Is it possible to rebuild a Evap canister?

[nitro71]

Darn things are like $40 bucks or so and was wondering if you could just take some filter charcoal and rebuild it. Mabye I'll score one at pull n save and try it out. Pretty sure my gas smells are coming from the Evap canister.

 

[Anime]

You can, but the cost of doing it yourself would exceed what you can buy a new one for.

$40 is quite a deal. If you want cheaper, get some off-brand aftermarket one off ebay for $9.99.

 

[MrShorty]

How do you know it is the EVAP canister itself that has failed? As you probably know, the EVAP canister is simply a box with charcoal in it -- not really much here that fails. If the charcoal absorbent is saturated, it's likely that there is some other fault that is not allowing the canister to be purged. Make sure the tubing to the canister is good (not plugged or kinked or broken), and make sure the canister purge (CANP) solenoid is opening.

 

[nitro71]

Good advice. So the canister doesn't fail. I'm chasing a bunch of projects on the X right now. This one is a minor annoyance at the moment. Any tips on how to trouble shoot the purge solenoid?

 

[MrShorty]

I used a handheld vacuum pump/gauge to troubleshoot mine. I'd probably start with by hooking up the pump, then use the output state test to open and close the solenoid to see if the PCM can command it open (see "notes on pulling EEC-IV codes" in the EEC-IV forum for how to enter output state test). If the PCM can't open it, then a check of the wiring and such to make sure the circuit is intact (a wiring diagram will be useful).
Be sure to check the tubing for breaks/plugs.
Go for a test drive with the vacuum gauge hooked up where you can see it, and see if you can see the PCM command the solenoid open.