[tygriff]

So I filled my tank to 3/4 this morning and monitored the Evap vapor pressure via my Torque app. It only peaked at 20 Pa. Yesterday at around a 1/4 tank it was up to 90 Pa.

When I got to work and let the vehicle idle, the Evap Vapor Pressure was still around 18-20 Pa. Leaving the car running, I got out of the vehicle and removed the gas cap. The EVAP Vapor Pressure never changed. It stayed the same regardless of whether the cap was on or off.

Now the values were changing (moving between 18-20 Pa and when I first started the car it was under 10 Pa), which I assume means the gauge is reading values.

So considering that the removal of the gas cap resulted in ZERO difference in Vapor Pressure, I assume the gas cap is the problem.

 

[tygriff]

It was positive the entire time. I will see if I can take a pic of my Torque app live screen and share.

I am wondering if my app pulls the data and reports the 'absolute' pressure regardless of vacuum or not.

 

[tygriff]

Here is what I see at idle:

 

[tygriff]

I am leaning toward my purge valve. From what I understand the vent solenoid (near the tank) closes and the purge valve is supposed to open to allow the engine to generate vacuum in the system at startup. Once vacuum is achieved, the PCM then signals the purge valve to close and monitors how long it takes to lose vacuum. The faster the system loses vacuum determines if it issues a large leak or small leak code.

I suspect my Dorman Purge solenoid is not opening at startup. As such, the system cannot generate vacuum. Hence the system issues a large leak fault due to its inability to even generate a vacuum.

I suppose a simple fix would be just to spend $50 and get the OEM purge solenoid and put it on to see. I will do that after I get back from vacation.

Outer Banks, NC here I come!!!

 

[tygriff]

My purge valve commanded position shows 'no data available'. On my torque pro app I only have 2 EVAP PID's to monitor. One is EVAP and the other is EVAP Pressure. The EVAP one states no data available.

I am going to monitor on my drive home from work to see if data begins to come available.

The system data shows EVAP System Test is 'incomplete'.

 

[tygriff]

NA or GXP? I should have asked earlier. I have been testing with my RL.

2006 NA

 

[tygriff]

My NA, as expected, does not have data for the Evap valve. I suspect the difference between NA and RL/GXP is due to the different ECMs.

Starting the engine and idling in the garage I saw -15 Pa with the gas cap removed and -25 Pa with it closed once it got to operating temperature. It only idled for about 5 minutes, so not long enough for the purge cycle to run. The book says it runs once within 17 minutes of starting if the ECT at start is below 86F.

Regardless, even with the gas cap off the system shows negative pressure, so we are back to the purge valve not opening.

Thanks for the update.

Very interesting results on my drive home last night. At start up the EVAP pressure was +15Pa. After about 1 minute (as I pulled out of my work), it dropped briefly to -40Pa (for about 3 seconds) and then jumped back up to hovering around -5Pa to +5Pa as I drove on the highway home (25 min drive).
Once I got off the highway, the pressure dropped to -15Pa and stayed there.

I checked again as I ran an errand and the pressure then was +15 to +20Pa for the entire trip.

So as you noted, I think it is my purge valve is not fully opening to draw vacuum. So either I have sticking valve gate or poor electrical connection in the purge valve. Considering this is the only item I changed and it never had an issue before, I assume the purge valve is the problem.

I will swap in an OEM one when I am back from vacation and update on any values I get with the new Purge Solenoid installed.

Note my gas cap is fairly new (less than 3 years old), as I left it on the trunk and pulled out of a gas station and lost my factory one