1999 S80 T6 Lazy man's J-hose repair

[astouffer]

For some reason on the S80 Volvo decided to put the charcoal canister in the least accessible place possible. No way was I taking the exhaust apart along with the suspension. One does not simply take apart exhaust pipes in places where they salt the roads. I had just enough room to reach up with my fingers and feel that the hose was split along the top. I tried sealing it with some black RTV but the error code was still present along with the loose fuel cap warning. So I popped the hose off the canister and found the RTV had sealed the top but there were smaller cracks I couldn't see all around. So now I cut off the J end of the hose and wondered how to re-attach a splice. The hose ID is 9/16 or 14mm and a 1/2 inch hose barb fits fine with a clamp.

Now the problem is the outlet (or inlet?) of that stupid canister. I tried forcing a 1/2 piece of heater hose on but no luck. Most stores here only sell the next size up which is 5/8 heater hose. That fit great but now the problem is you have no way of tightening up a clamp around the hose. A plastic lip goes the whole way around the canister getting in the way and blocking your view. Here is how I dealt with that.

I used an old 25 watt pencil soldering iron as a hot knife to melt away that stupid lip. Be careful of dripping plastic napalm or puncturing the canister. Now there is room for a hose clamp and access for a screwdriver to tighten it. Crank down that piece of 5/8 hose.

Now we're left with the problem of joining this 5/8 hose to the smaller Volvo hose. I tried clamping the 5/8 hose on a 1/2 barb splicer but it still seemed to leak a bit. A quick look on eBay showed a plastic adapter that would fit but it was $19. Other boating or aquarium supply places had similar plastic items but outrageous shipping. Then one night inspiration struck me! I could buy a 5/8 splice and 1/2 splice, cut them in half, and solder one to the other. A Dremel cut off wheel made short work of the brass. I sanded the ends a bit to flatten the surfaces and soldered them together with a torch. One custom splice. Hopefully the other end of the hose is in good shape. I can't see or even feel where it connects.

Anyhow that's my contribution. I don't know which other years or models this applies to but hopefully it saves someone a lot of work.