually clear itself very quickly in a pressurised fuel pump/system. Sorry, I don't mean to sound like an angel of doom!

If it is the pump and it does eventually give up the ghost, then whatever you do, don't look at the Yamaha genuine part prices - you'll have a heart attack! They only sell the complete assembly (pump, housing, sender etc.) All is not lost though... If you take the assembly out of the tank and open the casing you can just replace the pump unit. The pump itself can be bought from various sellers on ebay (and elsewhere) for around �30-�35.

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The first thing I did was check the genuine Yamaha parts, and yes, I damn near had a heart attack! I'll have a look around for the pump you mention, at �30-�35 I may as well replace it to be safe, rather than have my pump pack up on me while riding.

I wondered if it might be something to do with air because I remember on my old bandit, (carbs and no fuel pump) if it was left in the sun (it was black as well!) it sometimes wouldn't start - if I sat quietly I could hear air hissing out of the filler cap! So I'd just pop the filler cap, pressure would release and the bike would start right up. I'm not entirely sure why pressure prevented it starting, may have just been a coincidence.

Anyway, thanks Pleiades!

Just search for XT660 fuel pump on ebay and you'll get loads of options.

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I'm only seeing one on there that looks trustworthy for �50, I guess I'll give that one a shot!

Got my replacment off E-bay...
the yamaha housing just unclips
pump is easy to replace....

I got 40,000km out of mine....

Pete

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Harley Davidson..
The easyest way to turn gasoline into noise with out the side efect of horse power...