Petrol smell near carbon canister (EVAP)
 

I have terrible smell in my car while waiting at a traffic light. The smell comes from the carbon canister. The hoses look good (didn't remove the bumper, but had the car on a car lift). Perhaps the canister is full? Or there is a problem with the purge valve?
The car starts good, no problems running idle, just a terrible smell in the interieur.

Any good idea's?

The only thing i can think of is "have you over filled the tank?"

Don't really know. When the filling stops I always give it another shot til the next stop. I've got the problem for a long time now. The fulness of the tank doesn't make a difference.

I've read a lot about the filler cap, but does it have any influence? The rubber looks dry so perhaps it doesn't close properly, but the smell is from the canister (and sucked in by the fan)

Can a bad purge valve causes gas fumes escape from the canister when idling?

sorry for my bad english

That might do it!
Till it clicks and no more! I have seen some posts about it here so a search should help.

Umm, does it smell of petrol or are you one of the DPF afflicted that has a hole ??

PS: It might help if we knew which engine your V40 classic has.

Sorry. It's a 2004 V40 2.0

I have seen a saturated one on a 440 once , the control valve lets the cannister vent into the inlet manifold when idling you can hear it turning on and off , pulsing , the air going through the canister from the tank should evaporate any fuel off if it is working .

Are you sure? I thought the solenoid valve is closed when idling. It only opens when driving. This is from a Dutch forum:

Vadis:

EVAP is the EVAPorative control system which processes the petrol vapour in the fuel tank. These gases harm the environment.
The car has a canister with a carbon filter which can absorb a large quantity of petrol vapour while the vehicle is standing in the sun (when a lot of fuel evaporates). The vapour is then introduced into the combustion process during driving.
To control this process there is a solenoid valve mounted on the canister which is operated by the engine control module (ECM).
While the car is stationary the valve is closed, but there is a connection to the fuel tank.
When the car is being driven the valve opens when engine coolant temperature (ECT) exceeds +60°C and the intake air temperature (IAT) exceeds −10°C. A connection is then made with the engine intake manifold. The valve is operated by an 8 Hz pulsed signal.
While the canister is open the injection times are adjusted with the heated oxygen sensor (HO2S) providing feedback. The system is adaptive, so that the canister can be completely purged. Even at wide open throttle (WOT) (oxygen sensor not working) the system remains in operation.

the 440 you could hear the vale opening and shutting it wasnt 8 hz more like 3 hz ... anyway is it working? that is the question :-)

Well, I don't know. Stupid question, how can I check it? Where is the valve located on a 2004 2.0 non turbo?

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.

yes that vent pipe is normal . i have seen this problem before and the carbon canister was full of fuel effectively blocking it up . I can only assume this happened when the tank was over filled to the top on a cold evening , and the following day the outside temperature went up to 30+ C or so . The fuel has to expand and over 5 litres can be expelled into the breathing pipes and canister .

Thanks Clan. Does that ruin the charcoal, or might the problem clear over time? I've only driven the car about 50 miles since replacing the pipe, and the smell is fairly slight now, but still detectable.

It saturates the charcoal with fuel blocking the breather so a new unit is the answer .