Charcoal canister swap, anything I should know?

[jross20]

All right so previously I had a threat in which I was talking about this ticking sound that I was trying to find and at the time the consensus was that hey these engines just tick and that's the way it is... Well I was eventually able to determine that the sound was not related to RPMs.

Further investigation and literally putting my head all over the engine bay let me to the valve on the charcoal canister. I think some people call this the vacuum switching valve, but I think it's real name is like vapor Purge solenoid. Anyway, so I started looking up stuff about the charcoal canister and the valve; sure enough I found the video where a guy had the exact same sound and it was that solenoid valve.

So fast forward to today, I just said f*** it and ordered the whole canister. Why not. It arrives today so I plan on doing the swap as soon as it arrives.

Is there anything I need to know about it before I just start taking things apart? It seems pretty straightforward but I just want to check so I don't break something or blow myself up... Lol

 

[cl4Rk]

Is there anything I need to know about it before I just start taking things apart? It seems pretty straightforward but I just want to check so I don't break something or blow myself up... Lol

Should basically be plug-and-play. Just don’t mix up the hoses.

I’ll be interested to see if this reduces the tick-tick-tick sound. I also really dislike the sound LOL

EDIT: did you go with new OEM?

 

[TW44LR]

Also interested, update us for sure!


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[losso]

Did you get a new one or used one?

 

[gamefreakgc]

Have you heard them "moo" after shut off? It sounds like there's a mini cow in it.

They are very easy to replace. Take a photo of your vacuum and wiring routing before you remove anything so you'll have a reference when you put the new one in. There's many hose routing variations from 96-02.

 

[jross20]

Alright so the swap was a success. I spent around 15 minutes just trying to remove one vacuum hose... That thing was like super glued almost.

SO!

The results...the ticking is gone...and while it is too early to tell for certain...so far my fuel economy seems to be back where it was about 1 year ago. Again I'll need to do a few fill ups to call it.. but after driving 130 miles since yesterday (and I did fill up right after changing the canister). I was at 80 miles at a quarter tank, and right now I'm at 130 ish miles about half way between 3/4 and 1/2. This is like it used to be, where as recently it's been like 50-60 miles at 3/4 and 130 miles at 1/2.

 

[Bad Luck]

Alright so the swap was a success. I spent around 15 minutes just trying to remove one vacuum hose... That thing was like super glued almost.

SO!

The results...the ticking is gone...and while it is too early to tell for certain...so far my fuel economy seems to be back where it was about 1 year ago. Again I'll need to do a few fill ups to call it.. but after driving 130 miles since yesterday (and I did fill up right after changing the canister). I was at 80 miles at a quarter tank, and right now I'm at 130 ish miles about half way between 3/4 and 1/2. This is like it used to be, where as recently it's been like 50-60 miles at 3/4 and 130 miles at 1/2.

Have you actually been tracking your mpg or just eyeballing miles vs fuel gauge reading?

 

[jross20]

Have you actually been tracking your mpg or just eyeballing miles vs fuel gauge reading?

I track it all the time (calculating after a fill up) and after I replaced the fuel level sender the gauge is generally pretty spot on. So that's why I said I'm not calling it yet... But so far the results are promising.

Really won't be able to call it until 2-3 fillups

 

[gamefreakgc]

If you like tracking your gas mileage, Fuelly is a fancy little website that will record it all for you. Will also show things like your best tank and fun stats like that. Here's mine for reference:

 

[jross20]

You know I've seen that site before, for some reason I never thought about trying it out... I'll have to give it a look.

All right boys, I'm still on the 1st tank after the swap and things are still looking very good so far based on the trip counter in the fuel gauge. I really don't want to change it, but I definitely feel good about it so far

We're just under a half tank at 199 miles

 

[jross20]

Alright boys, the first fill up is in. Back to where I had her a year ago! Time will tell if it continues to stay this way. This was about 60% city and 40% highway. My daily drive to work and such.

Also, at what point does the light come on? I thought it was 4 gallons but there was three and a half left at this point and the light never came on

 

[TW44LR]

I rarely get 13 gallons in after the light comes on so I don’t have a good baseline for you as far as that’s concerned haha. Your mpg is really good, what’s your build like? Pretty stockish?


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[brillo_76]

OP what year was this canister change done? Early years or late model years?


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[gamefreakgc]

Alright boys, the first fill up is in. Back to where I had her a year ago! Time will tell if it continues to stay this way. This was about 60% city and 40% highway. My daily drive to work and such.

Also, at what point does the light come on? I thought it was 4 gallons but there was three and a half left at this point and the light never came on

Don't trust the light or the gas gauge. There are known issues with the fuel gauge that gets worse with age. There was even a TSB put out for some years showing that the gauge cluster itself begins to fail and won't even show the fuel level at all.

For reference, my gas light turns on with about 5.5 gallons left. It'll drop all the way to the peg with about 2 gallons left. One time, however, it dropped all the way to the peg and I had NO GALLONS left. I drove into the gas station and the engine clicked off and rolled up to the pump with not a drop left.

Don't trust the gas gauge. Use the trip odometer and reset at each fill-up.

 

[jross20]

I rarely get 13 gallons in after the light comes on so I don’t have a good baseline for you as far as that’s concerned haha. Your mpg is really good, what’s your build like? Pretty stockish?


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Fairly stock yeah, about a 1.25 lift in the front with about 2.75 to 3 in the back. Added one skid so far but that's not enough to matter. haha.

When we toured Wyoming back in 2020 we hit 24 mpg several times and one time hit 26 mpg. So she can at least do 24 with 99% highway driving and avoiding lead foot power.

OP what year was this canister change done? Early years or late model years?


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Sorry I don't follow, are you asking when I did it or what year the canister was for? I just did the swap like last weekend and the part, I was told, was matched for my VIN. So a 2000 model?

Don't trust the light or the gas gauge. There are known issues with the fuel gauge that gets worse with age. There was even a TSB put out for some years showing that the gauge cluster itself begins to fail and won't even show the fuel level at all.

For reference, my gas light turns on with about 5.5 gallons left. It'll drop all the way to the peg with about 2 gallons left. One time, however, it dropped all the way to the peg and I had NO GALLONS left. I drove into the gas station and the engine clicked off and rolled up to the pump with not a drop left.

Don't trust the gas gauge. Use the trip odometer and reset at each fill-up.

Is this about the fuel level sender? I had to replace all of that (and the pump just while we were there) because the sender just totally went bonkers. The old sender had burn marks on it which... was concerning... but the new one has been spot on each time.

The inconsistent fuel economy was actually the biggest issue (besides just wasting gas!) that caused me to search so hard for a fix. Basically week to week I could hit 18, 16, 17, 15, 17, 18, I mean it was just all over the place.

So now if she is back to be consistently 18-19 then I can rely on the trip counter again. You know the small tank on our rigs is my only major complaint... I miss the 400-500 miles of range the 2nd gen taco had.
lane:

 

[NegroTundra]

Can you post the link of the canister you purchased?

 

[gamefreakgc]

Is this about the fuel level sender? I had to replace all of that (and the pump just while we were there) because the sender just totally went bonkers. The old sender had burn marks on it which... was concerning... but the new one has been spot on each time.

The inconsistent fuel economy was actually the biggest issue (besides just wasting gas!) that caused me to search so hard for a fix. Basically week to week I could hit 18, 16, 17, 15, 17, 18, I mean it was just all over the place.

So now if she is back to be consistently 18-19 then I can rely on the trip counter again. You know the small tank on our rigs is my only major complaint... I miss the 400-500 miles of range the 2nd gen taco had.
lane:

Yes both the fuel senders and the gauge clusters. You are more committed to your 4Runner than I am if you already replaced the fuel sender and float. I had it out once and decided not to spend the extra money. Mine had carbon marks on it as well so I cleaned it off, didn't really do anything though. You probably have the most accurate fuel gauge on the whole forum lol!

 

[jross20]

Yes both the fuel senders and the gauge clusters. You are more committed to your 4Runner than I am if you already replaced the fuel sender and float. I had it out once and decided not to spend the extra money. Mine had carbon marks on it as well so I cleaned it off, didn't really do anything though. You probably have the most accurate fuel gauge on the whole forum lol!

Well hell if I pay someone to drop the tank we might as well swap out all the stuff right? But also since I had no idea how old the pump was, I made that part of it as well. And the gasket, some lines, etc.
:whip2:

The newer sender also was setup differently, bolted in a different spot, etc. Was interesting to see before it was put in.