83 accord fuel pump prob

hi i have a problem with my fuel delivery system; Firstly its an EL (i think). its got a carbi. its got an external fuel pump in front of left hand rear wheel...... now ive had a ticking noise coming from the pump, then the other day it stalled on the road and would not restart...it would start when fuel added into carbi but was not getting fuel from tank & while running for 5 seconds on carbi fuel the fuel pump was silent.. (its usually noisy)..That narrows the problem to a; the pump b; the fuse or relay and c; the wiring. So i removed the pump and connected straight to battery, it pumped so i reinstalled the pump. Then i got home (with a wire straight to battery) where i reconnected the pump to the wiring harness in order to find the electrical fault. But now its working normally (still noisy)...
question 1. where is the fuel relay?
question 2. can the relay stop working then start working again.
question 3. could the pump work intermitantly before it finally dies.
Also any thoughts on ticking external fuel pumps.
Thank you for any sugestions or idea you can come up with.

this is a plunger type of pump not rotary so it will tick, pulse when operating. They are known to fail. You need to ensure your getting 12v to the pump and it is still failing then replace it.

there may not be a relay, just a fuse and when the ignition is on the pump runs.

when the fuel bowl is full the pump stops operating until fuel is used and more is required.

how was the weather when it "failed"

i noticed that on some nights with my dodgy cluster wiring that the lights would behave weird.
usually cold nights.