The combustion instability of turbulent flames is the most important problem of the gas turbine combustor. Thus improved understanding of mechanisms of combustion instability is necessary for the design and operation of gas turbine combustors. In this study, the cause of the combustion instability in a rearward-step dump combustor was investigated with respect to the fuel flow modulation; choked fuel flow, unchoked fuel flow and fully premixed mixture flow. We observed various types of combustion instabilities with respect to the change of equivalence ratio, fuel flow conditions and fuel injection location. Particularly in the unchoked fuel flow condition, it was found that the oscillation time of combustion instability is strongly related to the convection time of the fuel and that the pressure fluctuation in a lab-scale combustor is highly related to the vortex and the equivalence ratio fluctuations due to fuel flow modulation and unmixedness of the fuel and air.