I just bought my 2001 ram 1500 and the check engine light came on 3 days after i got it. i did a diagnostic test and it came up with p 0455, gross leak in the evap system. The guy at the garage told me that if it just came on I could go 2 yrs without fixin it if i wanted to. It just went through emissions and passed 2 days before i bought it. The guy did not have means to do a smoke test so he told me i would need to find somewhere else. Does anyone know the severity of this problem and possibly what it will cost to fix? i havent been driving around with th gas cap off so its not that.

 

I think the evap has something to do with the AC not your cooling system.

 

(EVAP)system is designed to store and dispose of fuel vapors normally created in the fuel system;thereby,preventing its escape to the atmosphere.The EVAP system delivers these vapors to the intake manifold to be burned with the normal air/fuel mixture.This fuel charge is added during periods of closed loop operation when the additional enrichment can be managed by the closed loop fuel control system.Improper operation of the EVAP system may cause rich driveability problems,as well as failure of the Two Speed Idle test or Enhanced I/M evaporative pressure or purge test...

cant sit here and guess cause it could be all kind of things , take it to a shop that will fix it.

 

Wow I was way wrong
I'll go sit in the corner for an hour.
Sorry for the bad info.

 

any idea what this fix will cost me? the mechanic i brought it to the first time said its not something to freak out about and if i didnt want to *** it right away i didnt have to. also is there a way to reset the computer ourself or do you need to use a diagnosti tester?

 

Haha thats funny.

padodgeram is right though. That code pretty much means that all the vapor is leaking out somewhere. It could be anywhere like said above.

 

you can let it go for awhile but not for a long time.. reset the pcm disconnect the neg battery cable for a couple min.. keep us posted see if you get a CEL..

 

Don't take this for gospel - but I work on police cars for a living (mostly crown vics) and when we get this code it usually is a cracked hose or a bad seal on the gas cap or possibly gouges on the fuel filler neck causing leakage in the evap system. The only way to really tell (if you can't visually see anything obvious) is with a smoke machine. But look it over real good because like I said - a lot of the time you get a gross leak code you can spot the problem visually.

 

I've had the problem fora yearnow and it runs fine. PO 455 and PO 442. Like Billo22572 said, it's probably a bad hose and needs a new gas cap. I just started investigating the problem online this wknd and all info points to that being the problem. I put it off forever cuz I thought it would be expensive, I thought it was an O2 sensor. I'm gonna try to fix mine this week.