What does this valve do?
Don't know if that's a sign of pending failure or not.FYI - when describing the location on a vehicle things are generally described in relationship to the driver sitting behind the steering wheel. So the MOT valve is on the left side regardless of where you stand outside the car.
You suddenly noticed that something that operates normally became something that you suddenly took notice of

It is labaled MOT it is the purge valve a big part of the emissions system and it ticks away at start up and as needed to suck fuel vapors from the tank and CC canister and deposit them safely in the intake instead of into the atmosphere

If you hear it running that is what it is supposed to do. If it is not running it has done its job and shut off on command.
If it had a problem you would have a check engine light and you would then ask what suddenly happened and we would fix it
get some sleep



