Date:         Wed, 6 Apr 2011 09:39:57 -0700
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      The Charcoal cannister, Digifant EFI..if it leaks, what?
Comments: cc: "Vanagons and VW Buses (Bays) with VW inline gas engines"
          <vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines@googlegroups.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

  I have the Digifant II system running my inline gas VW motor. (92 1.8l top
and ems/2.0l aba bottom end)  I guess the EMS comes from a
Golf/Jetta/Rabbit, but major portions are from the Vangon.  It is digifant,
still uses the Vanagon air box and the Vanagon charcoal cannister is plumbed
in, too.

   I am curious as to what the charcoal cannister does and if or how it
affects the whole system.   Mine, it has always had a small hole in the
plastic cannister, it looks like it was melted through somehow.  The hole is
about the size of your small finger tip...maybe 1/2" long.  It's been
running just fine with this hole in the cannister for a couple of years.  I
recently used some more of that miracle Rescue Tape* *to patch the hole.
It's probably my imagination, but the engine seems to run even better now.
Throttle response is quicker?

  Am I imagining things here?  Is there a vacuum connection to the
cannister, or any other 'link' that might modify the way the motor runs, or
is that cannister just an evaporative 'sink'....like I have always assumed
until now?

   Yesterday I had the right rear wheel off to fix a nail hole in my Hakka,
then I got to tighten the lower shock mount to stop some clicking from that,
then I saw that hole in the can that has always been there, but I have
ignored...(it being hidden mostly by the tire and wheel)...so I got out my
trusty rescue tape and took a few turns around the can...

Don Hanson