Charcoal Canister

While troubleshooting for an occasional fuel smell and excessive pressure in my fuel tank, I found I needed to replace my charcoal canister.

So I started to look for a replacement. The Toyota 77740-35260 is discontinued and is no longer available. Auto Zone showed a direct replacement, Duralast VC 4042, but there is none in stock. I found a Toyota 77740-35240, which is for the 22RE, but it was located in Japan and they could not ship because of the COVID. All of the above go for around $300, which is crazy expensive.

So I looked for another replacement and ordered an ACDelco 215-153. Is is round and has 3 ports. It cost less than $80, delivered. It is an inch taller and a few inches larger in diameter. I cut slots in the OEM bracket to fit a hose clamp and I fit the canister to the bracket.




I had to bend the bracket on the fire wall to move the canister outboard to clear the A/C lines, but not to far or it would hit the windshield wiper motor.

The tank vent and the atmospheric vent are the same size as the OEM. The purge line is larger than the OEM. I took an 1/8 vacuum union installed it on the engine side and cut a 3/8 inch long piece of 1/8 vacuum line and put it on the canister side. I cut a 2 inch piece of 1/4 fuel line attached it to the canister and the other end fit over the splice.



This is not a direct replacement canister, the OEM canister has check valves in the purge and and tank vent lines. Apparently Toyota wanted to control the airflow through the canister. The ACDelco does not have any check valves.

I have run a few tanks of fuel though the Runner and I have not noticed any problems except the fuel smell issue seems to have gone away. It starts good hot and cold and no difference in idle speed. So far so good.

 

Good job. Can't believe you couldn't a direct replacement.

 

Damn, she sure is clean under the hood brother !

 

Yes it is, I got lucky with this one.

 

Can you show more details on where all the 3 lines go to?
I just bought a 93 and I can smell gasoline. One of the lines is out with no connecting end. I have the one going to the fuel line

 

I would suggest its your purge valve that may be the issue. I have never heard of the charcoal canister being the problem. I would look at the local junk yards if you still feel like you want to replace it. Sounds like you have a slight fuel leak and a smoke test might be in order.

 

Marucus,

One 1/8” hose runs from the fuel tank to the canister and the other 1/8” hose (1/4” fitting on the ACDelco canister) from the canister to the intake manifold. The third fitting of the canister is a vent, I ran that hose down the engine compartment to vent out the below the frame.

I would get the occasional fuel smell, if you always smell fuel you probably have a fuel leak.

The canister is there to prevent gasoline vapors from venting directly into the atmosphere. The vapors are absorbed by the activated charcoal and then purged into the intake manifold when the engine is running. After time, the charcoal becomes saturated, in my case after 27 years and 230k miles and it can no longer absorb the vapors. Sometimes when I would shut the truck off and I could smell fuel. It is normal to have a little pressure in the gas tank but when it was excessive it pushed through the saturated charcoal and I would get the fuel smell.

I have a few thousand miles on it now and still no fuel smell or high pressure in the tank.

 

UPDATE:

The AC Delco canister worked, no excessive fuel tank pressure or fuel smell while driving in town or on the highway. When off road and I shut the engine off I would sometimes get a strong fuel smell under the hood and it would be very difficult to start. Without check valves in the canister the fuel tank vapors were venting into the throttle body, causing a rich mixture and fuel smell. Most of my driving is off road, so it was time to figure out what was wrong with my OEM canister.

I cut almost all the way through the crimp of the top cover with a hacksaw and used a small chisel and knocked the crimp loose. I then tapped the top cover off, it is a light press fit.



The top cover has 3 check/pressure relief valves. The center one is the fuel tank pressure relief valve and it should release at .6 psi. Mine was stuck and would only open with shop air, so that was the cause of my excessive fuel tank pressure. I had to remove a small disc of filtering material from inside the tube. That’s the part at 5 o’clock in the picture. The 2 valves on either side control the canister purge flow, they were also gummed up. I sprayed the valves, from the top and bottom with aerosol carb cleaner, let them soak, blew them out with shop air and repeated until the valves were clean. It was 10-15 cycles for me. I also soaked and cleaned the filter and reinstalled it when the valves were clean.




This is what the inside of canister looks like. I found a source online for activated charcoal and used it but it caused another small issue.

I would recommend leaving the OEM charcoal in place and just clean the check valves.









Here is the top cover ready to be reinstalled.




I put a small bead of Permatex Ultra Black RTV around the top and tapped it into place. I then lightly clamped it in the vise, so the spring would not push it back off. I left it in the vise for 24 hours for the RTV to cure.




It now works as it was designed, no hard starting or fuel smell and a slight release of pressure when I open the gas cap.

 

Hey I'm just now getting around to working on my can. I ran through the test outlined in the FSM. I think my valves work fine, but I think the filter elements or something are clogging the air inlet through the bottom. The manual says that when light air pressure is put into the fuel inlet, air should "flow without resistance" out the other ports. Mine has a ton of air resistance. Air comes out, but it sounds like blowing through a pinched straw, even when applying higher pressures. How freely should air be flowing?

 

The test procedure in the FSM for the 3.0 canister is not correct.

When you blow air into port A on the canister, (the inlet from the fuel tank) you should get no air flow into the canister below .68 psi. Above .68 psi the air flow should only come out the fitting on the bottom of the canister, not port B (purge line to the throttle body). This test shows the tank pressure relief valve is working correctly.

To clean the filters in the canister you blow 43 psi into port A and you should only get air flow out of the bottom fitting. If you get air flow out of port B, the purge check valves are sticking open. If the air flow is not freely coming out the bottom this probably means the white filter element on the bottom and or the top of the charcoal are clogged with dust.

When the engine is shut off, hot and idling or cold and running the canister is not purging, the fuel vapors from the tank are flowing through and being absorbed by the charcoal and the air flow is out the bottom of the canister.

When the engine is up to temperature the TVV is open and when the throttle is open past idle, the air flow through the canister is up through the bottom and into the throttle body. The fresh air flow from the bottom is filtered through the white filter on the bottom to keep the charcoal from being clogged with dust. This air flow cleans the fuel out of the charcoal and burns the vapors in the engine.

Both the top and bottom filters in my canister where very dirty. I cleaned the filters with Simple Green and water and blotted them dry with paper towels.