98 V70 AWD Evap Smoke Testing

Post by **rmmagow** » 29 May 2014, 11:25

OK, I'm gonna give this a shot with a nice Garcia y Vega to help.
Charcoal canister is removed, three hoses up top are disconnected.
Is it a valid test to try an blow smoke into each line and look around for smoke leaking out? I have the tank hose, purge valve hose and the air hose. I strongly suspect the tank hose and will have the access panels in the rear open to have a look. The air hose leads to the hinterlands inside the front wheel well and I am going to try to get eyes on the control valve end of the line. The purge valve lines are OK and I'll remove the purge valve to test if it opens and closes correctly. I had recently repaired the air hose but didn't find the other end in the wheel well, I'll find that. Deepsouth posted some super detailed info for my exact same car so I should be able to find the leak. All I am asking here is if blowing into each of these three lines will be enough to find the leak. I will have an assistant with a nose for smoke. P0455 in a pending state, takes a couple of weeks to actually turn on the CEL so I suspect it self-clears once in a while.

Post by **deepsouth** » 29 May 2014, 11:56

Before I went on my EVAP spree, I tried everything I could think of to detect the leaks (including blowing smoke into the lines). I was never able to determine the cause. There are a few good DIY smoke machine posts write-ups where folks have seemed to have success. I know that most technical colleges (at least here in Athens) have a smoke machine and will hook it up for a nominal fee.
Eric

Post by **rmmagow** » 30 May 2014, 07:13

I'll probably just go ahead and do what you did first and replace anything I can get my hands on. Piecemeal approach to 16 YO rubber bits would be a waste of time. How'd you make out with the line replacement, P0455 dead and gone? Up until about a month ago my EVAP was actually in a ready state and had been like that for nearly 6 months. It is my only code.