Ticking in-tank fuel pump

[AnSGTI]

Apologies if this has been asked before, I did do a search to no avail....

I recently noticed I could hear a ticking type noise when stationary, I thought it was my injectors but it sounded as though it was coming from the rear of the car. At first I thought maybe my exhaust was blowing, after putting my head on the rear seat bench it sounds as though it's coming from my fuel tank . The car drives perfectly, no flat spots or fuel cuts. I know it's common on some high performance cars to hear the fuel pump, but I thought this was a low pressure pump so effectively would have thought it was fairly silent (ish).

Anyway, is this normal or is this the sign of impending failure?

thanks in advance - oh, car is an ED30 07 with 50K

[Poppa Dom]

Change your fuel filter  I had a similar issue, sounded like the in tank was working harder than it should - new fuel filter alleviated the problem.

[AnSGTI]

I changed it last year, but it's worth a shot and is certainly cheaper than a new fuel pump!

[bacillus]

Is this with the engine running or it switched off?

[AnSGTI]

Engine running, as soon as it's off the noise stops. It only starts again once the engine is running.

[Type_R]

I got the ticking noise and then my battery drained over and over. I thought it was my Varta battery (at the time 5 years old!) and replaced it with a Bosch one. Same thing happened to the new one! The ticking was from the fuel pump under the rear seat and it was the electronic controller on it, so replaced that and all is well again!

[AnSGTI]

  Thanks for the reply.

It's still doing it, I have noticed that it stops as soon as I give it a tiny bit of gas the ticking stops. For instance if I’m stationary at traffic lights with no background noise other than the engine I can hear the ticking, if I just rise the revs slightly to maybe 1-1.5K the ticking immediately stops. I suspect this is because the high pressure fuel pump is taking some of the load....

Do you mind if I ask was it a difficult job to replace the controller, do you have apart number and a rough price?

Thanks

[Type_R]

The ticking from mine continued after I had turned the ignition off for at least a few minutes. The controller was draining 11A from the battery with the car off! 

Anyways changing it takes about 5 mins and is really easy! Simply lift up the rear seat cushion behind the drivers seat and you will see a plastic flask and on top of it sitting freely is the controller. I shall get the part number for you as I still have the box. The cost if I remember correctly from VW for the part was around £120.

[Type_R]

Just found the box with the part number:

The original part was: 1K0 906 093D

The replacement was: 1T0 906 093 F

It looks like this: