Charcoal Canister and vent line parts

[J33ps]

Hello!  I found a bunch of old threads about this but none of the links work anymore.  I can't seem to find any OEM parts either as they're discontinued.  Curious what I should do, my canister seems original so I thought it could use replacement.  What led to this is the fact that the rubber hoses are rotted and not even connected.  I inspected the steel line running to the tank and it looks rotted, near death if it's not already.

 

I'd like to refresh the whole setup.  I'll see if i can put eyes on the little elbows at the top the tank but I'm assuming those are okay.  What parts do I need to complete this entire setup?  I also notice mine doesn't seem to have any check valves (maybe built into the elbows at the top of the tank?) or a solenoid to purge.  This is a 1990 comanche with a 4.0 from a '98.

 

Current symptoms are strong gas smell randomly when parked but very strong gas smell in the cab when I fill the tank.  Goes away as soon as i start driving.  If this parts are such a pain I may just fix the rubber hose ends and hook it back up and if the smell goes away then I guess I'm good till that hard line quits.

[ghetdjc320]

Ive heard that DeLorean has replacements available. @Limeyjeeper used them iirc

[Gojira94]

The inner diameter of the hard line is very small, maybe 3/32". That said, you could certainly use 3/16" brake line to make a copy of the current, rotted one. At the tank, there are 2 vent/ rollover valves that join together near the fuel inlet/ outlet from the tank via 7/32" emission hose and connect to the EVAP hard line at/ near the fuel hard lines by the tank. The vent valves are still made by a few companies, including Dorman. The grommets that hold the valves in the top of the tank are also readily available. At the canister end, I used whatever I could find in my toolbox/ parts drawers for emissions connectors to make it happen. the large HDPE pipe that runs from the air filter box over to the canister goes on the larger port toward the front of the truck, the one marked 'purge' is capped, and the middle one goes to the hard line. The hard line terminates above and inboard of the brake booster. From there, 5/32" or 7/32" emissions hose to get to the canister.

 

[Pete M]

I believe you can recharge your current one with fresh charcoal?  or did I imagine that?

[Salvagedcircuit]

2 hours ago, Pete M said:

I believe you can recharge your current one with fresh charcoal?  or did I imagine that?

From our one and only @Airborne Janitor

Thanks for taking the plunge!

 

[J33ps]

But that would require cutting the bottom off the canister and gluing it back together with new charcoal which doesn't really sound worth the trouble if there's other canisters out there that work well enough.  They don't appear to be serviceable other than the replaceable screen filter which is good to replace but doesn't do anything for soaking up gas fumes.

[J33ps]

On 3/21/2025 at 2:26 PM, Gojira94 said:

The inner diameter of the hard line is very small, maybe 3/32". That said, you could certainly use 3/16" brake line to make a copy of the current, rotted one. At the tank, there are 2 vent/ rollover valves that join together near the fuel inlet/ outlet from the tank via 7/32" emission hose and connect to the EVAP hard line at/ near the fuel hard lines by the tank. The vent valves are still made by a few companies, including Dorman. The grommets that hold the valves in the top of the tank are also readily available. At the canister end, I used whatever I could find in my toolbox/ parts drawers for emissions connectors to make it happen. the large HDPE pipe that runs from the air filter box over to the canister goes on the larger port toward the front of the truck, the one marked 'purge' is capped, and the middle one goes to the hard line. The hard line terminates above and inboard of the brake booster. From there, 5/32" or 7/32" emissions hose to get to the canister.

 

 

 

 

Great info, thank you for this.  I can build with this info.  Think I'm just going to swap that steel line for a rubber hose.  I'll hook it all up and see how it goes before I bother replacing that canister.  The DeLorean one is a bit to pricey to just swap it up for fun.  Also...why are there more delorean parts available on an easy to navigate site than the Comanche jealous!

[Gojira94]

4 minutes ago, J33ps said:

Think I'm just going to swap that steel line for a rubber hose.

 

If any of that hard line can be saved, the less rubber or vinyl hose you end up using, and the better off you'll be. Any pics of what's left of the hard line? I had to clean mine out with acetone and some patience but it was worth saving. Just had a little rust to clean off of the engine side end of it, the rest was in good shape. I realize that not everyone might be as fortunate.

[J33ps]

5 hours ago, Gojira94 said:

 

If any of that hard line can be saved, the less rubber or vinyl hose you end up using, and the better off you'll be. Any pics of what's left of the hard line? I had to clean mine out with acetone and some patience but it was worth saving. Just had a little rust to clean off of the engine side end of it, the rest was in good shape. I realize that not everyone might be as fortunate.

Good point, it can definitely use a clean.  I'll hose it down, I currently have a leaky pinion seal.  The spray of grease and oils all over the underside might be the reason most of this truck isn't rusted out