Whoa, Fumes? Evaporative Emission Control (EECS) Purge Canister Inspection

I love the smell of "Chevy"
in the morning
along with my first cigarette
and an ice cold Pepsi... In a can!
first thing in the morning
but, fumes
especially when you first start up your vehicle
If you're to the point where
you're starting to see a purple dinosaur
and the car you just passed
turned out to be an ambulance
with its flashing lights on
then yeah, you should really take a look at your purge canister
or
charcoal canister
there's another name for the device as well
i've heard of people calling it
"what the hell is that thing?"
well today I'm going to discuss a little bit about it
so when you start-up your engine
your engine is going to run briefly
of off the fumes that is inside that canister
and what it usually does when it burns itself off

you're back to running off the fuel pump, your fuel pump
will direct fuel into the engine, and when you shut your car off again
you know you're going to have fumes
back-draft
back into the canister
The Evaporative Emission Control System

"EECS"
is designed to trap
vapors from the carburetor or throttle-body unit
if you have fuel injection
and from the fuel tank
and store it into
the purge canister or charcoal canister
there's many names for it, it doesn't matter
and what it does is when the engine is
not running, It'll store all these fumes into this canister
then when the engine is running
you go and start up your car
your engine is going to be burning off
everything from the purge canister is going to be drawn into the intake
and that's going to burn itself off
then of course your fuel pump is going to take over and then your engine is going to keep running
If this system is malfunctioning, you are going to notice fumes
a lot of people do not even know about this
but there is a
a filter on the bottom of these canisters some didn't come with one
and some did
early models did have a filter
this guy here
has a filter
underneath the canister
a lot of these
emissions system components especially with the purge canister
if you're dealing with a late model, that has the computer command control

the ECM which it was known as in the early eighties and nineties
is controlled by the computer
so if you get...
a big whiff of
fumes in the morning
there's a good chance that this component is not functioning properly
and there could be
a few problems that could arise with it, like vacuum hoses for example could
cause this
or the filter itself
so we're going to take a look here now
diagnose the issue, and fix that issue.
First I'm going to show you how to remove this unit from the vehicle
Okay, taking a look at our purge canister now
it is labeled
here we got "Tank" and "Carb"
and it means just that
on this side
it's labeled "carb" and it goes to exactly that. This hose goes
directly to the carburetor
you must inspect these Vacuum hoses, they must be in good shape if you have a
split in your hose or if the hose isn't connected to the carburetor
Then you're going to have fumes
you gotta make sure that these vacuum hoses are in good shape
so like I say... It does directly into the carburetor
very simple hose, its a 3/8'' diameter hose
same with standard fuel injection hose, 3/8th is typical size

then we got a another labeled source on our purge canister

and it is labeled tank
it takes a nice long journey
all the way down
...all the way down
right to the fuel tank
you can see it runs right underneath the steering shaft
it runs in along the frame rails
and it takes a nice long journey all the way to the fuel tank
Very straight forward.
So you want to make sure that you're hoses are in good shape
So... These hoses are in not to bad condition, they are still
relatively fairly decent looking, there is no cracks in it. So once you looked
over your hoses and decided that your hoses are fine
then you can proceed to remove your canister
another thing to that will cause fumes
when you get your canister out of here, you can't
physically expect the canister while it is sitting in the vehicle
it is very hard to diagnose problems while the canister is just sitting here
like this in this little corner
so once you get your canister out you want to
carefully inspector canister making sure that there is no cracks inside the
canister itself
if the canister is busted
this is where the fumes are coming from
so you want to make sure that the canister is in good shape. You cannot physically look at
the canister from this angle of the vehicle
where it is sitting currently
and say that the canister is fine, no its not. You have to get this
canister out of here
you have to disconnect the hoses
label them
make sure you don't get these confused
because you don't want them backwards
get your canister out of there and physically look at it, inspect it carefully, clean it
up because there's a good chance of it being covered in oil and grease and whatever else

so clean it up inspect the canister
and make sure that it is in good condition

Okay so the removal is very straight forward, get yourself
a pair of channel-lock pliers
or any sort of pliers to remove the hoses. There's a good chance that there...
that these hoses haven't been removed in quite some time
so you will have to grasp the hose

with your pliers and just
move it around a bit just to break off
that little bit of grease and gunk and whatever else, then pull it off
just like that
get your self some masking tape now

put a piece of masking tape around the hose
and label "T" for "Tank"
and do the same for the other one label "C" for "Carb"
thats all you gotta do, you don't want to get these guy's confused
now some vacuum hoses like this guy for example, you will notice that it has a different style of
end on it
so you really can't get these guys confused. Notice that this one
has a wider end
and this one just has a
standard end on it
it looks like it's just been cut off
well this guy here
has a different flare on the end of it so really you cant get this guy confused
but your car might not have this
so just keep that in mind

and there you have it
are not going to label these guys here because
like i said before
different style right? But
like i say your car might not have this
i'm uh...
quite astonished to see some like this because
my '85 doesn't have this, nor does the Buick
so something tells me that these are the original vacuum hoses
so like i say when you take a look at your perge canister
and you notice that
your hose
like this is identical to the hose like this

might wanna label these just to make sure, so you don't get them
confused.
So at least I know that this guy here is the carb, and this guy here is to the fuel tank
i'm going to leave those alone
I'm going to set them aside
next what your going to want to do is get your self
an extension
grab a few of them
get two if you have them
and a ratchet
we're going to get this puppy out of here now
how do you suppose that got in there?
okay so
what you're going to need here is a ten millimeter socket, a few extensions and a ratchet
now what you're going to want to do is take some
WD-40, FluidFilm, whatever your preference is
it doesn't matter, some penetrating oil, is what you will need here
just give
the bolts a quick spray.
we have to remember
these bolts
are attached with
body clips
so
you have to remember
body clips
they break
So don't go thinking that you're Mike Tyson and that you can twist every bolt off
without having to use any
petroleum based lubricants whatsoever
don't go ripping and tearing like a bull through a china shop
and don't go ripping and tearing like its your ex-wife
you get the idea
just take it easy
just go slow at it because we know these little body clips
specially the small ones
if their rusted
or even if you look at them funny
they're going to break on you
so now I'm gonna take my extension with ten millimeter socket
and we're going to loosen this puppy off
You will notice that they aren't very tight
and if it takes more then ten full turns
to loosen it off
there is a good chance that the clip is broken and it is turning on you
and if that be the case
well take your time with it... There you go.
A quick spray of WD-40
or FluidFilm or whatever your favorite
penetrating Oil is...
it saves you in the long run
just like that

Okay so with the two bolts
unfastened
you can remove your purge canister
from the vehicle
and it is uh...
it is exactly that
they call it a "charcoal canister"
Well... Its filled with charcoal
there's your filter
now if your filter looks like that
definitly has to come out of there and must be replaced
and its about $1.99 plus tax
for a brand new one
so when you get your perge canister out, you are going to want to make
sure to inspect the canister
that there is no cracks or any other damage to it
and as we can see
this guy is in
fantastic condition, there's no cracks or anything
its not busted so...
we know that that's fine but we know that the filter on the bottom of the
canister isn't
The job of the "charcoal canister" or "purge canister"
is to
purge
fumes
drawn in from the tank
and the carburetor
and then purge it
back into the intake system
and if we have bad
hoses
or
it's the hoses are
mixed up
well then you have yourself an issue
you're going to either experience
poor drive-ability
engine hard to start
strong fuel odor is definitely a big one
stalling... your engine could stall alot
because of this
uh... so inspect the vacuum hoses
not so much the filter itself will cause engine stalling but you might get a
light
fuel odor especially when you start up the vehicle first thing in the morning
you might get that odd whiff
but if you have a real strong fuel odor
you're going to want to check
your canister and make sure it's not broken our cracked and you're going to want to inspect
your lines going to the tank
and to the carburetor
or throttle-body unit if applicable

So what you're going to want to do is flip the unit upside down
and grasp the filter
or what's left of it
just lift it up like this
and just pop it out
that's all there is to it
$1.99 plus tax
at your local auto parts store
you have to replace these
a lot of people don't even remember that there was such a thing that existed
but yes there is a filter on the bottom of the canister and it has to be replaced
Okay so the installation of your new filter
i don't have one in stock
so I'm just going to use this one as an example for you guys
so we don't leave this
video on a cliffhanger
the installation of your new filter basically the same you're gonna wanna
make sure that it is tucked in under the lip
of the purge canister or charcoal canister
just like so you want to make sure it's in there evenly
you don't want it overlapping like this. That is no good to you
you want to make sure that its in there nice and even
just like so
I'll be running to the store to get a new one
just not today
basically that
your new filter is going to be a lot easier to work with then the old one or
of course the old one I will not be able to get back in there to make it nice and pretty
all you have to remember is with your new one
is just make sure that it is under each lip
of the purge canister
and that it's nice and uniform and even and its not
like that
See what I'm saying?
Make sure that it is tucked in
nice and neat
and away you go!