ALH - mechanical noise accompanies glow plug preheating - what is it??

Hi all, a quick question: does the ALH have a priming pump for cold start? i ask this because when i turn the ignition to stage 1 from cold while the glow plug light is on there is a mechanical whirring noise coming from the engine bay which lasts a little longer than the light is on for. it sounds very much like a priming pump but from what i can glean via google, the workshop manual and the vehicle information booklet the ALH has no such thing fitted.
Anyway, i never gave it much thought since the van starts and runs great, however, since we've been having cold weather the noise doesnt happen any more and it takes a good few turns of the engine to start, which is also making me wonder if it did have a priming pump that has now stopped working. I havent had time to fully investigate yet so i thought i'd ask the question in case anyone can tell me for sure whether or not the ALH has a priming pump, or if the noise might be something else entirely like a dodgy relay or something? Thanks in advance

Not in a normal configuration. You mention "van". What's your ALH in?

The quantity adjuster will do a sweep when the key is turned on and it makes a slight whining noise. There is no priming pump on and ALH car.

KLXD said:

Not in a normal configuration. You mention "van". What's your ALH in?

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it's a 2004 VW caddy van (not sold in the US i dont think)

whitedog said:

The quantity adjuster will do a sweep when the key is turned on and it makes a slight whining noise. There is no priming pump on and ALH car.

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sounds plausible that it might be the quantity adjuster. i'll do some more investigating, it doesnt always make the noise, as far as i can tell it only does it when starting from cold... but in very cold weather it doesnt make a noise at all. for example this morning i had to start the van to move it a little way up my drive, it didnt make a sound from dead cold. When i went to start it at the end of the day, it did make the noise. again, this was a cold start but general ambient temperatures would have been much higher than first thing this morning.

maybe a relay for the glowplugs?

I'm not sure if it's a mechanical relay or a solid state unit...

Problem is, its a land rover. if thats a relay, than its going bad really fast. never heard a relay make that much noise from an engine bay. If its not a fuel pump than maybe the fan motor? maybe the fan controller is going ape shiznet and the fan is going? i have no idea though, got me stumped. Is it in the land rover or are you talking about a Eurovan?

Mongler98 said:

Problem is, its a land rover. if thats a relay, than its going bad really fast. never heard a relay make that much noise from an engine bay. If its not a fuel pump than maybe the fan motor? maybe the fan controller is going ape shiznet and the fan is going? i have no idea though, got me stumped. Is it in the land rover or are you talking about a Eurovan?

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There is a comma (,) between his vehicles, denoting that he has two of them, VW 1.9tdi ALH, Land Rover 200tdi, so he has the van and a Rover. He mentioned the ALH in his "2004 VW caddy van (not sold in the US I don't think)" in one of his posts.

Have someone else turn the key and try to locate the sound, then get back to us.

ah those mundane details like commas and decimal points!