Charcoal canister - air feed line

[RobinB5]

Hunting down the usual suspects for fuel smell in the cabin. The pipe that runs over the top of the rear window and both tanks were replaced previously and look to all be sound. I replaced the gearstick gator recently as well.

Found a very small hole in the short connecting pipe that links the cannister outlet to the black pipe going to the inlet manifold which I'll replace. (A036L0085V - can anyone recommend an equivalent pipe?). Couldn't find any other holes in all the other pipes.

The air feed line into the charcoal canister, that allows fresh air to be induced into it, currently terminates in the body near where the roll over valve is. Assuming that the charcoal isn't doing its job properly (after ~94k miles) I'm wondering if fuel vapours are escaping through that pipe and are making their way in to the cabin via the seatbelt mounting? Anyone foresee any problem having that air feed line just terminating in the engine bay, beneath the cannister? Or has anyone put a one way valve into the end of that pipe?

Took the canister itself out. Looks to be a very sealed unit with no chance of dismantling to replace the charcoal and haven't managed to find a new replacement part available anywhere. How would you check to see if the charcoal is doing its job of absorbing the fuel vapour?

Tempted to tape up the seatbelt mount areas and just forget about the cause!

[andydclements]

What about tanks as a source of the vapour? They're one of the usual suspects (after the pipe that splits).

[Chillidoggy]

On my car, the canister vent doesn't go up into that area, it hangs down vertically like a limp dick. It has some kind of metal clip on the end of the hose, too.  I don't think they are serviceable items.

You could try messaging Rock Auto for an equivalent. Or Walmart used to carry them.

[RobinB5]

19 minutes ago, andydclements said:

What about tanks as a source of the vapour? They're one of the usual suspects (after the pipe that splits).

Tanks are new Andy and all pipes are well connected to them.

19 minutes ago, Chillidoggy said:

On my car, the canister vent doesn't go up into that area, it hangs down vertically like a limp dick. It has some kind of metal clip on the end of the hose, too.  I don't think they are serviceable items.

You could try messaging Rock Auto for an equivalent. Or Walmart used to carry them.

Nothing beats a limp dick, I'll flop mine down under the canister. Thanks Ian.

[Clarky5150]

The canisters can be cut open and the charcoal renewed but you would need a 3D printing pen or similar to plastic weld the case back together. 

 

Check and double check the breather pipes. I redid mine when i first got the car but within a year one was leaking again.

Fingers crossed its not leaky tanks.

[Sparky]

Agreed, make absolutely sure the breathers/rollover connections are all good.

On quite a few cars, said limp dick is recirculated into the airbox.  I make no comment on that; simply what I've found.

Also check filler neck connections and caps.  I've traced a few vapour issues to those.

If tanks are new, I assume closed cell foam has been used?  Give the foam a good dabbing top/bottom for any whiff.

[CarBuff]

The best thing I ever did to prevent fuel smell IN THE CABIN was to install seals on the black seat belt spool covers where they meet the rear side of the bulkhead. I just used self-stick foam rubber from a home/hardware store.

 

Now, all the 'Lotus Perfume' stays in the engine bay.

 

I know that this amounts to treating the symptom, not the problem. But I can now work on other issues like that, eeerr, limp dick. Gawd knows, our usual passenger complains enough.... 😄

[tomcattom]

3 hours ago, RobinB5 said:

The air feed line into the charcoal canister, that allows fresh air to be induced into it, currently terminates in the body near where the roll over valve is.

Mine is exactly like this too. Put it back where I found it when I renewed those pipes myself.

 

4 minutes ago, CarBuff said:

The best thing I ever did to prevent fuel smell IN THE CABIN was to install seals on the black seat belt spool covers where they meet the rear side of the bulkhead. I just used self-stick foam rubber from a home/hardware store.

Just in the process of doing something similar to this myself.

[CarBuff]

1 hour ago, tomcattom said:

 

 

Just in the process of doing something similar to this myself.

Only three sides to go! 😇

[RobinB5]

2 hours ago, Sparky said:

Agreed, make absolutely sure the breathers/rollover connections are all good.

On quite a few cars, said limp dick is recirculated into the airbox.  I make no comment on that; simply what I've found.

Also check filler neck connections and caps.  I've traced a few vapour issues to those.

If tanks are new, I assume closed cell foam has been used?  Give the foam a good dabbing top/bottom for any whiff.

No sign of any fuel in the foam, in fact there's no fuel smell at all unless whilst driving.

Tightened up all the jubilee clips I could find, inlet air line now dangling below the canister.

Checked the caps, they look fine. Would have thought they'd be a gasket of sorts, could only see a ring in there.

Will see if any of that has had an effect. If not I'll do the foam thing with the seatbelt spool covers!

Thanks everyone, great advice.

[Chillidoggy]

2 hours ago, Sparky said:

 

On quite a few cars, said limp dick is recirculated into the airbox.  I make no comment on that; simply what I've found.

 

If the limp dick is connected to the airbox, presumably it's being sucked rather than simply waving in the breeze?

[RobinB5]

31 minutes ago, Chillidoggy said:

 

If the limp dick is connected to the airbox, presumably it's being sucked rather than simply waving in the breeze?

Which kind of goes against it's function to pass air into the canister?

[Barrykearley]

You have closed cell foam underneath those tanks. Both tanks were pressure tested and then powder coated. They won’t be the source of the whiff.

[tomcattom]

2 hours ago, CarBuff said:

Only three sides to go! 😇

The foam inside the cover actually sits proud of the edges of the cover so is seals to the bulkhead when secured... I hope!

[Chillidoggy]

1 hour ago, RobinB5 said:

Which kind of goes against it's function to pass air into the canister?

I would say so. And I'm not aware of any connection for it on the airbox, either. @Sparky can you recall where they were connected?

[Sparky]

They were 'modded'.

[RobinB5]

8 hours ago, Clarky5150 said:

The canisters can be cut open and the charcoal renewed but you would need a 3D printing pen or similar to plastic weld the case back together. 

 

Check and double check the breather pipes. I redid mine when i first got the car but within a year one was leaking again.

Fingers crossed its not leaky tanks.

Shaun, have you ever renewed the canister? Have read that activated carbon (the type you can buy for fish tank filters) would suffice. To be honest, having never welded plastic, I'd probably make a hash of it.

[Clarky5150]

Watch this space. I ordered the carbon two days ago. I’ll let you know the results 👍

[Erikl]

I second the vent lines to the fill necks.  They crumble like they used a non fuel tolerant material for the hoses. 

If you are familiar with the vent hose that runs over the top I would think you would have seen them.  On my car they all attach in the same general area.

[RobinB5]

On 10/04/2021 at 16:29, tomcattom said:

The foam inside the cover actually sits proud of the edges of the cover so is seals to the bulkhead when secured... I hope!

@tomcattom, did the foam inserts work out OK? I've got some foam on order and will be doing the same.

[tomcattom]

Its a snug fit, but no idea if it's actually stopping any smells yet. The car still isn't MOT'd and the windows are down in the garage at present so it isn't a very valid test yet 😆l

[RobinB5]

8 hours ago, tomcattom said:

Its a snug fit, but no idea if it's actually stopping any smells yet. The car still isn't MOT'd and the windows are down in the garage at present so it isn't a very valid test yet 😆l

Thanks Tom. I'll use the same foam layout as you've done!

[RobinB5]

Following @tomcattom's foam insulation design, I did the driver's side cover. Installation would have been easier if I had had 3 arms with 2 having very thin wrists. Shoved on some tape as well around the sides for good measure. It looked a complete bodge job so no pictures were taken.

Put everything back together, started her up, turned over but didn't catch. Espritmon reported a QDM B error.

Thanks to @Barrykearley's help it turns out that there's a bloody OFF button in the engine bay (fuel cut off switch). It had triggered, likely due to my fat arms poking around in that area.

Reset the button and all's well.

Bloody cars.

[tomcattom]

Inertia switch caused exactly the same head scratching for me when I came to restart after I had the cam towers off mine - although in my case I had removed the inertia swtich entirely some time earlier in the job and it took my grey matter a while to catch up with current events before I realised 😆

[Barrykearley]

1 hour ago, RobinB5 said:

Reset the button and all's well.

Nice easy fix 😬 - told you they are simple to fix and cheap to look after 🤭