Solenoid thing clicking

[ckiesman]

So i hope this makes sense. i don't have any drivability issues with this. my car is a 1990 and its all stock. recently, that little thing mounted on the firewall that hooks to the intake and charcoal canister has been clicking when ever i give my car throttle. its clicking almost in time with an injector or spark plug. there are no shorts so its not grounding out or something. keep in mind it only does this at anything over idle. it doesn't seem to change pitch with an increase in rpms though. but unplugging it stops it. i know it isn't really necessary to have it plugged in, but i'd just assume have it be plugged in. any idea on what would cause this?

[bravekozak]

I am assuming that you are talking about the canister purge solenoid which is energized by the ECA. Carbon canister, Evaporative emission system or Vacuum connections. Good Luck.

[jason_]

Mmmm electrical problems.

My wiper motor is amplified through the stereo, turning ignition tumbler makes hideous screeching and rumbles, in stereo, and I get a click on fm stations that increases and decreases with rpm, but goes away on hard left curves when speeding , too slow to be a single spark plug, so I'm assuming something with cam timing sensor in dist.

I love electronics.

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[ckiesman]

You are correct brave. i've had noise in my radios before, and installing an electrical filter thing helped. im just not sure if this thing might be trying to turn on and its not, or if something is crossed somewhere.

[WmWatt]

On my '89 if a canister hose comes loose I smell gas fumes.
I'd search the Internet for an explination of how the canister works and see if that
might produce some ideas about why it would keep coming on.
Something you could try is dismounting it and starting the engine to see if it was picking up a signal
from car body?

[Zanzer]

Just unplug it I deleted the purge canister system on my 93 a month and 2 tankfulls ago. It still runs perfectly fine and I actually saw an increase in MPG :mrgreen:

I don't know if the MPG increase was actually due to the PC delete so after my 3rd tank I'm going to hook it all back up, run 3 more tanks, and see what (if anything) changes.

[ckiesman]

Its plastic and mounted through rubber so i don't think its that. as soon as th rain stops i'll have to find my voltmeter and start probing i guess. i think its trying to turn on for some reason at anything over idle. and unhooking the vacuum hoses to it does nothing. it still clicks, so its an electrical issue.

[bravekozak]

The canister purge solenoid grounds through the ECA.
I don't think a voltmeter will help much. There are serveral inputs that will cause the ECA to ground the canister purge solenoid. Good luck finding out which one.
I am not the best person to troubleshoot this problem. The way I prevented the same problem from happening to me, was to discard the charcoal canister, vacuum hoses and separator. Then I installed a vented gas cap. No problems.

[ckiesman]

I'm starting to think it will be a good idea to do that. i'm also thinking the solenoid is being turned on, and malfunctioning, causing it to turn partially on, than possibly there is a return spring closing it. something like this happened on my girlfriends old pontiac. wouldn't pass emissions because of it. thats not an issue for my car though, as nh only does an emissions inspection on cars 1996 and newer.

[ckiesman]

So i do believe i'm gonna get rid of this stuff. what do i do with the lines on the tank? just cap them off? and than what about the vented gas cap? which one to use? than wont the car smell like gas? sorry for all the questions, i just wanna make sure i get it done right.

[WmWatt]

Check your state emissions control regulations before removing any emissions devices.
We aren't allowed to do anything like that here in Ontario.
You might be able to cheat by disconnecting the solenoid and they may not notice,
or just disconnect it and reconnect for the duration of the test.

[ckiesman]

They wont check. its only 1996 and newer. they don't even open the hood. they only check safety items, and most times they don't even look really hard. just glance at the tires, rotors, lights and wiggle the steering wheel. my last inspection all the guy checked was my mileage. lol

[Zanzer]

ckies, when I removed mine all I did was unplug the solenoid on the firewall, plug the line from the canister with a golf tee, and I installed a vacuum cap on the port from the intake. I did this so it would all be easy to replace if the "purge canister delete mod" ended up causing problems. So far I'm halfway through tank #3 of fuel with zero issues and I didn't install a vented cap, but you may need to if you find fumes to be an issue. I haven't but you know how it is...just because it works for me doesn't always mean it'll work the same for you.

The funny thing about this "mod" is my mpg's went up after doing the delete. I have no reason to explain this but before the delete I got 33 and 34 on the 2 previous tanks and after it jumped to 37 and 38. After I finish this the 3rd tank I plan on hooking everything back up, running 3 tanks, and seeing what happens. I always buy my fuel at the same station and I always drive the same way...WAO So we'll see, could just be a fluke.

[ckiesman]

Or it could be a very good reason for me to do this. lol. thanks for the help.