The evap system prevents the fuel fumes from venting into the atmosphere by containing them within the system where they accumulate in the vehicles charcoal canister which is then purged upon vehicle startup. The only way to check the system for leaks is with a "smoke machine" which forces smoke through the lines. Unfortunately this requires removal of mutiple parts as the lines are routed through various panels throughout the car. Of course this "smoke machine" is expensive as it's obviously a specialty tool being that it will not ignite the fuel fumes. Even with this tool, tracking down an evap leak is rather tricky. There could be multiple leaks due to the system's parts being roughly the same age and condition. 9 out of 10 times, an evap leak is caused by either a faulty gas cap or a cracked plastic vent tube on the filler neck. The evap code will also be triggered if you remove the gas cap with the vehicle running. IIWY, I'd start by replacing the gas cap and then clearing the code. If the code comes back(usually after about 100 miles), then I'd look into replacing the filler neck vent tube. You could find the part numbers on realoem.com. Good luck, please follow up and report back to us with your findings. Also, just a hunch, but not certain, check your secondary air pump. I'm not sure if this would trigger an evap code, but our secondary air pumps are known to separate and allow air to leak when the pump is running. The secondary air pump is part of the vehicle's purge system in that it pumps clean air into the exhaust for the first 30 seconds or so after startup to compensate for the rich condition caused by the purging of the charcoal canister. The secondary air pump is connected to the factory air box via a black rubber hose. It looks like a thick black pancake which is composed of multiple plastic plates held together by 6 aluminum rivets. The rivets tend to break, allowing the plates to separate and air to leak out. If yours is broken, I have a spare, otherwise you could simply drill the rivets out, disassemble and clean the pump and then rebuild it using machine screws and lock nuts instead of rivets. Hope that helps. |