It is mounted to the top of the radiator left side by the AC pipes ...

Thanks. It should click or make any noise when working?

yes try increasing the Rpm whilst feeling it .. take the hoses off , there should be suction on one pipe going to the manifold ( when idling) the other goes to the cannister and may have petrol around in it ..

When active the vale will open and shut fast and you should feel vacuum on the outlet stub to the cannister .

Awesome to know! Thanks :thumbs_up:

On mine it just starts working whenever it wants, caught it working in idle a couple of times. Probably has a programmed routine to run every x miles or something.

I would vote for overfilled tank, honestly. I don't think you can "overfill" it with vapor, liquid fuel should never reach it. And if it smells so much, it might have.

Do you think the smell will disappear in the end? Or is the only option replacing the canister?

Or perhaps drill a hole in the bottom to drain some fluids?

Judging by your description i would say you have a leak somewhere in the hoses or at the canister itself. It is not normal in my opinion to have so much petrol smell.

I would sugest taking of the hose of the evap valve and doing smoke test.

Petrol vapor are dangerous and if you have constant petrol smell from that particular region i suggest you inspect it.

Your right, but why did Volvo put the canister in such a impossible place?
I want to replace the purge valve, (not so expensive) and the coolant sensor (purge valve is activated by the ETM at a certain temperature).
Also a new tube between the purge valve and air intake.

I've replaced the purge valve, without result.

Today I removed the indicator light (just 1 screw, don't remove it, just 1 turn) to inspect the carbon canister. 1 of the hoses had a crack so I think that's the problem. I removed the headlight (4 screws, no need to remove the whole bumper, just remove the bolt next to the front wheel) then you've just enough room to remove the bad hose and put a new piece of tube instead. I used a piece of gasoline hose.

Lights removed:

http://i64.tinypic.com/21enfjs.jpg

Carbon canister with a cracked hose (left one)

http://i68.tinypic.com/mh58pt.jpg

3rd pipe on carbon canister
 

Hi,
I had the identical problem to Musicus of the split hose on top of the carbon canister. Whilst replacing that hose certainly reduced the smell, it didn't eliminate it, and my EML continues to shine yellow. As his picture shows, there is a 3rd outlet on the canister with no pipe attached to it. Is this correct? My S40 is the same, and I wondered if there was a hose connecting to something that should be there but isn't.