P0442 Evaporative Emission Control System Leak Detected (small leak)

I cleared the code and drove about 100 miles and it never came on again. I checked my fuel cap and it was fine (as always). Anythign else I should check?

 

if it come back start checking for cracked vacum hoses under the hood and at the charcoal canister

 

Or you can check the canister purge solenoid located between the battery and the side fener wall. Looks like this:

Could be going back and a good whack could take care of it. Do you fill up at the station all the way? Like until gas almost comes out of the neck? If you do, the gas may loosen up some of the charcoal and they may make they're way into the purge solenoid. A good whack may loosen up the grit and fix the problem. HTH.

 

Ideally you'd put a smoke machine on there, it will tell you right away where the leak is because this leak is TINY!! Can be as small as 0.04"

If you want, you can just replace the gas cap with an OEM one first, clear the code and see if it comes back. That's likely how I'd go about fixing this one. Start with the cheap gas cap if that fails, smoke test will save you time...

http://www.obd-codes.com/p0442

 

We have a CEL de-coder right here too! https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...ine-light.html

 

OK, Update........

After procrastinating, I bought a new OEM Mopar gas cap Thursday. Today on my way home from work the light came back on. UGH! I have to get it inspected in August and dont want to fork out alot to fix this. Im hoping its just a hose that I can replace myself.

 

You have the cap, that is a good start. Did you clear the code and reset the battery after the light cleared? Remove battery neg cable for about one minute then reinstall.

Check the charcoal canister, frame rail drivers side, inboard approx underneath or slightly behind drivers seat...Check the canister itself, as well as the hoses coming off, they tend to dryrot and split even though they may look fine. Easy solution, Get about 2 lengths of 3-5 inches of fuel grade, 7/16 INNER diameter and same qty of 3/8th inner diameter fuel grade hose. Two universal couplers, and 4 small diameter hose clamps, The reason I say the two different sizes is that the factory hose is a flared fitting with one side 7/16 and the other 3/8th. This is a fairly easy and reasonably priced replacement for the factory hoses. If you talk nicely to your local Advance or A/Z manager like I did I got the lengths of hose for free I only had to pay for couplers and clamps. Trim to fit and ziptie extra to frame as necessary. If it takes more than about 15-30 minutes your doing something wrong.

 

I have a scanner and cleared the code but did not disconnect the battery. I didn't think I had to do that. But I will check the hoses and canister this weekend sometime. Thanks for the advise.

 

Whoa....whoa....whoa!!!!!! North Carolina has vehicle inspections?....LOL!!!!


Full safety inspections or just emissions??

 

Full and they can be strict too. They check the tint as well.