what is this?

mmakam2 · Jan 5, 2010

Hey i found this today, when i noticed a vacuum line that wasnt connected to anything. it went around to the back of the intake manifold and i have no idea what it was for. anyways, I plugged that up. the car seemed to run fine, but the idle wasnt smooth. the rpms would go up and down. then I found this thing, it has a harness connector on one side, and the other has a t-fitting with two hoses, one that isnt connected to anything, the other goes down and i think through the firewall. Can anyone tell me what this is, and possibly what the vac line was also?

QIKGTS · Jan 5, 2010

Thats the canister purge solenoid... If you can hook it back up do it. It vents fumes from the fuel tank back into the intake manifold to be burned.

On a side note, if you found that the vacuum line was brittle and cracked, it's time to inspect all the rubber vacuum lines and make sure they are in good condition...

mmakam2 · Jan 5, 2010

so the vac line that i plugged went to that? ya the lines were very brittle. can i delete the canister?

QIKGTS · Jan 6, 2010

The "canister" (charcoal canister) is part of the emissions system and located inside the passenger side fender. If you remove it you will be venting the gas tank to atmosphere and the pleasent aroma of gasoline will always surround your car. It doesn't hurt performance, just replace the line if it needs it and hook it back up.

mmakam2 · Jan 6, 2010

so you think that is what is making the engine idle erratically? because it didnt wen the vac line was unplugged. it just idled a little high. now that its plugged, the idle is erratic.

BruhBrahBrad · Jan 6, 2010

You may have messed up another line, in the process, but I think if you plug that in where it belongs, you might be good.

mmakam2 · Jan 6, 2010

it still has an erratic idle, only when its warmed up, im thinking it might be a dirty egr valve, or maybe even possibly a head gasket. What do you guys think? it goes from 500-800ish up and down only when its warmed up. It runs perfect through the entire rpm range otherwise.

2slo95fiveoh · Jan 6, 2010

mmakam2 said:
it still has an erratic idle, only when its warmed up, im thinking it might be a dirty egr valve, or maybe even possibly a head gasket. What do you guys think? it goes from 500-800ish up and down only when its warmed up. It runs perfect through the entire rpm range otherwise.

That should be a good indication that it's not a blown head gasket.. You could have a bad IAC motor, or possibly failing o2 sensors...
Although when the o2s in my car began to fail, it felt like my car was misfiring every now and then while driving, not
just at idle.