bachands

ADVICE:
DON'T TOP OFF WHEN YOU FILL UP AT THE PUMP. THIS COULD CAUSE FLUID TO ENTER THE CHARCOAL CANISTER AND RUIN IT.

STORY:
A few months back I was filling up at the gas station and I topped off like I always do. I have done this for years with other cars, so I didn't think it'd be a problem. However, this time the tank must have overflowed and fuel began coming out of the top of the filler neck. I sorta freaked out at the time, but hung up the nozzle and went on my way.

Not too long after (maybe 2-4 weeks later), my CEL came on. I checked the code and it was P1457. At the time I didn't make the connection between my bad fuel filling habit and the code. Since there's no emissions testing here in northern WI, I just let it go all winter.

Fast forward to today and I find myself having to replace the canister and the vent valve to get rid of this pesky CEL. I already replaced the vent valve, but when I bench tested the original I found no problem.....no airflow when energized. That's when I knew the problem was probably the canister and I'd have to replace it.

Sooooooo...to recap:
I overflowed the tank and got fuel all over the rear body panel....had to clean that up. Had to see the CEL on all winter, which would mask other problems that may need attention. I bought the wrong valve on RockAuto and had to return it...lost money on shipping both ways. I replaced a perfectly good vent valve for about $40. I had to buy a new charcoal canister...about $75. The screws holding the vent valve on were so rusted, they just stripped out....had to use the dremel tool to cut slots. One of the screws wouldn't turn and just ripped the insert right out with it. Had to spend time dinking around at the hardware store to get new hardware....another $2. And now I have to get back under the car to essentially do the whole job again because I originally misdiagnosed the problem as a bad valve.

ALLLLL that for an extra 1/8 gallon of gas. Yeah, that was really worth it

bachands

Oh and there's a little more fun even after replacing the canister and CVS valve. I reset the code, but the CEL came back on after about a week. However, this time it was a P0497 - Purge Valve Insufficient Flow.

I checked everything around the canister looking for anything I had done wrong. The electrical connector to the bypass valve did not seem fully seated. So I re-seated it and reset the code again.

A couple days later the code comes back...P0497. I checked under the hood and found a test port near the purge valve. Removing the cap and sticking my pinky inside, I didn't feel a schraeder valve. So the only seal is the o-ring on the cap. I tightened up the cap real good and reset the code again.

A few days later on a long trip the code came back again. This time I just ignored it. Two more drive cycles and the CEL just went out on its own. Huh, go figure ??

This may be a purge valve that gets stuck intermittently. But all this still could have been avoided had I not topped off. To my credit, I haven't topped off since discovering the problem

bachands

Unfortunately the P0497 code came back. I finally got around to replacing the purge valve. I also replaced the gas cap about a week ago, but that did nothing.

The CEL is still on, but it's only been a day. I like the satisfaction of seeing it go off during normal driving rather than resetting it and having it come back. Hopefully by the end of the week it will go off and stay off. We'll see....

bachands

So it's been a few weeks, but the CEL did not go off. I found a couple reasons for this....

First, I found the electrical connector to the CVS valve disconnected. Don't know how I missed it, but it was just hanging there. So obviously I connected it and reset the code. Hopefully it won't come back and I'll be past this EVAP crap for good.

The 2nd reason is that there is another code coming up -- p0420. This may go off on its own in a couple weeks, but if not it would make sense. The cat con appears to be original and the car has 147K miles. So if it's bad, I still gotta give it credit for lasting this long.

There's no emissions testing where I live so if the code remains then I'll probably try installing an O2 spacer and see if that works. The car runs fairly well and fuel mileage is excellent. There does seem to be a lack of power, but I'm unsure if it's related to the cat con.