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Topic: Vapor Canister (Read 1172 times) previous topic - next topic

Vapor Canister

I can smell gas from my car.  I don't know if its leaking or if this vapor canister is causing the problem.
 
I pulled the canister off of the cat and turned it upside down.  Nothing came out.  It doesn't have any gas in it, but it does smell like 20 year old gas really bad.  Sound like its saturated completely? 
 
Is it worth trying to find a canister from a newer lower milage car?  I'll have to check the yard but I think they used this same design for years after 88.
One 88

Vapor Canister

Reply #1 –
I bet you could clean that canister out with Castrol superclean. I use that stuff to clean out my breather from the V/c of my turbo coupe. I just blocked off the vac line fitting and poured it in there. After a min of so it was foaming out of there. I did this twice to it and afterwards I could blow through it much easier than before. You should have seen all the black  that came out of there. I bet it would clean out that vapor can just as good. try it and let us know how it worked.
84 Turbo coupe 2.3T Modded with 88 upper and lower intake, 88 injectors, E6 manifold, T3-4 AR.60 turbo, 31X12X3 FMIC, Homemade MBC , Greddy knock off BPV.
4 eyes see better than 2! 
Da Bird!

FreeBird

Vapor Canister

Reply #2 –
The way the cannister works is, it has a charcoal "brick" inside. With time and bumpy roads and the constant inflow of fuel vapors, the charcoal starts to break apart and then won't do its job as efficiently. In the end you'll have a lot of wee little carbon pieces rattling around in there. Once the charcoal stops working completely, the cannister purge valve is usually next in line to stop working, then that's when the raw fuel starts getting in, breaking down any charcoal left.

Is it really heavy in weight, Claude? If so, the gas saturated the charcoal and you should get another cannister. But also consider getting another purge valve. New they're like $80. You have to get them to correspond with the color of the T fitting on top; 5.0 cars are white, that's all I remember. I think it throws a code 33 or 34 when it's bad...it's a real mother to track down. Anyhow, I think the key to stopping the fuel vapors that you're smelling is to change cannisters at least.

Vapor Canister

Reply #3 –
Eric!  You've done this before havn't you? 
 
Shaking my canister results in a sound similar to one of those overseas musical shaky things. 
 
The canister feals a little bit heavy for what it is. 
 
I am getting an unsolved code that I recall being in the 30's.  I absolutely cannot get it to go away. 
 
I'll try the soleniod.
 
I'm tired of smelling gas all the  time.
One 88
 

Vapor Canister

Reply #4 –
Quote
Eric! You've done this before havn't you?

LOL! I think it's a rite of passage when you own these cars. :)

I personally never had the gas smell, just the code. Then when I removed the cannister and shook it, it was either heavy from raw fuel or had broken charcoal bits inside. I believe you can get a new charcoal cannister but it's really expensive (I think the quote I got a few years ago was in the $125-150 range). I opted to steal one out of another car. ;) The cannister purge solenoid I always bought new, though. On my old '88 XR7 it definitely made a difference and cleared out the code. There was a little bit of hesitation that I had attributed to the EGR/EVP system, but after replacing all the parts in the system (code 34) the only thing left was the purge solenoid. In that particular situation the new purge valve solved the problem. I hope the same goes for you.