Repair or retire it?

[Mike65]

We have a 99 Explorer Sport that has about 138K miles on it which I know is not a lot since our last Sport had 280K miles on it when we sold it. From it living most of its life in southeastern Pa, & southern NJ at the shore the body is starting to show its age. There are a couple rust thru spots that I know I can fix which I did before. My current issue is the CEL for small evap leak. The metal line from the charcoal canister was rusting out so I ran a new hose from the back to the front, replaced the canister because the insides was coming apart. I even replaced the valve under the battery, the DPFE sensor which was leaking & hoses, the canister purge valve, a new fuel filler neck that was rusted out, & a new fuel cap. I cannot figure out what is causing the cel to come on. The things I have replaced were bad but I do not know it is worth fixing since it is only a spare vehicle now since my wife got a 2021 Bronco Sport, & I have a 2005 F150. Trying to decide to repair it depending on what could be the cause of the cel or retire it.

 

[C420sailor]

Definitely fix it.

Do you have Forscan? You can use it to do evap diagnostics that can give you a hint of where the leak is

Body work isn’t hard. Pretty body work is.

 

[Mike65]

No I do not have Forscan, I do not even have a smart phone.

 

[Rick]

I wish I could help with the Evap system problem. Such a nice looking Sport. I would hate to see it go away.

 

[410Fortune]

There are two purge valves, the one under the battery is the canister purge the one back by the charcoal canister is the canister vent

What is your code?

Maybe try a new canister vent and possibly new gas cap

Hit the rust with some permatex rust treatment the stuff is gold! It stops rust in its tracks

 

[Rick]

Maybe try a new canister vent and possibly new gas cap \

Our emissions testing facility keeps new gas caps on hand because they are such a common source of failure.

 

[Queensboy]

Let her LIVE!!! Future classic there!

 

[J_C]

No I do not have Forscan, I do not even have a smart phone.

Even if you don't want to use a smart phone as a phone, you can pick up a used one practically free these days. The specs to run Forscan are so low that literally, it need not be a phone worth any money, just have a working battery for convenience's sake.

Just sayin', a very cheap phone as the head unit plus a ~$20 ELM327 dongle and $6 for Forscan Lite app, gives you more functionality than scan tools around that price point.

Edit: I'm not certain if the android lite version will do the evap testing. You may need a windows host (laptop, or tablet, etc) and full (free) windows version of Forscan to do that. I could be wrong, never tried on the phone/android lite version.

You can make a poor man's smoke tester with a $1 cigar and a HF transfer pump. There are youtube videos about that.

Multi-Use Transfer Pump

Amazing deals on this Multi-Use Transfer Pump at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[Kidd7]

There's this route also to smoke test. I've used it with some success.

 

[Mike65]

Thanks for the info guys.

 

[Mike65]

The only code it was showing is P1000. It has 5 of the 8 readiness monitors reading not ready. I took it to get gas the other day and when I tried to fill it it started leaking, I guess from the top of the gas tank, because I did not see any evidence on the sides or the bottom of the tank. I guess I am going to have to drop the gas tank.

 

[J_C]

I would try putting more gas in, in a controlled at-home environment with a helper pouring and me under it (wearing a tarp and goggles ), in case it's the filler tube instead of the tank.

At least you're on the right track to finding it now.

 

[EB4X]

I second JC's suggestion....not that it's extremely common, but the Explorers / Rangers from this era are known to occasionally start leaking out of dated filler tubes...happened on my mid 90's Ranger, and that was a So California truck too. Can replace them without dropping the tank.

 

[Mike65]

IIRC we replaced the filler tube with a new one a few years ago, that is why I think it is something on top of the tank because it will only leak if I try to completely fill the tank.