EVAP Canister Control Vent Solenoid. A Story of Heartbreak.

Subie and I seem to have a lot in common.   We were useful... once.   A long time ago. But Age and the Miles have caught up with us somehow.  If I sound depressed,  I guess I must be...  A little anyway.   I can barely sum up the energy to write this blog post.   But somehow... Subie and I will survive.

Testing the new part to see if it works

The Evaporator charcoal canister control vent solenoid. This very long and elaborate title belongs to this small part placed dangerously close to the rear tire and the road.  This allows it to gather all the road dirt, mud, salt, and other dirty substrates and cake it in a highly corrosive mud clog.

Remove the Charcoal Canister.

Under all this Dirt... is the problem.

The problem arises when the part does not work.   Either the gas tank can not be filled...or the car stalls after filling it up with fuel.   I have fixed this problem twice before.   And we are now on third ECCCVS.   The problem is that once you break the seal off the various fittings and plugs,  it allows moisture and oxygen to seep in and cause corrosion.

Rusted on Bolt...Time to Dremel it!

Again,  with only three bolts to remove and  everything on "finger tight",  you would think that it would take 15 minutes to remove the old and replace it.   WRONG!   The bolts that I was forced to replace last time have, once again,  rusted and seized up!    The special tools I purchased for this problem last time are USELESS!  And I was once again forced to use the Dremel tool to cut the bolts off.

Creative solutions....  Because I'm an idiot!

  Another problem:   I have no extension cord that will reach the car.    Time to get creative!  I park closer to the door AND assemble a rag-tag extension cord out of old Christmas lights and surge protector power strips.

Be careful not to damage this. 

A Japanese Proverb states: Humiliation requires an audience.  Working alone under the car, I have no audience, but choose to carefully take pictures....so I can create an audience of Blog followers.  And thus:   Share my humiliation.  What should have taken 15 minutes took all afternoon and is still not fixed.   The wire clip had corroded all the way through and fell off in my hand. (And I was being SOOOO careful with it.)  It also will need to be replaced.

Oops!   Guess it was ruined anyway.   Have to replace this too.

 And the FUN part is that no two auto places have the same name for the wire harness clip.   I finally found it on NAPA under the key words "Wire" and "Snaps".   You would think "Evaporator Canister Control Vent Solenoid Wiring Harness Clip" would get you in the ball park.... Nope!   I spent a frustrating 2 hours  ( or longer!) online trying to find the NAME of the part.  Even diagrams would not show the clip.  

EXHAUST GAS RECIRCULATION (EGR) VALVE CONTROL SOLENOID CONNECTOR

Cheryl finally found it....it cost more than the actual ECCCVS!   And no one has it in stock.   Typical.


So Subie and I are now grounded until the part arrives in the mail.   I attempted to tape up the ends of the Vacuum system to close it off.  It worked for a few moments.... but Subie started sputtering and stalling and this scared Cheryl.  Better to be safe than stranded.

Corrosion down into the pins. No saving this. 

Hope everyone else is having a nice day.   Mine will be better once the car is fixed.   And then the question will be: "for how long."   Nothing lasts forever, but wouldn't it be nice if things lasted longer than you expected?