Method for managing a piston pump for a heat engine

A method for managing a piston pump of a fuel injection system on board a combustion engine vehicle using a computer of said vehicle, in the starting phase of the vehicle during which the pump operates to pressurize the fuel when the combustion engine has not yet started, said pump comprising a guide, a piston slidably mounted in said guide in order to form a fuel compression chamber, and a solenoid suitable for, when a control current generated by the computer passes through the solenoid, moving the piston between a low position in which the compression chamber is suitable for being emptied of fuel and a high position in which the compression chamber is suitable for being filled with fuel— the intake phase— and a return spring acting on the piston to return the piston to the low position in the absence of said control current passing through the solenoid— the compression phase— said method comprising, as long as the fuel pressure in the compression chamber is below a predetermined pressure threshold:

• the piston initially being under the effect of the return spring, causing the computer controlling the solenoid to move the piston to the piston's high position,
• after a predetermined period, causing the computer to measure a value of the intensity of the current passing through the solenoid,
• next, suspending the controlling of the solenoid so that the return spring actuates the piston to the low position,
• repeating the three steps above a minimum number of times in order to ensure that the fuel pressure increases, and
• causing the computer to detect that the predetermined pressure threshold has been exceeded when the measured current value is greater than a predetermined reference value, so that the computer ceases controlling the solenoid, the operating period of the pump thus being limited, in the starting phase of the vehicle when the combustion engine has not yet started, through the detection of the exceeding of a pressure threshold, making it possible to ensure that the fuel is pressurized while minimizing the period during which the pump generates noise.