while driving to the store today, my check engine light came on. i stopped by autozone to have it checked out and code was for evap system...gas smell was prevalant between cab and box area.

i came home and let it sit and cool off. checked oil, no gas in there so must assume neither the throttle body nor the injectors are leaking. gas cap was tight in fact when i removed the cap it 'wooshed' air like it was pressured a bit. all lines under the hood were attached.

no drip leaks anywhere, did notice a drip of gas on the bottom of the tank that came from above, but what i am about to say may explain that...


i took the rubber lines off the evap canister on the frame and thousands of bb's of charcoal came out. i took the canister off the frame and it leaked all its charcoal out. there was charcoal bb's in the lines as well.

i havta believe this is not common and that the evap canister has died and may have plugged a line causing the tank to pressure forcing a tish of gas out the top and down the side of the tank...thus probably causing the heavy gas smell between box and cab when at autozone.

called autozone and o'reilleys and neither sell the evap canister, but o'reilleys say the foam filter is serviceable, but my canister does not come apart period...not without a saw blade and some back and forth arm pressure that is.

has anyone else had this problem and am i correct in believing charcoal bb's should not come out? is this a dealer item only? truck has 187,000 miles on it.

i drained all the charcoal, blew the lines and re-assembled for now.

any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

 

its rare, a buddy of mine had one rupture on a 85'ish 1st gen and it sucked the charcoal into the carb and stopped it all up. it also blew a lot of his through the cylinders and stopped up his cat. i just disconnected his and plugged off the port.

you'll have to have a replacement, or you'll have a permanent check engine light on. check rockauto or dealer or junkyard. you could probably get one from any dodge from around those years.

 

forgot to mention its a '97 1/2 t 4X4 with a 360 and auto.

i thought it might be a dealer item only.

 

Entirely possible, but then, the search engine on Advance's website sucks. Best bet would be to check a few other places about town, including the junkyards, see if you can get a used one. That would be the least expensive route.....

 

ok, i drained the 3 billion and 2 charcoal bb's from the evap canister out on the ground...honestly looks like a coal miner with a pith helmit and spotlight was mining coal outside my shop door; blew the lines, pulled the battery cable to reset the check engine light and re-assembled. have driven it 60 miles today, stop and start, stop and go traffic, no check engine light has returned, no heavy smell of gas anymore...nothing.