anyone know what could cause this? where to start looking?

P0442 (M) Evap Leak Monitor Meduim Leak Detected A small leak has been detected in the evaportive sysem.

Thanks.
Jay.

 

Could be as simple as needing a new gas cap. Check inside the fuel fill door for black residue that can form from a bad seal on the cap. With it being a medium leak code though you may have a leaky, cracked or deteriorated emissions hose some where. Start at the evap canister under the truck on the driver's side in front of the gas tank. The hoses there are bad to crack and split open. If you have been filling up then topping off the gas tank for a long time it can ruin the evap canister, but I doubt that is related to P0442.

Check all the emissions hoses in the engine compartment very carefully for splits, cracks and deterioration. Follow them from the center of the firewall forward and check the hoses, check where they split off to go to the throttle body, check them at the purge solenoid and remove the battery tray and lift the power distribution center out of the way so you can check the hoses at the evap filter and the leak detection pump.

You can get the dealer or a garage to so a smoke test to find leaky or split hoses too. If there are no split hoses, then it is either the leak detection pump, the purge solenoid, the evap canister or the gas cap. I am stil going through this myself, trying to get rid of a P0441 code which is for a small evap system leak. New gas cap didn't fix it so I got a new (used) leak detection pump from a cash for clunkers truck for $20.00 at a junk yard and installed it and replaced the emissions hoses in the engine compartment yesterday. New LDP is $130.00 at the dealer and I didn't want to spend that kind of cash and have it not fix the problem.

Unfortunately, there is no definie solution for the evap leak codes. You have to keep looking and trying new parts until you find what is wrong. The dealer may be able to use their diagnostic tools and the DRB scan tool to further isolate the problem, but that can get very expensive very fast. I read that a lot of the time the leak detection pump goes bad, and we all know Dakota's are known for cracked and split emissions and vacuum hoses. In my case, I was in a wreck, had $4,000.00 damage done to the front end and it broke my battery tray too. Since the leak detection pump is mounted under the battery tray, I figure the wreck broke the LDP too. I hope I am right.

Good luck, post if you find anything out or need more help. Lots of us here have had the evap leak codes come up.

Jimmy

 

thanks for the reply 01SliverCC, I will check all the hoses and see if anything is cracked. I will also try a new gas cap.
Jay.