Date:         Wed, 6 Apr 2011 11:57:12 -0700
Reply-To:     Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject:      Re: [VW gas I4 Conversions] The Charcoal cannister,
              Digifant EFI..if it leaks, what?
Comments: To: vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines@googlegroups.com
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"

the basic operating principle of charcoal canisters on gasoline cars is ..
Gasoline fumes/vapors from the gas tank and the air filter area on the engine are absorbed by the charcoal when the vehicle is sitting ...
and when the engine is started, the fumes are sucked into the intake manifold and burned in the engine. 

usually you never think or worry about the system much at all.
I'd patch the hole. 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Don Hanson 
  To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM 
  Cc: Vanagons and VW Buses (Bays) with VW inline gas engines 
  Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 9:39 AM
  Subject: [VW gas I4 Conversions] The Charcoal cannister, Digifant EFI..if it leaks, what?


    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


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