What damage or complications would result by leaving the purge VSV disconnected on a toyota celica?
First, you’ll get the check engine light (CEL) on.
Next, the carbon canister will get saturated with gas fumes, which will likely ruin it and keep the CEL on if you re-connect the VSV.
If you are subject to emissions testing, you will probably fail the test if the CEL is on…If you are NOT subject to emissions testing, then your action is pretty much a non-event…It will not effect the operation of your car…
Thanks fellows. I was thinking the same thing but I know very little about newer cars.
At first I was getting code Po441. I took the car to a mechanic who told me the problem was a bad computer and left the purge VSV disconnected without telling me. I ran it that way for about months. I have now fixed the original problem (it was not the computer). I am no longer getting the Po441 but am now getting the Po446 which I believe is propably indicating a bad canister. What do you think? Is ther a chance that given enough time the purge system will clear out the canister?
I left out the 2 before “months” in the previous comment. Sorry!
Are you a chronic over filler of the gas tank? If you are in the habit of adding more fuel after the handle first clicks off, then you are saturating the canister. If you discontinue this practice, there is the chance that the canister will eventually dry out and start working as it should, and the check engine light will go out on its own. That can take up to a month. Some cars are more sensitive to this than others, which is why you may not have seen this before on other vehicles.
Sounds like you still have a evaperative emissions system leak. P0441 (incorrect purge flow) and P0446 (vent control malfunction) are offen set by an evap. system leak. These faults are set when the vapor pressure sensor senses no change in pressure.
“DTCs P0441 and P0446 are recorded by the ECM when evaporative emissions leak from the components
within the dotted line in Fig. 1 below, or when there is a malfunction in either the VSV for EVAP, the VSV for
pressure switching valve, or in the vapor pressure sensor itself.”
Find a mechanic that is capable of working on emissions systems.
The actual meaning of the code:
P0446 - Evaporative Emission Control System Vent Control Circuit Malfunction
The computer is not getting proper feedback from the vent control valve that it is opening correctly. The canister is probably fine, but the valve may be bad or the connector may have gotten dirty or corroded while it was disconnected. Disconnecting the plug and spraying an electronics cleaner into both exposed contacts and letting it dry properly may get the system working again.
I don’t know how hardy these newer charcoal canisters are, but I had a 1993 Toyota that a mechanic mis-applied a vacuum line to the purge valve to a non-vacuum source after doing a head gasket repair. This was before I purchased the car. I had it a year, and started getting wiffs of raw gas fumes. It took me about a month of checking for gas leaks until I checked all the vacuum lines and found the line swap. The fumes were escaping a saturated charcoal canister. I hooked the lines back up correctly, and prayed the canister wasn’t toast. It’s been 3 years, the smell never returned, and I passed emissions every year since.
One more Question - If the canister is flooded, what code will the computer give?