I have a 2001 4Runner and my check engine light and VSC lights came on so I took it to the dealership. After reading the codes they said that the charcoal canister needed replaced at a cost of over $400.00. They cleared the codes and they remained off for about 100 miles but then came back on. Anyone else have the charcoal canister go bad? Is there any way to clean it? Thanks!

 

I have owned two Runners and have never had to replace the canister. My 91' had 130K on it when I got rearended and totalled. My 99' Limited now has 117,600k and all I've had done was the timing belt and an oxygen sensor replaced. You may want to think again before going back to that stealorship and wasting your hard earned money. I will NEVER go back to the local stealorship here in Beckley WV. they SUCK!!!!

 

I have owned (4) 3rd gen 4Runners and a 98 Tacoma, all 3.4L engines. I have never had a problem with a charcoal canister. If I am not mistaken, that is part of the emission control system, which should be covered for a longer duration than the standard warranty. You might want to check on that.

 

http://www.cartrackers.com/Forums/live/Toyota/640.html

 

Nice link 4RUNR!

 

I was told by a knowledgeable Toyota Tech that when filling the tank, if you top it off after the pump shuts off automatically, you run the risk of saturating the charcoal canister. I had to have the gas cap replaced and when changing it, he smelled the old gas cap and asked if I topped off. He advised not to saying that if I had to replace the charcoal canister, "It would not be a cheap date".

Is it true? I can't say for sure, but it's just a thought.

It might be a good idea NOT to top off after the pump shuts off just in case this is the case. I have stopped topping off since I have heard this. Better safe than $500 poorer I figure.

 

until someone confirms this, im gonna stop topping off too, i really dont want to HAVE to spend $500 now

 

Thank You for the replies! Great link 4Runr, I appreciate the help!

 

It's true! I have had lot's of customers come in with same code, and when i ask them about topping off all of them said they do.

 

Thanks for letting us know!

 

The exact same thing happened to me needing another charcoal canister.

 

Good info. I too will stop filling it to the brim unless I get info contra to what has been posted.

Troy

 

How many miles did you have at the time and how much did it cost to replace?

 

oh great...I knew I shouldnt have read this thread. Now I'm paranoid about topping off.

Of course....most people top off there tanks and out of those most of those people try to push in a little more. So just by pure statistics most people are gonna say they top off their tanks.

 

Hummm. What is a charcoal canister for? What are signs that one is bad?

 

Dianna, it crapped out around 58k for me.


Freak, I believe is deals with emissions. Don't really remember to tell you the truth. All I do remember is that is delt with Federal warranty work. But I still didn't get the warranty, damn you Toyota!

 

Mine may have crapped out last year. I threw the CEL p0448 mentioned in other posts. It says something bout EVAP.

I wonder if this can be one of the issues with the truck stumbling on me.

Codes for misfires, the vsc, trac, and CEL light on all at the same time, Emmissions problems, the replacement of the front cat and so on.

The gas guys top it off as much as they can. If it's $22.08, he'll try for $25 to round it out. We're not really supposed to pump our own gas here.

I wish I can start from scratch again.


EDIT: Learning about it in this thread I hope. Getting more traffic than this.

 

What I know:
The charcol canister is there to draw unspent fuel vapors from the tank & carburetor & send them back into the cylinders to be burnt during normal operation as part of the Fuel Evaporative Recovery System for emissions to help with smog & gas mileage, & according to the maintenance schedule, the canister should be replaced every 30,000 mis. Thats $400+ about every couple of years! To this end, I currently have 176,xxx mis. on my 'runner & have never replaced the canister.
What I've done:
After disconnecting the canister & removing it (to gain access for changing out the plugs), I shot it full of a "good", low toxic, low fume brake cleaner while holding my finger over the bottom pipe & then shook it around a bit before removing my finger & letting it drain.
I did this a until the fluid was clear (transitioning from a dark amber to clear color) & then I held my finger over the bottom pipe &, while holding the canister sideways with the "tank" pipe upwards, shook it around a bit & let the fluid pour out of the "purge" pipe this time (this I only had to do a couple of times before I got clear fluid).
I then took & shot about 40psi of air into the "tank" pipe while alternatively holding my finger over the "purge" pipe & the bottom pipe until the brake wash did what it was designed to do & evaporated.
Afterwards, I shot the same 40psi of air into the "tank" pipe & checked to see that it was coming out of the other two pipes & then tried shooting it into the "purge" pipe to see if it would come out of the other two pipes & got nada which, I understand, is a good thing.
In retrospect &/or upon further reading, maybe I should'nt be doing this as all of the manuals I've seen since I started doingthis discourage putting any sort of fluid into the canister
-OR-
Perhaps it is merely another form of "stealership" misinformation designed to maintain a consistent financial obligation from us buyers so that they can maintain they're quarterly budget quotas (one of "capitalism's" basic rules of thumb) ...who knows?!
p.s. I top off all of the time.

 

Be careful using pressures like that, 40 psi is far greater than the system was ever designed to take. You could easily break a check valve with that amount of overpressure. Most of the EVAP systems are designed for less than 1 psi so keep that in mind when doing what you suggested.

 

MTL 4runner:
Just going by what the manual said which actually stipulated a 43psi maximum, so 40psi sounded good to me as I "was" out to dry it out &/or help the brake wash evaporate.