got scanned and P0442 and P0446 come up

[Brian32]

so about a month ago my cel light comes on.. take it to toyota and p0446 come up they tell me its the charcoal canister and want just under 700 to fix it.....drive it around for a week the cel light goes off and stays off for a month....a week ago cel light comes on go to autozone scan it p0442 come up also with 446....so what the heck does this mean now 2 things are wrong with my car? what should i do......

is this something i should fix right away or will i do more harm..??????????????

 

[jakknz]

Replacing the charcoal canister is not very hard. Problem is I have no idea what the price is like for those things but a good scrap yard can help you out there. Should be no more than $100 I would imagine.

The P0442 code is related and means there is a small leak somewhere in the system, probably in your canister or lines somewhere. I would start with replacing it and its associated hoses, resetting the system by unplugging the battery for about 30 minutes, and seeing if this takes care of the problem.

 

[Brian32]

does anyone know why the cel light woild stay on for a about a month.... then turn off for about 2 weeks the turn back on?

 

[4R99JB]

I was interested in this problem' so...I looked it up.

Interesting:

1. Charcoal canisters shouldn't go bad. There isn't a 2.

But; a vacuum is created when the vehicle pulls gas from the tank, if the gas cap is working. You've probably heard the tank suck air when stopping for gas and removing the cap?

This vacuum causes the gas to vaporize eventually leaving the tank at 1 atmosphere. The vapor (charcoal) canisters job is to trap this vapor. When the vehicle is started again the vapor is sucked into the vehicles intake. That's it... No magic.

"EVAP" codes do not harm the vehicle but will cause the vehicle to fail emmisions. Try the vacuum lines. A smoke machine is the only correct way to test the system; you'd see the smoke being sucked in.

I hope this helps. God I love Google; I be smarterer now.