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For a few weeks now I've noticed charcoal bits on the floor in front of the driver's side rear wheel. Today my son and I pulled off the left side rear wheel shroud and this charcoal is falling from the carbon canister. Here is a photo:
There is a flared rubber boot at the bottom of this part that is split, but this doesn't seem to be the issue.
Is this something that be can rebuilt or should I replace it? (Pelican lists it north of $200!)
Thanks John, I'm a regular customer of Sunset. When I called them yesterday I left a message and have not yet spoken with their parts guys. I'm hoping there is a replaceable insert for this unit.
Has no one else ever had this issue? Search didn't turn up much, just two threads in the 928 forum that didn't really go anywhere.
Last time I cleaned my car when I rinsed the driver side rocker some of that crap came out and I figured it was road debris. I have not removed the fender liner yet but I am sure the end cap split just like yours. I was ordering some other parts so I inquired about the end cap, it is like $4.00 but has to be ordered from Germany so I left it off the order and figured I could come up with a cap on my own or order it later on.
I am not that worried about the missing charcoal that would have fallen out.
Most charcoal canisters are an emissions item. One tube goes to a fuel tank vent, the other to the intake. Vapors off the fuel tank are stored in the canister. Under certain conditions of engine temperature and load, a valve opens and sucks the vapor into the engine to burn it.
I have no experience with P-car charcoal canisters, but have had one apart from an old Triumph TR-6 and can tell you what was inside of that one if it helps.
It had a threaded removable bottom if my memory is correct. Inside on the bottom was a mesh screen which held the charcoal inside so it did not fall out the lower vent tube.
My guess is that your screen in the bottom rusted through and the charcoal is falling out through the lower vent drain.
If you felt you wanted to try a repair, I'd suggest cutting the bottom off, getting/making a stainless steel replacement screen and filling it with aquarium charcoal and resealing.
MDamen described the canister sequence nicely. It is to do with overall car hydrocarbon emissions (new car SHED tests) and not state dept. tailpipe emissions tests. On newer OBDII cars a pressure transducer monitors a pressure drop test on the gas tank system and, depending upon the fuel circuit design, if the canister is damaged, it may fail this pressure test and trigger a CEL. I would hate to be proven wrong, but I can’t think of an 'operating' problem with having this canister damaged on your 1995 car.
I appreciate all the great information. Thank you to all who posted.
This morning I took a small pick and stuck it into the vent hole on the bottom. There is a solid plate just inside the canister. The charcoal must have been coming out from around the edge of that plate.
To fix the issue I cut a circular piece of aluminum mesh window screen and wrapped it around a metal rod to form a cone filter. This fit nicely into the hole. I then flared the bottom and wrapped it around the outside of the vent tube and secured it in place with a short length of hose stretched over the tube. I didn't bother with the hose clamp that I bought. Now the charcoal no longer falls out.
Ideally I would have made the filter out of stainless or bass screen and secured it with a new factory rubber boot but after going to five hardware stores looking for stainless or brass mesh I finally came to my senses and just used the practice filter that I had already made.
Oh, I did forget to pick up a case of Xenit to clean out the wheel well, which was indeed sorely needed. Maybe next time.....
Old thread but I had some photos from my carbon canister experience.. It seemed to just be rattling around, so I removed it and opened it up and.... all the carbon was long gone and it just had some rust and a couple of plates.. You can see what was left in the photo with the dust pan.. I ended up making a small breather and ditching the canister...
The yellow cap at the end does breathe both ways, I modified it so there wouldn't be any vacuum in the lines / system.. The filter is superfluous.. But it looked cool!
I found a pile of charcoal on the garage floor so I knew what had happened. I found a used one for $29, (late 964 and 993 up to mid 97 are all the same with different part numbers )and replaced the original, took about an hour. Having on that was leaking charcoal out the bottom I thought I'd cut it open to see why. There were some photos of a different type with two plates and a screen. Mine had a plastic screen filter slipped over the vacuum outlet in the top, and a steel plate covered with foam rubber. The foam had deteriorated allowing the small charcoal pieces to fall out the bottom vent. I saved the plate and found a small piece of stainless screen that sound be used if the replacement fails. Charcoal can be found at garden stores, slightly bigger size chunks but I think it would work.
11-28-2010, 08:05 PM
Carbon Canister Failure
