oregon fj
Serial rescuer of old vehicles
Hi, y'all. I used to hang out a lot in the FJ25 & FJ40 areas, but sold my '64 FJ40 project last year. Recently decided I needed to have a pickup again (after 20+ years without) and so last week I picked up a well-used but well-maintained '96 Tacoma LX 4x4 extended cab. 5ZV-FE and 5 speed, 271,000 miles.
Really in decent shape for its age and mileage. Doesn't need much to be the stock driver truck I'm after.
The reason for this post is the buzzing or moaning noise from the evap canister that I suspect everyone is familiar with. It bugged me, even though I know it was harmless. And since the part the Toyota sold (noted in the TSB) to fix this is NLA, I decided to see if a DIY fix was possible. Turns out you can DIY it, and it is easy and cheap.
Disclaimer - those of you in jurisdictions where visual inspection is part of the emissions test (CA, for example) should know that this 'fix' will probably not pass the visual inspection. But it is so quick and easy to revert to stock that I'd not worry about that too much.
Here's the deal. The factory fix was to add a 50cc air chamber to one of the vacuum lines. The added air volume changes the resonance point when the canister self-purges. I figured that if all it takes is more air volume, maybe you don't need a 50cc chamber, perhaps a bunch more vacuum hose might do the job as well.
So I took a length of fuel hose of the proper size (8mm or 5/16") and coiled it up a few turns (3, to be exact), zip-tied it to be tidy, and connected it in place of the short L-shaped hose at the front of the canister. That's it. See pic below.
So far, it has worked perfectly. No noises after driving, and none after the truck sits in the sun for a while either.
Here's a pic of the coiled hose in place, followed by a pic of the truck itself (since everyone loves to see the new guy's truck).
Really in decent shape for its age and mileage. Doesn't need much to be the stock driver truck I'm after.
The reason for this post is the buzzing or moaning noise from the evap canister that I suspect everyone is familiar with. It bugged me, even though I know it was harmless. And since the part the Toyota sold (noted in the TSB) to fix this is NLA, I decided to see if a DIY fix was possible. Turns out you can DIY it, and it is easy and cheap.
Disclaimer - those of you in jurisdictions where visual inspection is part of the emissions test (CA, for example) should know that this 'fix' will probably not pass the visual inspection. But it is so quick and easy to revert to stock that I'd not worry about that too much.
Here's the deal. The factory fix was to add a 50cc air chamber to one of the vacuum lines. The added air volume changes the resonance point when the canister self-purges. I figured that if all it takes is more air volume, maybe you don't need a 50cc chamber, perhaps a bunch more vacuum hose might do the job as well.
So I took a length of fuel hose of the proper size (8mm or 5/16") and coiled it up a few turns (3, to be exact), zip-tied it to be tidy, and connected it in place of the short L-shaped hose at the front of the canister. That's it. See pic below.
So far, it has worked perfectly. No noises after driving, and none after the truck sits in the sun for a while either.
Here's a pic of the coiled hose in place, followed by a pic of the truck itself (since everyone loves to see the new guy's truck).
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